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Locked in the safe: Baptist history in JP

E-mail|Link|Comments (0) Posted by Michael Paulson August 21, 2008 07:57 AM

A huge fire destroyed the First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain in 2005, but the congregation's safe survived, and members are now going through its contents and finding all kinds of interesting artifacts: a letter urging that Northern Baptists split with the Southern members of their denomination over slavery, a silver communion service, and records from previous fires. The Jamaica Plain Gazette reports:

"With the help of two professional safe-crackers, congregants Linda Karpeichik and Martha Khan were relieved to discover 'a treasure trove of historic books and documents' still intact, according to First Baptist’s March 2008 newsletter. The church has only just begun sorting through the documents in the safe. The shiniest find, a silver communion service presented to First Baptist by JP Unitarians, has been donated to the Museum of Fine Arts."

The congregation is now raising money to rebuild the church.

(Photo, by David Ryan of the Globe staff, shows the interior of the First Baptist Church in JP frozen in ice after the fire in 2005.)

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Michael Paulson covers religion for The Boston Globe. He shared in the Pulitzer Prize in 2003, won the Mike Berger, Templeton and Supple awards in 2008, and is a four-time winner of the Wilbur Award.
E-mail mpaulson@globe.com.

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