The following 1994 history is from the Lake Church Board of Deacons: “In Bulloch County, Georgia, on November 27, 1823, in a log building near the Fifteen Mile Creek, a church of Jesus Christ was constituted. The minutes of their first conference began: ‘We the Baptist Church of Christ as we hope at the Lake…’ Today, that church is called the Lake Primitive Baptist Church.”

The congregation began with 18 charter members: Thomas Greene, John Dickson, Hezekiah Bowen, Ceng Dickson, Nancy Green, Mary Mercer, Sarah Douberly, Martha Collins, John Green, John Collins, Elizabeth Green, Sarah (a woman of color), Barbary Wills, Veanis (a woman of color), Nancy Cussey, George Pike, Rylie Mercer, and Lucy (a woman of color). The first pastor was Elder Robert Donaldson; James Collins served as the first clerk, and Abner Stubbs was ordained as the first deacon.

The original log meetinghouse was destroyed by a hurricane in the early 1830s. Members and friends of the church then built the present sanctuary, dedicated on April 5, 1839. Perched on a bluff overlooking the lake on Fifteen Mile Creek—now in Candler County, three miles east of Metter—the building was crafted from virgin pine in the simple, rectangular style of early meetinghouses.

Over the years, the structure has seen several changes. In December 1880, a building committee—L. Cartee, A. Trapnell, A. Franklin, Madison Warren, and D.L. Kennedy—relocated the main entrance from the south to the east side, added a full-width porch with Doric columns, and moved the pulpit to face the new entry. In October 1942, a baptismal pool was installed directly behind the pulpit, followed by a new wood floor in 1946, laid over the original wide planks. In 1969, members built a cement block annex with a kitchen and dining room.

Lake Church is the “Mother Church” of the Metter Primitive Baptist Church, granted letters in July 1900 to constitute the new congregation. From its founding—when Elders Jordan Smith, Abram Joyner, and Robert Donaldson examined the covenant and formally organized it—Lake Primitive Baptist has stood as “The House of God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”

Today, under the leadership of Elder Gerald Proctor, the church remains well preserved and lovingly cared for, with a membership of 44.