Haran Baptist Church is a body of believers working together to serve and glorify God through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have a strong heritage of impacting our community since the 1920s and a bright future of shaping generations to come. When you come to worship with us, you will find all types of people all with varying backgrounds and interests. But you will also find that we have one thing in common: the grace of Jesus that has set us free from sin and given us new life in Him. Come as you are, dressed how you feel comfortable…and meet the Lord we serve and love, Jesus Christ.
Our Mission
Haran Baptist Church exists to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and to make Him known to those around us, wherever we may be. We do this through the power of the Holy Spirit in worship, prayer, fellowship, discipleship training, ministry, and missions to our community and the world.
Our Affiliations
We associate with the following organizations:
Roanoke Valley Baptist Association
Baptist General Association of Virginia
Southern Baptist Convention
Our History
In the latter part of 1920 and 1921 the logs began rolling for the Laurel Ridge Congregation to start a building of their own. At that time our people were sharing Kittinger’s Chapel with the Lutherans and the Brethren as their place of worship. The logs were sawed and I.M. Walker, O.F. Hunt, Garland Price, O.C. Simpson, H.L. Kirkwood, and T.H. Martin began planning the building, just a sanctuary, on the property donated by the Tinnell family.
The structure, built by “free labor”, was ready to be dedicated as Haran Baptist Church in the fall of 1924. At that time the preaching service was held only on the fourth Sunday of each month, although Sunday School was held every Sunday. Some years later a second preaching service was added on the second Sunday of each month.
Around 1950, growing pains were felt and a new sanctuary was erected with the old one divided into classrooms. The new sanctuary was dedicated in June 1952.
The first full-time pastor, Rev. Donald Knapp, was called in January 1961. Again, growing pains were felt, a new wing was built for classrooms, and the sanctuary was enlarged. The new building was dedicated in August 1964.
In the early 1970s, our people began expressing a desire to remodel the sanctuary, enlarge the choir area, and air-condition the sanctuary. This desire took concrete form in June 1974, when the church voted to secure the services of an architect to provide us with a scheme for remodeling. After a year of hard work, we had our first worship service in our beautiful new area on Youth Sunday, June 1, 1975.
In the fall of 1987, we voted to explore the possibility of building an addition that would include a fellowship hall, new restrooms and Sunday School classrooms. The preliminary plans were approved in February 1988. Final plans were approved in the fall of 1990. The church voted to secure the services of R.L. Price Construction, Inc. as the builder. On April 7, 1991 the ground breaking service for the new building was held.
Haran Baptist Church has been at the present site for 100 years. In a unique way our building reflects the history of those years. The building is a combination of the past and the present, the old and the new. Just as the oldest structure is still a vital part of our present church building, so is the faith of all those who labored in this vineyard before we arrived. They nurtured us in Christ, and without their faithful work we would not be here today. May we keep the rich heritage of Haran Baptist Church alive for the next 90 years and may we be found faithful in our work as those who have come before us.
Our Name
“Haran” is pronounced HAIR – an.
Our section of the Back Creek area was formerly known as Haran. There were also once a Haran post office, a Haran School (1872-1928), and a Haran Community League (active in the 1920s). Today we carry on the name!