First Baptist Church of Sudbury sits on Landham Road, a quiet residential street on the eastern side of Sudbury, Massachusetts, in the Metrowest corridor west of Boston. The congregation, often called FBC Sudbury or FBCS, was constituted in 1963 and is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention through the Baptist Convention of New England and the Greater Boston Baptist Association. Its stated motto, "Authentic Community. Ambitious Mission.", sums up a church that invests heavily in expository preaching, covenant membership, small-group life, and an unusually broad portfolio of mission partners ranging from a Bible study in downtown Framingham to church planters in Paris and a family serving in Uganda.
Worship on Sunday Morning
The Sunday schedule follows a steady rhythm that has long been the backbone of the church. Sunday School runs from 9:00 to about 10:15 a.m., followed by the main worship service at 10:30 a.m., which lasts about ninety minutes. A livestream is available each week for those unable to attend in person.
The worship gathering is built around the Word. Each service includes reading, praying, singing, and preaching the Bible, and the Lord's Supper is observed every week. Music is deliberately blended, drawing from modern hymns, contemporary worship songs, and traditional hymns, with the goal of grounding hearts in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The congregation draws members from across Metrowest, not just Sudbury itself.
Visitors often wonder what to wear. The church's answer is simple: "If you prefer dressy, business, or casual attire, chances are there will be others dressed much like you no matter when you visit." The service is livestreamed each Sunday.
Children and Youth
FBC Sudbury takes seriously the instruction, "we want our affections for Christ and one another to be growing through His word by the power of the Spirit," and that conviction shapes its Next Gen Kids ministry. During the 9:00 a.m. Sunday School hour, classes are offered for nursery (ages 0 to 4), kindergarten through second grade, and third through fifth grade. The curriculum, The Biggest Story, walks children from Genesis to the return of Christ and is designed to help them grasp the overarching message of redemption.
During the worship service, children in PreK through fifth grade stay with their parents for the first half of the gathering and are then dismissed to Next Gen Kids before the sermon. They return to the service before communion at the close. Nursery care for infants and toddlers is available throughout, with drop-off beginning ten minutes before the service starts. On the fifth Sunday of any month, only nursery care is offered. All children's ministry volunteers are background-checked. TJ Chesnut, the Minister of Community Gatherings and Operations, oversees the program along with Jess Bogle, Associate of Community Discipleship and Children.
KGS Youth is the student ministry, and the acronym captures its purpose: Knowledge of God, Growth in relationships, and Sharing the gospel. Middle school and high school students meet on Sunday evenings from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the upstairs youth room for games, social time, worship music, a lesson, and small-group discussion. A current Sunday morning option is the First Principles class at 9:00 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall, which is designed to help students learn how to study Scripture for the purpose of teaching it to others. The student ministry is led by Pastor Jay Ridenour and Pastor Joe Romeo of Crossroads Community Church.
The Gospel at the Center
The church tells the gospel in four movements. First, the God of the Bible is a mighty creator, a righteous judge, and a loving father. Second, every person has sinned against God and fallen short of the righteousness required to live in His presence, and the result of that sin is everlasting separation from Him. Third, God sent His Son Jesus to die in the place of sinners and to rise again, restoring the right relationship between God and man. Fourth, the right response is faith: belief in the whole truth of Jesus, leading to a life ordered by His plan.
This gospel sits at the center of the church's doctrinal commitments. The Statement of Faith follows "The Baptist Faith and Message," adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in 1963, and affirms doctrines such as the Trinity, the full deity and humanity of Christ, the inspiration and authority of Scripture, salvation by grace through faith, the baptism of believers by immersion, and the observance of the Lord's Supper. The church teaches that baptism is a prerequisite for membership and the Lord's Supper, and the Lord's Supper is celebrated at least quarterly, though in practice the church takes communion every Sunday during the worship service.
From a Framingham Living Room to Landham Road
First Baptist Church of Sudbury is the legal successor in interest to Calvary Baptist of Framingham. The story began on September 27, 1961, when two local families met in a home in Framingham with an area missionary, a pastor, and a representative from Rice Memorial Baptist Church for a weekly Bible study. Less than a year later, in April 1962, the first Sunday worship service was held. A Women's Missionary Union was organized in April 1963, and on October 11, 1963, the congregation was formally constituted as Calvary Baptist of Framingham with thirty-seven charter members.
Over the decades, the church has worked with local and state partners to serve the Boston and Metrowest area, planting churches, sharing resources, and supporting mission work. At some point it changed its name and relocated, and today it meets at 162 Landham Road in Sudbury. As the church describes its present identity, "Today we are a family of believers committed to Christ, His word, and His mission. We want to live as authentically as possible, having joy in all circumstances and being united around the person of Christ and His truth."
Church Covenant, Elders, and Deacons
The congregation operates as a sovereign and democratic Baptist body under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Two offices carry the weight of that vision: elders and deacons. Elders are described as pastors of the congregation and are responsible for prayer, teaching, guarding sound doctrine, shepherding the flock, overseeing baptism and the Lord's Supper, and supervising local, regional, and global missions. Staff elders include the Senior Pastor and Associate Pastors; the Senior Pastor is Jay Ridenour. Other elders currently serving are Billy Boyce, James Agabedis, Joe Rotz, and Vince Maiorana. Elder terms run three years, and most elders must have been members for at least six months before nomination.
Deacons lead ministry teams in four areas. Hospitality welcomes members and visitors and organizes setup and cleanup for congregational meetings. Finance oversees giving, bills, and the benevolence fund. Facilities, who also serve as trustees of the corporation under Massachusetts law, care for all real and personal property. A Deacon Moderator presides over congregational meetings using Robert's Rules of Order. Currently serving as deacons are Kelley Antunes, Katie Bonner, and Kim Maiorana (Hospitality); Sara Donovan and Chris Farrington (Finance); Dave McGarry and Derly Moraes (Facilities); and Beth Perry (Hospitality).
The Church Covenant is a short, scripture-saturated document organized around four themes drawn from God's character: joy in Christ, unity in the Spirit, mission to the world, and sacrificial living. Members commit to walking in the joy of salvation, holding one another accountable to holiness, partnering globally with missionaries of like faith, and offering their lives as living sacrifices. The covenant closes with the prayer of Philippians 1:9-11, that love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment.
Becoming a Member
Membership at FBC Sudbury is more than an attendance roll; it is a covenant partnership. The process laid out for prospective members has five steps. First, attend a membership class taught by an elder, which gives a thorough overview of the church's beliefs and distinctives. Second, read a short book called The Character of the Church to lay a foundation for the biblical reasons for membership. Third, meet with an elder for a personal conversation about faith. Fourth, be baptized by immersion if you have not already been. Fifth, profess a desire for membership and belief in Jesus before the congregation, with members voting to receive new members by a three-fourths majority.
Quarterly business meetings give the congregation a voice in budgets, officer elections, and membership decisions. The church's fiscal year runs January through December 31, and a ten-percent quorum of resident members is generally required to conduct business, with a twenty-five-percent quorum required for the election of deacons, the calling of any employee, or matters of discipline.
Community Groups and Bible Studies
Mid-week community groups are a defining feature of the church. The pattern is simple: a meal, a Bible study, prayer, and the kind of conversation that does not happen in a pew. Five groups meet on a regular cadence across the Metrowest area:
- Agabedis/Chisari Group: Tuesdays at 6:00 p.m. in Sudbury
- Wolfe Group: Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. in Sudbury
- Bonner Group: Thursdays at 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. in Framingham, currently studying 1 Peter
- Stehle Group: Fridays at 6:00 p.m. for people from Framingham, Sudbury, and Weston
- Monthly Group: Saturdays at 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall, led by Joe Rotz and Donna Pagan and currently studying James
A women's Bible study meets on Thursday evenings and works through The Other Half of Church, a book about practices that develop Christian character and gospel-centered relationships. The study is led by Jess Bogle and is open to women of all ages.
Missions: Local, Regional, Global
"Ambitious mission" is the second half of the church's motto, and the missions budget reflects a deliberate strategy. Locally, FBC Sudbury partners with families and ministries in Sudbury and Framingham, including Vacation Bible Adventure and Basketball Clinics in the summer, the Pelham Learning Center Bible study, and a downtown Bible study led by Edgardo Rosa that reaches four Framingham apartment complexes. Michael and Michelle Dean serve international students through their ministry, and Jonathan Mosley leads King's Hill Church in Boston's Mission Hill neighborhood, a church plant focused on college students, young adults, and low-income families.
Regionally, the church supports Matt and Alis Henderson, who lead Rhody Christian Fellowship, a collegiate ministry on the University of Rhode Island campus.
Globally, the church stands behind four partnerships. The A-Team focuses on building relationships and sharing the gospel with an unreached people group in East Asia, and the church supports them with prayer, giving, and an annual mission trip. David and Nekayeh Carothers serve with the International Mission Board as church planters in the Paris suburb of Bourg-la-Reine, while Nekayeh also serves as a Field Medical Coordinator for IMB personnel across Europe. Rei Matthews pursues gospel-centered relationships in the Middle East, using biblical counseling as one of her platforms. Anthony and Mary Basaba serve with SOS Ministries in Uganda, engaging in pastoral training, health care, and community outreach. The church takes an annual mission trip to join them in person.
Summer Internships
Each summer, FBC Sudbury runs an internship program for college and seminary-age students. Interns live with a host family in the area and spend eleven weeks immersed in the rhythms of the church: prayer, discipleship, theological education, biblical interpretation, and hands-on ministry experience. Three tracks are offered in 2026: Church Leadership, Worship Ministry, and a year-long Pastoral and Ministry track, and interns are paid $1,000 over the summer. The program is led under the direction of Pastor Jay Ridenour and Edgardo Rosa, and applications are reviewed on a rolling basis each January.
Facility Use and Giving
The building at 162 Landham Road is used for more than Sunday services. Weddings and funerals are hosted there, and the church has a process for building usage requests from members and outside groups. Online giving, including one-time and recurring gifts, is available through the church's Church Center platform. Members can also direct their giving to specific missionaries and benevolence needs through that same tool.
Preaching and Teaching
Sermons at FBC Sudbury are generally expository, working through books of the Bible with occasional topical series. Recent series have walked through the Psalms and through Exodus, and a Core Values series in 2025 explored themes of mission, unity, and joy. Recordings are posted to the sermon archive, and Sunday School recordings cover a broad range of topics: apologetics, Christian basics, Christian parenting, the Old Testament, theology through the body, historical heresies, and more, all designed for members who want to keep learning between Sundays.
Visiting and Getting Connected
First-time visitors can expect a warm welcome. Coffee and conversation are part of the rhythm after the service, and staff are happy to answer questions. Jess Bogle, TJ Chesnut, and Pastor Jay can all be reached by email, and the church office is open during the week at 978-443-7171. The Sunday bulletin, upcoming events, and a sign-up form for email updates are all available from the church. Giving, sermon archive, the Church Center app for registrations, and information about community groups are all accessible online as well. Those interested in learning more about membership are invited to attend the next membership class, taught by Pastor Jay, and to email the church office to get on the list.