The First Baptist Church has overlooked Brooklin’s village center since 1853, almost since the town’s founding.
Mike Sherman, president of its trustees, remembers countless community events in the sanctuary and a chapel behind it as a child in the 1960s: Sunday school classes with dozens of students, full services, suppers, community benefits, weddings, funerals. The pews were dedicated to local families and the stained glass windows bear some of their names.
“It was a different world,” he said Thursday in the quiet, chilly building, which has been largely unused for the last three years.
Membership has dwindled to less than 10 people, with an average age around 70. Members now attend other nearby churches each week.
Seeing “the writing on the wall,” Sherman said, the trustees started planning for the future several years ago. In August, they offered to donate the church, neighboring Bowden Hall and the land they sit on to the town, along with $100,000 for upkeep. The congregation plans to dissolve.
First Baptist Church in Brooklin. Credit: Elizabeth Walztoni / BDN
The construction of the First Baptist Church was supported by selling pews to Brooklin families, according to trustee Mike Sherman. When he attended as a child in the 1960s, they were filled with 80-plus people. Credit: Elizabeth Walztoni / BDN
A chapel at the back of Brooklin’s First Baptist Church hosted Sunday school classes, suppers, benefits and other community events for decades. The building hasn’t been regularly used for three years. Credit: Elizabeth Walztoni / BDN
Brooklin’s Baptist church also owns neighboring Bowden Hall, a former fire station and current meeting space, and the land it sits on. Credit: Elizabeth Walztoni / BDN
Brooklin is the latest small Maine town once anchored by a historical church to see it close as interest in organized religion continues to drop nationwide and communities change. The buildings are often sold or left vacant as a result, but Brooklin has the option to say what happens next – a choice the trustees made in part because of the property’s prominent village location.
“This seemed like the best alternative, for the town to take over and make sure it was taken care of,” Sherman said.
Residents will vote in April whether to accept the donation. A series of community meetings to answer questions about the proposal started last month, drawing dozens of attendees, and a volunteer feasibility committee has formed to continue investigating.
“It’s such a unique opportunity, and there’s so many different ways to think about it, that it’s a little bit overwhelming,” Select Board Chair David Reiley said of options for the site.
Bowden Hall, a former firehouse with a large kitchen, is still used for community events and meetings. The church building could become a community center or otherwise be renovated, residents have suggested.
An initial engineer’s report released earlier this month found the church building in “structurally excellent” condition, with some maintenance needs including new shingles, lighting and disability accessible ramps. However, a separate risk report by the Maine Municipal Association had raised red flag s in October about the structural integrity of the bell tower and basement supports.
Some in town see the donation as a great opportunity, Reiley said, while others are concerned about potential cost increases down the road. Right now, the board is focused on gathering information to give the public ahead of the vote next spring.
Reiley sees that vote as the first hurdle before getting into specifics about how the buildings could be used.
Residents will also need to consider what could happen if a ‘no’ vote put the church, located in the heart of the village between the town office and library, under private ownership, though the select board doesn’t plan to take a position, he said.
The church’s bylaws prohibit members from making money off a sale, according to Sherman.
The trustees could instead give the property to regional organization American Baptist Churches of Maine – which he said has indicated it would sell – or Open Door Church, led by pastor Chris Eaton, which holds services in Bowden Hall.
If it comes down to it, they could also simply walk away, he said.
Sherman, who’s spent most of his life in Brooklin and returned to his childhood church to raise his own family, said he and his wife feel proud of the town. They’ve been active there throughout their lives and have been taken care of in return.
“In exchange for that, we thought the town should have a say in what happens,” he said, adding that he was speaking for himself rather than on behalf of the church.
