Our Story
Branded by the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a heretic for his views on religious liberty and the separation of church and state, Roger Williams fled to the uninhabited wilderness south of Massachusetts. In the summer of 1636, he founded the colony of Providence. After becoming a Baptist in 1639, he joined with about a dozen others to form the first Baptist church on American soil.
In a collaborative effort of local Baptist churches, the Triennial Convention was formed in 1814 to organize, fund, and deploy missionaries. From this structure, a number of mission societies were formed.
Because of the abolitionist movement, a majority of Baptist churches in the south withdrew support for the Triennial Convention and formed the Southern Baptist Convention in 1845. The majority of Baptist churches in the north continued to work through the separate cooperating missions societies associated with the Triennial Convention. This group of churches in the north would later form the Northern Baptist Convention in 1907.
In this tradition, a small group of believers in Jesus Christ, with firm baptistic convictions, were burdened by the lack of Baptist Churches in the southern part of Dutchess County. These believers began meeting in homes and barns for Bible study, worship and prayer." Their dream of establishing a Baptist church was realized on October 26, 1853, when a meeting for incorporation was held at the “usual place of worship," the old schoolhouse in Matteawan (now Beacon), NY. It was named the First Baptist Church of Matteawan, and Rev. Daniel W. Sherwood was the church’s first pastor. A building to house the church was erected in 1854. The church reorganized and was called the Pilgrim Baptist Church in 1856.
In the early years of the 20th century, churches in the Northern Baptist Convention were in conflict over the historic beliefs of the Christian faith and the core of the gospel message. While some turned away from the authority of Scripture and the divinity of Jesus, many other faithful followers of Christ wanted to continue sharing the truth of the Bible and the good news of Jesus throughout the world. They wanted pastors, churches, and missionaries with the same love and conviction. Much like today, the evangelical world was faced with a challenge.
It was in this historical context, wrestling with these questions of faith, that in 1943, approximately 75 Christian leaders met in Chicago, Illinois to pray and seek a way forward. While on their knees in prayer, they took a history-making stand and started a mission agency called Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society (CBFMS), (now WorldVenture).
CBFMS, and later Conservative Baptist Home Mission Society (CBHMS), (now Missions Door) were born to assist churches in training, sending, and supporting missionaries with an unwavering commitment to the authority of the Bible and the proclamation of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
These same churches that formed CBFMS/CBHMS, saw their denomination continuing to move away from their founding gospel message. After three years of encouraging the denomination to return to its historic gospel roots, and at the risk of their church properties and pastoral pensions, in 1947, these churches moved away from the Northern Baptist Convention and formed the Conservative Baptist Association of America (CBA).
During this time, between the years 1940-1949, Pilgrim Baptist Church experienced significant spiritual and numerical growth under the pastoral leadership of Rev. J. Edward Hakes, who was followed by Rev. Harold Thomas. The name of the church was also changed to The First Baptist Church of Beacon and the church decided to associate with the Conservative Baptist Churches of America during those years.
In the 1970’s The First Baptist Church of Beacon began discussing the need to move to a new location. In 1975 fifteen acres of land were purchased in the town of Fishkill and in phase 1, the all-purpose building (today’s gym) was dedicated in 1978, along with a new name: Fishkill Baptist Church.
In 1993 the church added a sanctuary, office, and classroom complex to the existing facility. The church nearly doubled in attendance during the first 8 years that Rev. Bob Eckler served as senior pastor from 1988-2007. The iconic bell, which now sits in front of the main church entrance, was moved from the Beacon church building after its sale to The Salvation Army.
.On February 16, 2019, the CBA announced that it was changing its name to Venture Church Network because “Conservative Baptist” no longer connected with what it originally intended to communicate. Fishkill Baptist Church continues to be a member of the northeast district, now called Venture Church Northeast.
Our church’s current pastor, Mike Mura, began serving Fishkill Baptist Church in January 2012 as our Youth Pastor. Nine years later, in 2021, the church called Pastor Mike to be our next Lead Pastor.
God alone knows the next chapters of our history as we move forward in faithfulness to Christ and His gospel. May Jesus Christ receive all the glory as He continues building His church among us as He sees fit.