Albury Baptist Church

"The Albury Baptist Fellowship was started in 1928 when Mrs Margaret Hedges, recently arrived from Wangaratta, and Mr E J Passant, a Welsh immigrant decided a distinctively Baptist church was needed in the town.

Mrs Hedges asked Rev A H Brooks, of the Wangaratta Baptist Church, to visit Albury families, which led to evening services in the Albury Town Hall.

Rev J H Baker was the first permanent minister, arriving in May 1929.  The Church was officially constituted on November 17, 1929.  There were eight founding members – Rev Baker, Mrs A Baker, Mrs Hedges, her sister Mrs M Sullivan, Mrs Pope, Mr Fred Howard and brothers Ted and Percy Passant.

Mrs Hedges’ daughters, Alma and Marj Hedges remained members of the Church until they passed away (2016 and 2014 respectively).  By 1935, the Sunday School reached 110 & the church decided to add the hall...

In 1980, the sanctuary was extended and connected to the Sunday School Hall with an entrance lobby, and the baptistry and pulpit were moved to the opposite end of the Church...

Sadly by August 2004 after a period of decline Albury Baptist Church had come to the place of being described as “in “survival mode”... Sunday attendance had declined to single digits at times.

In 2006 with the closure being a very real option a new pastor was called.  This was a part-time appointment with the understanding that the church would pay a salary of 3 days a week & at the end of 6 months the church would be broke unless God intervened.  This was a step of faith for all concerned.

Thus began the slow process of rebuilding." (Extract - Church Website -    https://alburybaptistchurch.org/our-history/).

No other details are known about the church. More historical information/photographs of the church/congregation are invited. Photographs uploaded 24/4/2018.