Zoar Baptist Church

Zoar Baptist Church. . This is one of the oldest churches in Saline County. It was organized about 1825, with nine founding members. "Zoar", appropriately means "little" (Genesis 19:22). The first church building was erected in 1831, of logs, in the Hardeman neighborhood, about four miles northeast of here. Peyton Nowlin (1767-1837), a native of Virginia, was the first pastor. He was one of the first ministers of any denomination in Saline County, and he was known as the "marrying person" because he was the pastor at so many early Saline County marriages. , A second church building was built in 1849 near Hardeman. In 1860 the congregation moved to Jonesboro (now Napton) and built the present church building, now 140 years old. Preaching services have been held without interruption since 1825, including during the war years 1861-1865. One day during the war the state militia surrounded the church during preaching and made the men inside fall in line and march away. , The church became a member of the old Concord Baptist Association in 1829; it is now a member of the Missouri Baptist Association and the Southern Baptist Convention.