Centuries of Faithfulness on the Banks of the Miami
On a Lord’s Day in February 1812, twenty-six Particular Baptists gathered in the home of Charles Hilliard Jr. in Piqua, Ohio. They sat on a few chairs, a rude bench or two, and boards laid over bits of log. They sang hymns, sat under God’s Word, took the Lord’s Supper, baptized in the Miami River, and covenanted to form the Salem Baptist Church. More than two centuries later, the body that grew out of that gathering still meets in Piqua under the name Piqua Baptist Church, with the same conviction that moved those pioneers: to preach the gospel, observe the ordinances, and maintain the discipline of Christ’s people.
Those early members supported the global work of Adoniram Judson in Burma and, between 1832 and 1838, sent pastors to plant churches in Sidney, St. Marys, and Covington. A century after the founding, in the spring of 1911, 297 charter members voted unanimously to unite with another congregation and form Piqua Baptist Church. Then, in 2023, members of Piqua Baptist voted to unite with CornerstonePiqua, a young church planted in 2015 by Pastors Jamie Wellman and Brent Phillips. Today, Piqua Baptist gathers at 1402 W. High St. in Piqua, Miami County, with the motto the congregation keeps at the center of everything it does: “Proclaiming the Excellencies of Christ Until Christ is the Delight of All.”
An Elder-Led, Non-Denominational Baptist Church
Piqua Baptist is not part of a denomination. The congregation explains that “being Baptist” means three things: baptism is reserved for believers who have made a credible profession of faith, the local church is autonomous, and the congregation, submitting to Jesus Christ in His Word, is the final authority for the church. Its structure is elder-led and congregational. A plurality of elders - the New Testament uses “elder,” “pastor,” “overseer,” and “shepherd” interchangeably - oversees the church and cares for her spiritual needs. Deacons, appointed by the congregation, oversee physical needs. Ministry leaders, appointed by the elders, oversee the various ministries of the church.
While not affiliated with any denomination, Piqua Baptist maintains warm relationships with a few church associations. The church is an active member of the Miami Valley chapter of the Gospel Coalition, a fellowship of gospel-centered churches in the region. It also keeps close association with 9Marks, the Harbor Network, and the Sovereign Grace Network.
What the Church Believes
The church’s statement of faith covers the main points of historic Christian doctrine in a thorough, confessional manner. Piqua Baptist believes the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the verbally inspired, infallible, and trustworthy Word of God, the final authority for faith and life. There is one true and living God, eternal and self-existent, who has eternally existed in three equally divine Persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and all that God does He does for His own glory.
God is sovereign over all things, freely decreeing from eternity all that should happen, governing everything from the movement of galaxies to the hearts of men without making Himself the author of evil. Man was created in the image of God but, in Adam’s sin, the human race fell into total depravity and alienation. Salvation is the gift of God, received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose blood was shed on the cross in place of sinners. Justification is by faith alone, with Christ’s righteousness imputed to the believer. God justifies the elect in a free act of glorious grace, declaring them righteous and acceptable in His presence on the basis of Christ’s merits alone.
The church teaches the eternal security of the believer: all who are justified will persevere in faith, secured by the Father’s decree, the blood of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit. The Second Advent of Christ is bodily and visible, with the dead in Christ raised to receive a blessed immortality. A day of final judgment is appointed in which God will judge humanity in righteousness by Jesus Christ. The full statement of faith is set out in the Piqua Baptist Church Book of Faith & Order, available as a downloadable PDF.
What to Expect on a Sunday Morning
Sunday School begins at 9:30 AM and the morning worship gathering follows at 10:45 AM. The services last around ninety minutes. Visitors are encouraged to come as they are and to dress in what feels most comfortable. Ushers are on hand to help guests find what they need.
A worship service at Piqua Baptist is built around what the church calls “Christ-exalting worship.” A pastor opens with a call to worship by reading a section of Scripture that highlights some element of God’s glory. The congregation then sings a mix of hymns and contemporary praise songs chosen to point to the wonder and majesty of Jesus Christ. After the singing, a pastor leads the congregation in pastoral prayer, followed by the Lord’s Supper, which is observed every week. Following the Lord’s Supper, children from preschool through fifth grade are invited to a class in the education wing where qualified teachers communicate the gospel in age-appropriate ways. A nursery is open during the preaching portion of the service for infants and babies.
The center of the gathering is the exposition of Scripture. Pastors preach through books of the Bible, one verse at a time, relating every text to Jesus Christ and Him crucified. After the sermon, a pastor leads the congregation in a confession of sin and assurance of pardon. The service closes with a benediction, in which a pastor blesses the people with prayer and a Scripture reading.
Expository Preaching Book by Book
Piqua Baptist is committed to expository, verse-by-verse preaching. At the time of writing, the pastors are working their way through 1 Kings, a series that has been running through the summer and into the fall, taking the congregation chapter by chapter through the divided kingdom, the prophets, and the kings of Israel and Judah. Past series include expository runs through 1 Corinthians, the Gospel of Luke, 1 and 2 Samuel, Amos, Psalms, Galatians, Ephesians, and Advent and Easter series in addition to topical series on missions, the church, prayer, and the dignity of human life.
The full sermon archive, with audio and manuscript, is available on the church website and includes contributions from guest preachers such as Joel Hollins and Johnathan Newman of Koinos Church, who have come to preach on missions and the sanctity of life. The sermon of record is treated as the centerpiece of the church’s ministry: a steady diet of Scripture, opened carefully and applied directly to the lives of those gathered.
Discipleship Groups: Living Stones
Discipleship happens best in smaller circles, and Piqua Baptist organizes its members into LivingStones Discipleship Groups. Drawing on the image in 1 Peter 2:5 of believers being built up as living stones into a spiritual house, these groups meet every other week in homes and coffee shops to study the Bible, pray for one another, encourage one another, and pursue Christlikeness together.
Two kinds of groups are offered. Deductive groups work through topics drawn from across the Bible, expounding biblical doctrines. Inductive groups take sections of Scripture and examine them in context, drawing out implications and applications. Both kinds are designed to cultivate gospel-centered community, one of the church’s seven stated values. The church considers regular participation in a discipleship group the primary way members care for one another, are cared for themselves, and grow as disciples of Christ.
PBC Kids: The Gospel for Every Age
PBC Kids exists to lay the foundation stones of the gospel in the hearts and minds of the church’s children, from preschool through fifth grade. The church teaches that the primary work of Christ-forming discipleship is done at home by parents, and the curriculum is built to partner with parents by reinforcing foundational gospel principles at every grade level. On Sunday mornings, children are dismissed after the Lord’s Supper for an age-appropriate class in the education wing, and a nursery is open during the preaching portion of the service. The aim is to prepare each child to graduate into Christian community and life within the local church.
PBC Teens
PBC Teens is the weekly, midweek gathering of junior high and high schoolers from across the community. Wednesday evenings at 6:30 PM, students gather in the Youth Room at Piqua Baptist for hanging out, worship, and gospel-centered teaching that proclaims the excellencies of Christ. The group aims to establish young believers in the historic Christian faith through rich, biblical, exegetical teaching and strong, edifying Christian fellowship. Michael Deeren oversees the ministry and serves as the contact for families with questions about PBC Teens.
Care Ministry and Biblical Counseling
Care Ministry at Piqua Baptist draws its inspiration from Acts 2:44-45, where the early believers had all things in common and distributed to any who had need. The church takes seriously its responsibility to care for one another, and most of that caring happens within Discipleship Groups. When a need exceeds what a group can meet, Care Deacons step in and distribute resources to address it. Members can submit a Care Need Request form on the website to be contacted by a Care Deacon.
Piqua Baptist also offers free Biblical Counseling from trained and certified biblical counselors. Anchored in the conviction that the Bible is sufficient to resolve life’s most challenging situations, the counseling ministry addresses marriage struggles, parenting questions, depression and anxiety, and sexual sin, among other issues. Counselors point those who come to them to the promise of Psalm 34:18 that the Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and to 2 Peter 1:3 that God’s power has granted everything needed for life and godliness. To be contacted by a Biblical Counselor, the church provides a Biblical Counseling Form on its website.
Outreach: The Unreached, the Unplaced, and the Unborn
Missions at Piqua Baptist is woven into all the church does, not siloed off as one program among many. Since the Salem Baptist days, when the congregation supported Adoniram Judson in Burma, PBC has sought to train, equip, and send missionaries to reach every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. The church frames its outreach around three groups: the unreached, the unplaced, and the unborn.
Locally, members are trained and equipped to engage the lost throughout their everyday lives, whether at work, in their neighborhoods, or through evangelistic events. Piqua Baptist supports and encourages volunteering through area mercy ministries, including the Piqua Compassion Network and the Bethany Center Food Pantry. Several members are involved in Bible education programs like Lifewise Academy, which provides Christian education in public schools. Piqua Baptist also supports Elizabeth’s New Life Center, an organization that provides care for mothers considering abortion. The church encourages its members to be either joyful, sacrificial goers or joyful, sacrificial senders in the cause of global mission.
Globally, Piqua Baptist seeks to continue its 200-year-old legacy of supporting and sending men and women to proclaim the excellencies of Christ among the nations. The goal is to nurture, equip, and mobilize members to serve the advance of the gospel among unreached people groups, working through short-term and mid-term mission trips, equipping and sending new missionaries, and partnering with existing missionaries on the field.
Cornerstone Institute
Cornerstone Institute is one of the ministries listed among Piqua Baptist’s regular offerings. The church directs those interested to learn more through its website, where it is featured alongside Discipleship Groups, PBC Teens, PBC Kids, Outreach, Care Ministry, and Biblical Counseling as part of the church’s ministry family.
The Pastors and Staff
Jamie Wellman serves as Senior Pastor. With more than twenty-five years of ministry experience, his passion is to see Christ formed in His people through the local church. He and his wife Sara, his high school sweetheart, married in 2000 and have four children: Micah, Emma, Lilian, and Ethan. Steve Minter serves as Executive Pastor. Paul Sullenberger, Brent Phillips, and Matt Flora serve as pastors, with Matt Flora contributing regularly to the preaching rotation, including a recent series through Ephesians. Doug Morris is a Pastor in Training. Julie Wombold is on staff. The pastors are assisted in ministry by ministry leaders across the church, including Michael Deeren, who leads PBC Teens.
The Bible Reading Plan and Resources
Piqua Baptist promotes an annual whole-Bible reading plan that walks members through the entire Bible in a year, with six days of readings and Sunday set aside for the sermon text. The plan is built around seven admonitions drawn from the resolutions of Jonathan Edwards: read diligently, read deeply, read widely, read communally, read humbly, read prayerfully, and read practically. In addition to the sermon archive, the church offers resources on its website including recommended books, courses, podcasts, an ongoing series titled “Excellencies of Christ,” and the Bible Reading Plan itself.
Seven Values for the Mission
The church has articulated seven values that create the necessary context for effective decision-making. Biblical Authority: the church commits itself to the full authority of Scripture, which alone is sufficient for life and godliness. Genuine Worship: worship that exalts the matchless reputation of God through Scripture reading, preaching and teaching, reverent observance of the ordinances, common prayer, and singing to God’s glory. Ethical Integrity: a ministry marked by honest communication, mutual accountability, and responsible stewardship. Evangelistic Fervor: equipping members for personal evangelism, supporting and praying for missions at home and abroad, and praying for spiritual revival. Ministry Training: equipping members for the work of Christian ministry through education in the Scriptures and the exercise of spiritual gifts in discipling relationships. Community Atmosphere: a culture of mutual love, prayer for one another, bearing one another’s burdens, and hospitality to all. Cultural Engagement: shaping members to a counter-cultural society formed by God’s Word and Spirit, sacrificially serving neighbors and enemies for the physical and spiritual good of those outside the church.
Giving, Visiting, and Getting Connected
Giving can be done online through the church’s giving page, which is linked from the main menu under the GIVE button. Those wishing to visit or learn more are pointed to the “What to Expect?” section of the website, which answers the most common questions about what type of church Piqua Baptist is, what to wear, what happens on arrival, and what a typical service is like. The best way to get connected at Piqua Baptist, the church teaches, is by joining a Discipleship Group. Visitors with questions about the church’s beliefs, ministries, or service times can reach out through the contact page, by phone at 937-773-4583, or by using the contact form on the website.
A Church on Mission in Piqua, Miami County, and the World
From twenty-six Particular Baptists around a rough-hewn table in 1812 to a body of believers now shepherded by a team of pastors and serving its neighbors in Piqua, Miami County, and the world, Piqua Baptist Church has kept the same charge: proclaim the excellencies of Jesus Christ. The work looks different across two centuries - congregations have merged, generations have come and gone, preaching has moved from verse to verse through books of the Bible, and the church has built ministries for children, students, families, and missionaries - but the center has held. Until Christ is the delight of all.