Dodge Center Seventh Day Baptist Church celebrates 160th anniversary

The Dodge Center Seventh Day Baptist Church is celebrating its 160th anniversary on Sabbath (Saturday), June 29th. Pastor Bill Shobe is planning an opportunity for covenant renewal in the Sabbath morning worship service at 9:30 a.m. that day.
The congregation was originally organized as the Wasioja-Ashland Seventh Day Baptist Church in 1859 and was located three miles south of Dodge Center in what is now Ashland Township. In 1872 the church literally was moved to its present location on Main Street in Dodge Center In the cold winter season they moved their building to its present location, changing their name to Dodge Center Seventh Day Baptist Church. With the arrival of the railroad in the 1860’s, the congregation felt the road to a bright future lay alongside the tracks. The original building is still incorporated in the present structure, and those original timbers can still be seen in the basement by moving a few ceiling tiles.
The history of the church could be said to extend back to 1856. In June of that year several Seventh Day Baptist families settled in the Dodge Center area, having moved westward from New Jersey and Wisconsin. Two days after their arrival they celebrated their first Sabbath together in their new home. Sabbath worship of some sort has been observed since that time.
The church leadership has been actively contacting its membership encouraging all to participate in the covenant renewal on June 29th. It is covenant that unites this church into a community. While agreement on beliefs or creeds is important, it is not beliefs but the covenant commitment that cements the church into a worshipping community. In the covenant renewal, the members have an opportunity to reaffirm their commitment to each other and to God.
The church would extend a warm welcome to anyone in the area who would like to come, visit, observe, and perhaps even consider committing to this covenant renewal. There is a Sabbath School hour following worship, with a celebration meal to follow Sabbath School.