Chairman of Archives
The records of the “First Baptist Church in Lyndon” which is now Caribou began with the first meeting of a group of devout people in the Centre Schoolhouse in the town of Lyndon, May 28, 1863. During the third meeting of the group, Aug. 29, 1863, in the schoolhouse, the copy of the “Petition for Recognition” as a church was presented, accepted and signed, thus it became known as the “First Baptist Church in Lyndon”.
The newly formed church held its meetings in various homes from 1863 to 1871. For a time, they met in the first church in Caribou where all faiths took turns for worship. In 1873, they purchased, for the sum of $170, a site in Caribou, encompassing a little over an acre of land. It was not until 1877 that steps were taken to erect a building on this land. In passing, it may be mentioned that this was the first building on High Street, which up to this time, was little more than a path running from Water Street up over the hill. By 1883, a parsonage building was located to the right of the church where the present church building erected in 1955 now stands.
In Dec. 1886, another group of Baptists organized the First Free Baptist Church of Caribou, and in 1890, built their first house of worship on South Main Street. The cost of the lot and chapel, including furniture and organ was $1,453. The two congregations discussed the possibility of uniting, and a meeting was held on April 19, 1919 for the purpose of forming a union. The union of the two churches gave our “United Baptist Church of Caribou” a membership of 410. It was decided to use the larger High Street property as their house of worship with Rev. Melville C. Miner, pastor of the Free Baptist Church at the time, as their pastor. The Main Street property was sold to the Episcopal denomination and is today St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.
In 1942, the church building was rebuilt after a fire gutted the building. Today, you may see the charred timbers in the attic of what is now known as the chapel where prayer meetings are still held today.
In 1944, our church, in a special drive, raised the sum of $11,437 for missions. A large part of this amount was used to purchase land and building materials for building a Baptist Church at Bayaka, Belgian Congo, Africa. The auditorium seats approximately 1400, and was dedicated as “The Caribou, Maine Baptist Memorial Chapel”, as a permanent tribute to twelve of our young men who gave their lives in the service of our country in World War II.
In 1950, it became necessary to have two worship services on Sunday morning to take care of the rapidly growing congregation. On Nov. 10, 1954, a special business meeting of the church was called to consider the recommendation of the Advisory Board that we begin our new building in the spring. The Cornerstone Laying Ceremony for the new bricked-faced sanctuary was conducted Sunday afternoon Sept. 18, 1955. The cornerstone was opened for the first time, Friday evening July 25, 2003 as a part of the “140 Year Celebration” Weekend.
Currently, the United Baptist Church, a member of the American Baptist Churches of Maine and the ABCUSA, has 290 members and continues to minister to the community. Since the closing of Loring Air Force Base in 1993, we have seen a decline in membership. The churches’ many outreach ministries today include Kings Kids, Pioneer Girls, Boys Brigade, Youth Group, Senior Citizens, Six Mission Circles, Homemakers, Sunday School for all ages, Prayer Meeting, and Daily Vacation Bible School. The outreach also includes The Living Christmas Tree, which has been presented over twenty-five times since the mid-1970’s. Our newest outreaches are through our Food Pantry and distributing hot meals at Thanksgiving to shut-ins. Last year, our food pantry was visited by 1,186 families, total number of people served 3,215 for a total of 58,200 pounds of food plus sixty-four Christmas food boxes. This last Thanksgiving day, 122 meals were made and delivered.
In 2004, Pastor John Kiehn was called to serve in the ministry at CUBC. Then in 2006, Associate Pastor Joshua Burden also joined the ministry.
The church has chosen for this year the theme verse of Isaiah 48:17. The theme this year is “Going Where God Leads.” The church is also devoting time this year to a process called Re-Visioning. The purpose is to learn how to better fulfill their mission statement “To love God by Looking Upward, Growing Inward, and Reaching Outward.”
