The Mount Olive Baptist Church (MOBC) was founded in the spring of 1870 when twenty-four Black citizens of Plainfield, NJ, applied for and were granted “letters of dismissal” from the city’s largest Baptist congregation, the predominantly white First Baptist Church. On April 5, 1870, the group gathered in the basement of First Baptist and held two worship services—moments that marked the beginning of Mount Olive Baptist Church, the first Black church in Plainfield.

​

From its earliest days, MOBC’s vision was to proclaim the Gospel while serving as a stabilizing force in the community. Often regarded as the cornerstone of Plainfield’s African American community, the church stood as both a refuge from and a resister to the realities of social discrimination, economic displacement, and political disenfranchisement.

​

On October 12, 1870, Mount Olive was officially incorporated under the laws of New Jersey as a religious corporation. Over its long and storied history, the church has played a pivotal role in shaping community life, serving as a catalyst for the founding of three other Plainfield congregations—Shiloh Baptist, Calvary Baptist, and Community Baptist. Known as “The Mother Church,” Mount Olive has made lasting contributions through missions at home and abroad, education, spiritual service, and leadership in African American history and culture.​​

​

Since its founding, fifteen pastors have faithfully shepherded the congregation. The current pastor, Reverend Eric W. Wallace, Sr., was called on September 26, 2016, following a line of devoted leaders: Reverends John Cary, John D. Bagwell, William Burch, Robert N. Fairfax, John W. Mitchell, W.W. Warnock, S. Gibson, F.F. Jackson, M.A. Alexander, M.W. Vaughan, Arthur D. Jones, William T.B. Hill, Herman S. Clipper, and Donald D. Nichols, Sr.

​

Their labor was not in vain. With grateful hearts we echo the psalmist: “For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations” (Psalm 100:5). To God be the glory for generations of faithfulness and grace.

​