Shiloh Baptist Church, along the King's Highway in King George County, Va., has been home for many people in the course of its 150 years. It was created to give people a home during one of the great divisions among Baptists. The Temperance Movement divided Baptists on the subject of liquor consumption and personal conscience.
There were many Baptists who imbibed from time to time and often for medicinal purposes. Many early Baptists made their own liquor. In those days the taboo was drinking to excess or public drunkenness. Even a few ministers were found guilty.
The Temperance Movement provided enough arguments against any consumption that an entire party developed for total abstinence. In the old Goshen Association of which Shiloh was a member, the party was led by the fiery preacher, Joseph Billingsley. He made total abstinence the test for church membership and even formed an entire new district association called the Hebron, which was composed only of churches of teetotalers.
January 1855 the issue came home to Shiloh. The Baptists who gathered for worship at Shiloh Meeting House addressed the subject and decided that the best choice was to separate. A resolution had been proposed “making the Sale and use of intoxicating drinks as a beverage a Test of fellowship.” It should be pointed out that two issues were at stake: the question of the evils of drink and the question of extending the right hand of fellowship only to certain individuals who met prescribed standards. It is conceivable that many non-drinkers could have opposed the imposition of a test.
The congregation was divided on the issue and, therefore, as the minutes state, “It is now agreed, That those favoring and those opposing Said resolution, Shall be regarded as Separate Churches.” The Test Party was to be known as Hanover Church and the Anti-Test Party as Shiloh. For about a year, the two churches used the same building at different times so as not to conflict with one another.
The Shiloh congregation certainly knew the evils and effects of strong drink. They were not liquor heads! They just felt that one social issue should not decide who could and could not be seated in church pews and participate in church business. They wanted everyone to find a church home among Christians. As their minutes attest, the Shiloh folks did discipline — as was the custom of the times — their flock for public drunkenness, but they still abhorred the idea of a test for fellowship.
In 1856 the Shiloh congregation built their own handsome brick house of worship, which was constructed by George Wroten, who also about the same time built the Fredericksburg Baptist Church which yet stands. The original Shiloh Church was destroyed by a tornado in 1948. For 150 years the original building and its successor has been a physical church home for hundreds of people.
Fast forward to the present when recently this columnist made a visit to Shiloh. Since my last visit in 1995, there have been numerous new families who have found a church home at Shiloh. The church is benefiting from the ever-expanding growth in the area east of Fredericksburg. Now the church plant is enlarging with an 8,000-square foot Family Life Center presently under construction. Once completed, the church dinners can move out of cramped basement quarters and into the large space complete with a new kitchen.
The church also has expanded into the World Wide Web. Its attractive website shows a congregation which is vibrant and a program of activities which draws people to the church. Look it up at www.kgshiloh.org.
Pastor Richard Headley explained some of the growth potential by saying that 300 new homes had been built in the immediate area with perhaps as many as 900 between Shiloh and Fredericksburg, a distance of some 25 miles. He attributed much of the growth to the spillover from Northern Virginia and the impact of the I-95 corridor.
Headley came into the Shiloh church family when he was a teenager. He met Suzanne Allensworth, one of the many attractive young women in the youth group, and they were married at Shiloh. He was ordained by the church and endorsed as an Air Force chaplain. He declares that “the Lord definitely opened a door to get into the chaplaincy,” citing that there was only one vacancy available at the time and he filled it. After 22 years in the USAF chaplaincy, he retired in 1991 and has served churches in the area. He also has been a hospice chaplain in Fredericksburg.
When Shiloh suddenly found itself in need of a pastor, Headley was nearby and available. “Shiloh always was home to us,” the pastor says. And so it has been for longtimers and “come heres” and for oldsters and youngsters alike.
Fred Anderson may be contacted at P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173.