The First Baptist Church of Seymour, Indiana was established in 1839. We are just under two decades from celebrating 200 years as a church. During that time, we have gone through one name change (originally it was Liberty Baptist Church) and we have been housed in five different buildings at five different locations. We have a rich and robust history of community involvement and engagement through our almost two centuries of existence.
It’s difficult to say how many times over the last six months that I’ve thought or said, “I wonder how our church handled things during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918.” I’ve often thought it would be interesting to see pictures of people at the church during that time. A few weeks ago, my curiosity bubbled to the point I could no longer contain it. So, I went on a fact-finding mission to discover what I could about how we handled the last pandemic. While I couldn’t find the much coveted images for which I was hoping, I was able to find an old annual report from December of 1918 that provided some interesting details.
Much as we experienced in the months of March and April of this year, churches, schools, and other organizations were forced to make the difficult decision to suspend in person gatherings for a period of time.
The “Pastor’s Report” was of particular interest. The church clerk noted that the pastor at the time, F. A. Hayward, showed “a wonderful record of works done in the past year, especially when we take into consideration the periods when no work could be done on account of the fuel situation and the influenza epidemic.” Much as we experienced in the months of March and April of this year, churches, schools, and other organizations were forced to make the difficult decision to suspend in person gatherings for a period of time. An article about the church out of an Indy area paper went on to further note that church leadership was forced to innovatively use what had been an underused technology to create means of connection. Just as we have been forced to implement newer technologies such as Zoom and other video based services in order to maintain connection, they had to discover ways to creatively use the telephone.
The “Trustees Report,” while very short, also showed some similarities. The trustees noted that they, “Borrowed $300 from First National and church building fund to keep bills paid during fuel shortage and influenza epidemic.” Many of us can relate to the reality of financial hardships brought on because of our current pandemic. Were it not for Congress passing a stimulus bill and offering the Cares Grant a few months back, the financial toll would have been more damaging than it has been. Just as we are dealing with various levels of financial uncertainty today, they felt the pinch back then.
There were other little nuggets I found, some incredibly sad, but most were incredibly encouraging. The pastor reported conducting 57 funerals that year, just over one funeral a week. Several committees reported stepping up to assist the hurting and the needy in our community and around the world. What was most encouraging, though, was that even during this difficult time, the church was still discussing dreams of how they might remodel their facilities and expand their efforts to fulfill their mission to reach the community and demonstrate the love of Jesus in meaningful ways. When you put all of the various pieces together, they paint a picture of a church that kept the faith and found their God to be faithful 
through an extremely difficult and uncomfortable time.
First Baptist celebrated its 80th anniversary under the shadow of the influenza epidemic. An article in a local paper noted that Rev. Charles L. Graham, a former pastor of the church, shared a message on a Sunday night. He urged those in attendance to see the incredible opportunity set before the church at that time. He said, “God has brought to the church the opportunity for the greatest service for the world since Christ was on the earth.” I find this to be both inspiring and appropriate for where we find ourselves today.
This is not the end of the world, but the emergence of an incredible opportunity.
The truth is we’ve been here before. This is not the first time that we as a church, a community, or a country have endured such difficulties. As Jesus noted in Matthew 24, wars, famines, and natural disasters are going to be a part of our earthly experience. This is not the end of the world, but the emergence of an incredible opportunity. Our task is to hold onto and hold out hope through it all. Our task is to find the opportunities in the obstacles and shine light in the darkness. Hopefully, 100 years down the road, someone will dust off some old books and old articles and find inspiration and encouragement in what we do today.
