Approximately 300 members and guests packed the sanctuary of First Baptist Church of Denmark on Oct. 6 to celebrate the congregation’s 175th year of ministry.

Denmark First has been known by four different names during its history. Beginning in 1844 as Springs Church, which met in a log house near Bamberg, the congregation moved eight years later to a railroad settlement called Graham’s Turnout, where it was renamed Graham’s Church.

The early church building burned in 1901, but H.B. Graham, of Graham’s Turnout, offered his home as a meeting place while it was rebuilt. A sanctuary was completed in 1904, and the church adopted a new name — Denmark Church. The current sanctuary was finished in 1951, when the name was changed again to First Baptist.

Matt Thomas has served as pastor of the Denmark congregation for the past four years.

Todd Deaton, managing editor of The Baptist Courier, was keynote speaker for the anniversary celebration. He spent most of his childhood years in Denmark while his father, Robert L. Deaton, who read Scripture and prayed at the service, served as the church’s pastor in the 1970s.

The church’s immediate-past pastor, Andy Hunter, also delivered Scripture and prayer.