Where we’ve been. Where we’re going.

Severns Valley Baptist Church is the oldest evangelical church west of the Allegheny Mountains, founded June 18, 1781 when the early settlers came to the area. The first settlement was called Severns Valley, after one of the early settlers, John Severns. The church took the name of the settlement. The town was known later as Elizabethtown. Severns Valley was a church before Elizabethtown was a city and before Kentucky was a state. In the beginning, there was no house of worship, rather history says the settlers met under a sugar maple tree and the men held their rifles at hand should Indians attack. From beneath the sugar maple tree, to log cabins to the current location which is the seventh house of worship, the congregation birthed from a handful of founding members continues to grow today. The first service in the current location at 1100 Ring Road was held the first Sunday in March 2007.

Through the years, the church has started and sponsored local missions which exist as thriving Baptist churches today. Among those are Immanuel, Central Avenue, Berean, and Northside Baptist. Since 1781 the church has stood as a beacon to the community, sharing the Good News of Christ locally, regionally and even internationally. Though the history of Severns Valley is deep and longstanding, the mission of reaching a lost world for Christ has not wavered and continues to be the primary focus of the congregation. The church is proud of a strong heritage but does not rest on the past. Severns Valley continually strives to provide innovative and current methods of communicating the Gospel and discipling Christians.

Severns Valley partners with the Kentucky Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention through the Cooperative Program to fund mission causes around the globe.