Southwick Baptist Church 

This appeal is addressed to anyone who is willing to financially support our congregation in paying for our new church building. Below is a brief summary of our church’s history!

Our church was formed in 1997-1998 after a group of Christian immigrants arrived in Massachusetts from the former Soviet Union.  

For the first few years, we met in a rented facility. As our church grew, we built a church building in Southwick in 2001 that accommodated our congregation, which had approximately 75 church members and children.  

Over the years, our church has continued to grow. In 2018, our church building could no longer accommodate our congregation. Our plans for building or purchase a larger church building were put on hold during the 2019-2022 pandemic years.  

The year 2022 began with the disturbing news for our Christian community: February marked the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Waves of new refugees from Ukraine began to arrive in the United States.  

During this time, our church has helped many churches in Ukraine that were sheltering Christian refugees from the other parts of Ukraine where the fighting was fierce.  

Nonetheless, a number of Christian families from Ukraine fled to the United States for safety. During this time, our church has welcomed more than one hundred refugees, and now our congregation numbers 335 members, more than 260 children and 100 youths.

The Church prayed and fasted about finding a larger church building because we could no longer fit in our existing church building. In April 2023, we learned that a suitable building will be sold at an auction. On May 4, 2023, our church purchased this building at an auction for $1.4 million plus $400,000 in back taxes owed by the previous owners to the city. In addition to these costs, additional funding is needed to make some repairs to the building.

Our church members have generously donated their funds, but those funds are not enough to pay for the full amount of the purchase price and repairs. Therefore, we are asking for help. May the Lord bless you! We appreciate your support!

Church buys Chez Josef property in Agawam at foreclosure auction - masslive.com