Our story

First Baptist Church of Ogden is an Independent Baptist Church located in Upper Chichester Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania about 1.5 miles from Exit 1 of I-95 near the Pennsylvania & Delaware State Line. 


We are a multi ethnic and racial congregation and welcome people of every racial and ethnic people group "for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).


Known by many in our community as Ogden Baptist Church, families who attend our church live in the following communities: Ogden, Boothwyn, Upper Chichester, Aston, Brookhaven, Chadd's Ford, Chester, Garnet Valley, Glen Mills, Linwood, Lower Chichester, Marcus Hook, Media, Thornton, Twin Oaks, Upland, West Chester, Claymont, DE; Wilmington, DE; & Monroeville, New Jersey.


We are in fellowship with the Pennsylvania Association of Regular Baptist Churches (PARBC) and the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (GARBC). Fellowship churches are independent & autonomous. The fellowships do not control or dictate to the churches. The PARBC & the GARBC are independent & autonomous from each other. 



WHAT WE BELIEVE

STATEMENT OF FAITH


Every person, desiring to become or remain a member of this church shall subscribe to the following Statement of Faith, without mental reservation.


SECTION 1. THE SCRIPTURES

We believe that the Bible, composed of the Old and New Testaments is verbally inspired of God, and inerrant in the original writings and is the supreme and final authority of faith and life. II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:19-21


SECTION 2. THE TRUE GOD

We believe in one God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, eternally existing and manifesting Himself to us in three persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Genesis 1:1; John 4:24;;; John 16:23-29


SECTION 3. THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

We believe in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, the eternal Word manifested in the flesh: that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, and is true God and true man. We believe in His vicarious substitutionary and redeeming death for the penalty of man’s sins. We believe in His bodily resurrection, His s ascension, and His personal, imminent and premillennial return. John 3:16; 1:1-3, 14; Luke 1:31-55; I Thess. 4:13-17


SECTION 4. THE HOLY SPIRIT

We believe in the Holy Spirit, in His personality, that He is God, and we believe that His work is to convict men of sin; to regenerate, indwell and set the believer apart to a holy life; to keep and empower the believer day by day. We believe that He is the teacher of God’s word and the Guide of the daily life. John 14:26; 16:7-15


SECTION 5. MAN

We believe that man was created in the image of God, that he sinned and thereby incurred spiritual death; that in consequence all have sinned, are guilty and lost, and absolutely incapable of saving themselves by their own works, being dead in trespasses and sins. Genesis 1:27; 2:17; Romans 5:12; Titus 3:5


SECTION 6. THE WAY OF SALVATION

We believe that we are saved only by grace through faith in the shedding of Christ’s blood for the remission of sins, guaranteed to us by His resurrection from among the dead. Romans 3:24-26; 4:5, 24-25; Ephesians 2:8-9


SECTION 7. ETERNAL DESTINY

We believe that all men by nature and by choice are sinners but that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life;” we believe, therefore, that those who accept Christ as their Lord and Saviour will rejoice forever in God’s presence and those who refuse to accept Christ as Lord and Saviour will forever be separated from God. John 3:16; Matthew 25:41-46; Revelation 20:11-15


SECTION 8. THE TRUE CHURCH

We believe in the True Church - a living spiritual body of which Christ is the Head and of which all regenerated people are members. We believe that a Visible Church is a company of believers in Jesus Christ, baptized on a credible confession of faith and associated for worship, work and fellowship; that it is the responsibility and privilege of all who are believers to seek to win others to Christ to the “uttermost part of the earth.” John 3:3-5; I Cor. 12:13; Acts 2:41-47; 1:8


SECTION 9. BELIEVER’S BAPTISM

We believe that baptism is the immersion of a believer in water, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; setting forth the essential facts in redemption - the death and resurrection of Christ; also, the essential facts in the experience of the believer - death to sin and resurrection to newness of life. Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 8:36-37; Romans 6:1-14


SECTION 10. THE LORD’S SUPPER

We believe the Scriptures teach that the Lord’s Supper is a provision of bread and the fruit of the vine, as symbols of Christ’s body and blood, partaken of by all believers in commemoration of the suffering and death of their Lord until He comes. Matthew 26:26-29; I Cor. 11:23-26


SECTION 11. SATAN

We believe that Satan is a person, the author of the fall, and that he shall be eternally punished. Genesis 3:1-7; John 8:44; I John 3:8; Revelation 20:10


SECTION 12. CHURCH AND STATE

We believe that every human being is responsible to God alone in all matters of faith; that each church is independent alone and autonomous and must be free from interference by any ecclesiastical or political authority; that , therefore, church and state must be kept separate as having different functions, each fulfilling its duties free from dictation of patronage of the other. Romans 13:1-8; Acts 5:25


NOTE: In subscribing to this Statement of Faith, we by no means set aside, or undervalue, any of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, all of which we believe to be God’s written Word, given to us by the Holy Spirit; but the knowledge and belief of the truth as stated in our Statement of Faith we deem necessary to sound doctrine and, therefore, requisite for Christian fellowship.


A BRIEF HISTORY


In 1905, the Home Mission, Incorporated was formed by five women from the North Baptist Church, Wilmington, Delaware. Two of these women, Amelia Taylor and Elsie Steele, started a Fresh Air Farm for underprivileged children on Meetinghouse Road. Later, children from Ogden formed a Sunday School class at the farm. Additional classes were taught in other area homes as attendance increased. In January of 1921, permission was granted to use the one room Ogden School for services. These services were held at 2:30 on Sunday afternoons. On Oct. 24, 1927, a Trustees meeting was held, and the first officers were elected. A charter for the church was filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware Count, Pennsylvania on December 30, 1927. That year was the pivotal year for the church as it was the year that the property on Naaman's Creek and Mill Roads was purchased as well as a portable wooden schoolhouse from the Marcus Hook school board. The charter was granted on January 27, 1928. In 1929, Rev. Louis Feust began serving as the first pastor of the church while also working for Sun Ship Company in Chester. In July of 1951 Edward Spencer was called as the first full time pastor. Under his leadership, ground was broken for a new auditorium in July 1955. December 1956 saw the arrival of the second full time pastor, Donald Parvin. In February of 1967, Gilbert Watt arrived to pastor the church. He was pastor for forty years, until his retirement in 2007. Under his leadership groundbreaking for a new building was held in September of 1968. Danny Hicks was called as the Assistant Pastor in 1980. After Pastor Watt retired, the church voted to call Pastor Dan as pastor. Troy Prater joined our staff in 2017 as Assistant Pastor.  Pastor Troy moved in October 2024 to be a pastor in Illinois.


"Except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it." As we look at the heritage that has been left us and the beautiful property that God has provided, we stand in awe of God's hand of blessing on our church. Yet, we know that God has much that He can yet do through us as we work together to serve Him.