Christ Baptist Church

A Bible-believing family in the heart of the city

Our History

                                    Click here to view our church constitution

Christ Bap
tist Church began as a mission to serve the Italian immigrants coming to Worcester. Italian Baptist Mission of Worcester, MA was first begun by the Lincoln Square Baptist Church (now Burncoat Baptist) in the fall of 1911 under the direction of Rev. Edward Launier and some of his parishioners. Rev. Bruno Bruni was its first missionary, followed by Rev. Gaetano Lisi. The first location of the Mission was on 218 Shrewsbury Street. 

In 1914, Rev. Antonio Sannella was sent from Milford, MA, to take charge of the work. During the next seven years the ministry moved to several different locations on Shrewsbury Street; until, in 1921, it moved to the corner of Muskeego Street. In 1925, the Italian Baptist Mission purchased the land where our present church is located. After 22 years of faithful and fruitful ministry, Rev. Sannella retired at the end of May, 1936. 

Rev. Ronald Giuffrida, from Springfield, MA, assumed the leadership on November 1, 1936. Under Rev. Giuffrida, the mission decided to sell the building on Muskeego Street in 1943. Without a place to worship, the ministry returned to its roots by worshiping at Lincoln Square Baptist Church. This continued for seven years while the plans for our current church were being drafted and finalized. The corner stone of our present building was laid in 1949. We moved into our new church in February 1950, and became known as the Christ Baptist Mission. In April of 1954, we were accepted into the fellowship of the Worcester Baptist Association as Christ Baptist Church of Worcester, MA. On December 31, 1956 Pastor Giuffrida, who had served the Lord for over 50 years, retired as our pastor.

We were without a pastor for almost 13 months, unitl November of 1957, when the Rev. Warren D. Russell, Jr. was called as our pastor. He began his work in February of 1958. Shortly after Rev. Russell was installed, we joined the American Baptist Convention. As a result, a new constitution was presented to the congregation in December of 1959 and was adopted at the Annual Meeting of the Church in January of 1960. In 1961, Pastor Russell's tenure with our church had ended and Rev. Charles Hodgeman became our next pastor. Rev. Hodgeman served our church for 14 years before retiring in 1975. The church called two more pastors over the next 6 years until we hired Rev. Richard Satkowski in 1981. Under Pastor Satkowski's leadership, our church joined the Southern Baptist Convention. Rev. Satkowski faithfully served our church for 25 years. In 2007, Rev. Walter Tilleman was installed as pastor. Under Pastor Tilleman's leadership, Christ Baptist Church was led through a transitional period. Pastor Wally retired from full-time ministry in November of 2010.

 

Web Hosting Companies