Church History

Long History on the Long Plain

The story of the Long Plain Baptist Church can be told in terms of three long pastorates.

IN THE 1780s, Elder Daniel Hix came to the Dartmouth/New Bedford area to preach the gospel and pastor a branch congregation of his brother’s Baptist church in Rehoboth. He had grown up in a pastor’s home, his father being Elder John Hix of Rehoboth, and his brother was also a pastor, Elder Jacob Hix of Rehoboth. However, it wasn’t until December 17, 1779 that he turned to Christ. In March of the following year, he preached his first sermon and in July 1780 he was ordained for gospel ministry. On April 5, 1781, Elder Daniel Hix moved to Dartmouth. It seems the early Dartmouth church was originally Calvinistic, using, for instance, Isaac Backus’s confession of faith as their own, but Hix’s views changed as they moved into the early 1800s. Today, the church he ministered to is the First Church of Hixville, which he had moved from being Baptist to being Christian, and has in recent decades returned to being Baptist.

In November, 1785, Tucker Tabor, a resident of Long Plain, was baptized by Elder Daniel Hix. Tabor held meetings in Long Plain and eventually became a preacher. “In the beginning of 1787, a revival began in the place called Long Plain, as nearly as can be ascertained under the labors of Tucker Tabor, who lived there.” On April 27, 1787, a group of baptized Christians gathered to establish Long Plain Baptist Church, what at that time was considered a “branch church” of the church in Dartmouth. In 1795, they voted to construct a building for their church, and in 1796 they accomplished that task. Though Daniel Hix had been pastoring the church since 1787, the earliest records state that in 1805 he was “officially” called as the pastor of the church. He was only able to come from his home and other church twice a month, and was paid $50 a year to do so. In 1807, the Groton Conference met at Long Plain, and Elder Hix preached the first sermon. That same year, the church dropped all creeds, confessions, bylaws, etc., and in 1811 they were removed from the local Baptist association. Due to various issues surrounding Hix’s erroneous acceptance of these doctrines the church dwindled and was disbanded in 1837 and reunited the following year, in 1838, under Pastor Ira Leland. They joined the Taunton Baptist Association. A new building was constructed in 1847, which stood until the 1960s.

IN THE 1940s, Pastor Stan Decker was called to the church while studying at Gordon College in Boston, and under his ministry the church grew. Under Pastor Decker, the church was involved as a founding member of the Conservative Baptist Association. Eventually, in the 1960s, they tore down the second church building and began meeting permanently in the building that had been constructed for the Long Plain Christian School. This remains the building we use for our worship services today.

IN 1990, one of the elders, Hank Souza, was called to be the full time pastor. He served for thirty-seven years, the first ten as an elder and the final twenty-seven as the lead pastor.