About Us...

Yesterday

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In 1649, The Act of Toleration was legislated in Maryland,[1] giving freedom of worship to all Christians. The first Presbyterian came to Maryland with the arrival of Francis Makemie,[2] a Scottish missionary, who arrived in Somerset County in 1683. Presbyterians [3]began coming to this area at the invitation of Cecilius Calvert after they were driven out of Virginia by the intolerance of the Church of England, which labeled the Presbyterian Puritans. 

In 1715, a church was established by some of these Presbyterian settlers in the vicinity of Randallstown and was named after the nearby Patapsco River. This was the beginning of Mt. Paran’s history. The congregation grew with the community as people were attracted by the presence of a grist mill[9], which provided employment. The first minister of the congregation was Reverend Hugh Conn,[4] who emigrated from Ireland in response to a call from Presbyterians in the Baltimore area. He remained at the Patapsco Church until 1719, after which little is known about the early congregation.

Later, the church adopted the name of a nearby military post called "Soldiers’ Delight". From the formation of the Presbytery of Baltimore[5]in 1786 until 1815, ministers were enlisted from other churches in the area to supply in pulpit. The building fell into disuse and served as a sheepfold from 1815 until the 1830’s. 

The church was reorganized in 1841 under the name of Mt. Paran Presbyterian Church, after the "Mountains of Paran" the region south of Judah, the place of theophanies which are recorded in Deuteronomy 33:2[6] and Habakkuk 3:3[7]. Moses and the Israelites camped in the Plains of Paran after they left Mt. Sinai. From that time until the present there have been religious services in the present building. 

The original church was renovated in 1882[8]. It was rebuilt using the original log walls, increasing its height, length, and erecting its present steep roof. The logs were covered with clapboard and were not uncovered until an addition was made to the building in 1953. The coal oil lamps, which lit the church, were not replaced with electric lamps until 1945. Soon after, central heating was installed to take place of two pot-bellied stoves. An addition providing Sunday school rooms and added seating for church services was completed in 1953.  The congregation still worships in the Historic Chapel on Wednesday evenings at 7pm in the Spring and Summer months and periodically during during the rest of the year.

In 1956, Miss Kitty Fite, a lifelong member of Mt. Paran, gave the church ten acres of land, which bordered Liberty Road and extended, over the hill to the original church property. A manse was completed in 1957 to house Mt. Paran’s first full-time Pastor, the Reverend Valentine S. Alison and his family. A brick parish hall was constructed at the crest of the hill in 1960. That building, known as the Fellowship Hall, is the site of our main Sunday worship services and other activities today.  Mt Paran still has smaller services through the year in the historic chapel.

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An active and thriving congregation still worships at Mt. Paran every Sunday. In 2015, having outgrown the original edifice, the church moved it's 11am Sunday morning worship services to the Fellowship Hall.  Mt Paran still has smaller services through the week in the Historic Chapel.

Come, visit, grow, and worship with us.

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