How it all started...
After a time of prayer on April 5, 1859, there was a unanimous vote taken amongst a group of believers to constitute a church in what then was known as Pamplin Depot. Elder J.S. Mason, who was the first pastor, donated the land for a meeting place which was located in a grove of oak trees. The Hebrew word for oak is elon, thus the name Elon Baptist Church of Christ was given for the new church.
Today, we worship in the same original building with alterations and three major additions. The original layout of the church had the pulpit in what is now the back of the church and the present pulpit would have been under a balcony that was part of the first church. The church bell was placed in the steeple in 1872. The first Sunday School rooms were added in the middle 1920s, then in 1955 a kitchen was place in the area where our nurseries are and then the Youth Room and Pastor's Study were added in 1969-70. The parking lot was purchased in 1973 and the Fellowship Hall was completed in 1983. The original church parsonage was built in 1909 and razed in the late 1950s to be replaced with a 3 bedroom brick ranch house.
Elon has called thirty five men to be their lead pastor through the last 164 years. Most of those men served three churches (Matthews, Providence, and Glenn Memorial) in a rotation. In 1970, Elon called their first full time Ray Harley. Many men and women have been ordained for ministry at Elon. to serve churches as pastors, work in the state's convention ministries or to travel overseas in foreign mission work.
While the building has changed and the faces are different, the gospel still rings true in the Pamplin community as Elon strives to present Jesus as the way, the truth and the life to eternal life with God our creator.
Today, we worship in the same original building with alterations and three major additions. The original layout of the church had the pulpit in what is now the back of the church and the present pulpit would have been under a balcony that was part of the first church. The church bell was placed in the steeple in 1872. The first Sunday School rooms were added in the middle 1920s, then in 1955 a kitchen was place in the area where our nurseries are and then the Youth Room and Pastor's Study were added in 1969-70. The parking lot was purchased in 1973 and the Fellowship Hall was completed in 1983. The original church parsonage was built in 1909 and razed in the late 1950s to be replaced with a 3 bedroom brick ranch house.
Elon has called thirty five men to be their lead pastor through the last 164 years. Most of those men served three churches (Matthews, Providence, and Glenn Memorial) in a rotation. In 1970, Elon called their first full time Ray Harley. Many men and women have been ordained for ministry at Elon. to serve churches as pastors, work in the state's convention ministries or to travel overseas in foreign mission work.
While the building has changed and the faces are different, the gospel still rings true in the Pamplin community as Elon strives to present Jesus as the way, the truth and the life to eternal life with God our creator.
Continuing to Light our world...
We love our city and the people in and around Pamplin. Elon is committed to seeing the gospel spread throughout our area. We're happy to have been here for so many years but even more excited to see how God is still using the people who make up the church at Elon. By God's grace, we strive to continue that pattern for making Jesus known and loved by and through us.
... and be faithful to the gospel...
Our desire is to faithfully reflect what Jesus showed and taught how a believer should be and strive to do. Fundamentally, that means loving and serving one another as we fulfill our mission to love God and love our neighbors. We do that through the filter of grace. We, at Elon, desire to be a community characterized by grace. Our prayer is that grace will be reflected in all we do. Because we recognize our deep gospel neediness, in both salvation and sanctification, we are quick to extend grace to those in our church family, to other gospel-minded churches, and to the people of our community.
