Collinsville First Baptist Church was founded in 1926 with just 21 charter members. Initially, they worshipped once per month in the Collinsville Methodist Church building. Our first building was built in 1928 with concrete bricks made on site and cost $1,600. During the first 23 years as a church, there were 131 additions to the membership.
In 1949, four Sunday School classrooms were added to the sanctuary. Then, in 1954-55, a parsonage, a new sanctuary, and additional education spaces were built. A baptistry was added in 1957.
Over the next 50 years, separate education spaces were added for Children and Youth ministry, and another new sanctuary was eventually built. Our membership increased to over 500 congregants. In 2013, we had outgrown our sanctuary again, so more space was added.
In 2016, a tornado destroyed all of our buildings. As a result, our campus had to be entirely torn down and rebuilt. Our congregation was graciously welcomed by Pine Forest Baptist Church and Faith Baptist Church. They provided us space in their sanctuaries to worship while we rebuilt. During the construction process, we were pushed outside our comfort zone and had to make use of available spaces throughout Collinsville, which enabled us to become deeply rooted within our community.
In 2018, we completed construction of our new facility and began to worship together in Collinsville again. Our membership has continued to grow and flourish. We believe God has blessed us to better reach our community through the many lessons we learned during our displacement!
The church is more than a building.
We have been sent out to welcome others in.
