History
Murfreesboro Baptist Church was formally constituted on November 21, 1848, with thirty-one charter members, twenty-nine of whom have petitioned for letters of dismissal from nearby Meherrin Baptist Church for the purposes of being constituted as an “independent branch of the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The congregation which was then worshipping in Murfreesboro had previously existed as a branch of Meherrin Baptist Church since the summer of 1842, enjoying the occasional ministerial services of the Reverend George Matthias Thompson, pastor of Meherrin Church, 1838-1850.
The Reverend Martin Rudolph Forey, principal of the recently established Chowan Female Institute, was called as the newly constituted church’s initial pastor in May 1849, inaugurating a close relationship between church and school which has been maintained until the present. Not only has the congregation included numerous students since 1848, but at least sixteen of the church’s pastors have also held administrative and/or teaching assignments at Chowan. The congregation has been served by twenty-six pastors.
A white framed house of worship of the Murfreesboro congregation was erected in 1843 on the site of the present sanctuary, which was constructed in 1922-1923, and was first utilized for worship services on the last Sunday in April 1923. Completed in 1923, our sanctuary is the oldest standing house of worship in Murfreesboro. It has undergone two major renovations since then, one in 1960 and, most recently, in 2011. The annex at the north end of the sanctuary was constructed in 1951-1952 to provide additional space for the church’s educational auxiliaries. Additional properties adjacent to the original church lots were acquired in 1962, 1965, 1994 and 1998. In 2001 an extensive construction project included the present church offices, media center, and fellowship hall with renovations to the educational annex and the ground floor of the sanctuary.
