Church reorganizing

First Baptist Church is looking for a re-birth.
Faced with a dwindling and aging population and the retirement of its pastor, the Portland church on Charles Street had two choices: Close its doors or change.
The congregation has chosen change.
“It’s on pause,” said congregation member Jim Wright. “But it won’t be called First Baptist in the future.”
The church flourished in the 1980s, building then expanding its facility and adding a pre-school.
But that was a different time, and church demographics nationally are undergoing major shifts.
“We only have two teenagers,” said Wright. “Most of our church is 60 and older. We don’t want to die, so we’re going to try something different.”
“Something different” also needed to be something compatible with the Bible-preaching, evangelical tradition of the congregation.
“Baptist churches like we are, are few and far between,” said Wright.
This month members of the Portland congregation began attending Integris Community Church in Albany, which like First Baptist is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Over the next few months, Pastor Greg Haisley of Integris will be working with both the Albany and Portland churches.
“We are going to change our name to Integris of Portland,” said Wright. “We’ll be opening around Easter.”
“It’s going to be more of a casual, contemporary service,” said Haisley. “We’ll try to have a more active presence in the community.”
Wright, a Gideon, visits all of the churches in the county annually and said the problems faced by First Baptist are far from unique.
“Only 15 percent of the people are going to church on a regular basis,” said Wright. With about 60 churches in the county, that would translate into an average congregation of about 57. “I do not see 57 people in most churches in this county,” Wright said.
In many cases, particularly for rural churches, congregations number about 20.
That was the situation First Baptist faced when Dr. Ron Ross retired at the end of 2015.
“We cannot afford a full-time pastor,” said Wright.
The partnership with the Albany church was the best course of action, he added.
“We’re rebuilding. We’re starting over. We’re trying to turn over a new leaf,” said Wright. “And the community needs churches.”