Congregation celebrates new home after losing historic church in 2024
“Your faithfulness endures to all generations,” reads Psalm 119:90.
The verse stood as a fitting symbol on Sunday, May 31, as Mount Pleasant United Baptist Church dedicated its new home, for a congregation carrying forward more than a century of faith, community, love, loss, work and renewal.
The new church was built after structural problems forced the community to leave its former home in 2024.
The old church, built in 1903, was demolished Oct. 2, 2025, leaving members to hold services, Bible studies, and meetings at the Mount Pleasant Community Centre while they raised money and made plans to rebuild.
The celebration of their new home brought together church members, neighbours, supporters and public officials from Carleton County and beyond. Rev. Harry Waugh, the church’s interim pastor, led the day’s event with music, prayer, words of dedication and greetings.
The ceremony also included a symbolic handoff of the keys from Ian Hatfield of Peak Construction, the company contracted to perform the work. As Hatfield came forward, Waugh drew laughter from the audience by joking, “Now, can we please have the keys to the church?”
Rev. Craig Woodcock, himself a former pastor who previously served at the church, was also in attendance to offer words of support and congratulations, while Tobique-Mactaquac MP Richard Bragdon brought greetings and said that the new church and the community behind it are inspiring.
“To see a building like this constructed, hope arises,” Bragdon said.
For District of Carleton North Mayor Andrew Harvey, the dedication carried a personal meaning.
“It’s like coming home to me,” he said.
Harvey added that communities such as Mount Pleasant depend on the people who continue to invest in them.
“The world needs more communities like Mount Pleasant — communities shaped by its people,” he said. “It’s ingrained in who we are, and that’s very important. It takes people to make these things happen, and this building will serve for generations to come.”
Following the dedication, the community was invited to return to the Mount Pleasant Community Centre for dinner and fellowship. Since the centre served as the congregation’s temporary home during the rebuild, the gathering was another link between the loss of the former church and the opening of the new one.
Rev. Waugh referred to the day the former church closed, saying “it wasn’t really a happy day at all. But 21 months later, it’s a very happy day for sure.”
Rev. Woodcock echoed that statement, speaking of “tears and shouts” – tears following the destruction of the former church, and the shouts of joy that accompany the opening of the new one.
“When the other church was taken down, it was devastating,” said Betty Briggs, a long-serving member and fundraiser for the church. “It was like losing a friend.”
The congregation was told it needed to raise at least $90,000 to move the building project forward – a large sum for any small community, yet to date, they have raised an astonishing $200,000. The remaining $300,000 came through the Baptist Foundation, allowing the project to proceed.
“We raised $100,000 in less than a year,” church clerk Barb Shaw told Ageless New Brunswick magazine last year. “The support was so encouraging. Every week, we had some people who earmarked their weekly tithes to go to our building fund.”
Shaw said the project drew on the commitment of many people.
“Many had the willingness to joyously give back to this project through prayers, determination, good finances, and lots of hard work. There were times when we had doubts and discouragement. It’s a great group effort to do something like this, and now we have a beautiful place to worship God.”
The fundraising included suppers, concerts, yard sales, bottle drives, donations and other efforts. The project also received the boost it most needed when Aubrey and Reta Crandlemire donated the lot behind the Mount Pleasant Cemetery, where the church now stands.
“It felt like God said, ‘Go,’ when the land was donated,” Briggs said. “Without that land, there was just no obvious way to continue.”
The building was completed in early May, and the connection to the former church was visible inside the new location. The stained-glass windows, pulpit, communion table, and even an old clock from the former building were preserved from the old church.
Brian Derrah, one of the longest-serving members of the church, said that bringing those items fostered a sense of continuity.
“The things from the old church tell the story of connecting with the community over the last century,” he said. “The church clock, the stained-glass windows, the cross and the pulpit we got from the old church help it feel like a church. They give it a certain presence.”
“I will always miss the old church, but I love the new one God gave us,” Briggs said. “I prayed, I fasted, and I picked up pop bottles. I told people about what we were doing, and people just wanted to help.”
“Betty’s enthusiasm is infectious,” Derrah said. “Building the church and getting it right was, and is, very important to her. She is untiring.”
The legacy of Mount Pleasant’s church reaches back to April 26, 1856, when 14 people met for worship in a one-room schoolhouse. The first church was built in 1875 and later was sold for use as a blacksmith shop. The second church – and the current congregation’s former home – was built and dedicated July 26, 1903.
The building of the old church saw families working together to donate anything they could, be it cash, consumables or construction materials, said the church brochure handed out at the May 31 ceremony.
“Most donations were between $2 and $5, but some gave as much as $20 ($40, $100 and $400 in today’s currency). A bell was donated by a local blacksmith, Allen Greer and was faithfully rang each Sunday morning by his Grandson, Dean Greer.”
There were changes and additions over time, including a basement for Sunday School, a foyer, and the stained-glass windows, donated by the Derrah and Lund families.
Through the years, the former church has seen 55 ministers, starting with Rev. Samuel Hartt and Rev. Ezekiel Siprell. With Rev. Waugh now serving as interim pastor, the congregation begins its next chapter in a place shaped by the work of the past two years and the century of history that came before it.
While the old church may be gone, it still remains, not only in familiar pieces carried forward into the new building, but also in the hearts, memories, faith, love, and worship of the people who filled it for generations. That same spirit moves with them into the new church, where generations to come will gather, remember, and make it their own.
