First Baptist Church of Independence was first organized on the 22nd of April, 1870. Seventeen people made up the original membership who started out meeting in a 'hay house'. There have been many pastors, members, buildings, ministries and missions over the years, but by the grace of God, the words of one of our earliest Church Covenants will continue to hold true. "We engage, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, to watch over one another in brotherly love, to remember each other in prayer, to aid each other in sickness and distress, to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy of speech, to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation, and mindful of the rules of our Savior, to secure it without delay."