Thank you for visiting our website!

Here you will find information concerning our church and its ministries. We hope you find your time spent here a blessing. We are a warm and loving community, and we want you to feel comfortable and at liberty to call on us for anything you need. Please browse through the various areas of our website and learn about our fellowship.

Emmitsburg Community Baptist Church

A Brief History

Emmitsburg Community Bible Church (ECBC) is a young church which began with a vision for Emmitsburg Maryland. Regular Sunday services started in July 2011. The first services were held at the Lions Club near Keymar, Maryland, and then arrangements were made to rent rooms on Sundays at the Emmitsburg Elementary School in Emmitsburg. ECBC’s first Pastor was Gary Buchmann who had a desire to establish an evangelical church in the Emmitsburg area. Gary grew up in Carrol County, Maryland, so it was not as if Gary was a stranger to the Emmitsburg area. Gary had a number of friends that shared his vision and followed him from Taneytown Baptist Church where he had been Pastor. ECBC had good attendance from the very beginning with 30-35 regular members in attendance nearly every Sunday. Pastor Gary also had a vision for mission support and organized and managed mission trips to other churches in Mexico, New Mexico, the Dominican Republic and nearby West Virginia.

The arrangement with Emmitsburg Elementary School lasted for several years until the new Pastor Joe Engel, made arrangements to rent and re-condition a facility for worship and study at our current location on Creamery Road. It was also at this time that the church voted to change its name from Emmitsburg Community Bible Church to its current name Emmitsburg Community Baptist Church. This was how ECBC started and settled in its current location.

Our current Pastor Joe Engel has an enormous background in ministry and has served as a youth pastor, associate pastor, interim pastor and has pastored churches in Des Moines, Iowa, Largo, Maryland, Ashton, Maryland, Laurel, Maryland, North Beach, Maryland and Taneytown, Maryland. He has held revivals in India and Romania. He attended Baptist Bible College from 1971-1975, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1977–1981, Washington Bible College from 1982-1983 and Freedom University from 1985-1989. He became Lead Pastor at ECBC on May 21, 2017, and also periodically leads church visitations and services at “The Gardens at Gettysburg for Nursing and Rehabilitation” in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He is also the Chaplin for the Maryland Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, and the Sergeant Lawrence Everhart Chapter.

Pastor Joe with the Associate Pastor Bill Burcher started two new church programs in 2024,  the ‘Wednesday Youth Ministry” and the “Good News Club.” These programs are oriented to the children and parents in the local area and they now have been handed off to ECBC’s new Associate Pastor Corey Bornes. Pastor Bill Burcher accepted an invitation to be the Pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church, in Fairfield Pennsylvania which permits cooperation between the two churches with the cities of Emmitsburg and Fairfield being so close in proximity. ECBC also provides support to a number of missions with national and international ministries.

Our website is: emmitsburgcbc.org. Our website has recent sermons and information about our current activities, programs and our location. We cannot emphasize enough that our programs and services are open to everyone. Please come and visit us and see for yourself what ECBC is all about!

ECBC’s mission statement is: “Our mission is to serve and honor God, by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, striving to image the Lord through Christ centered lives.”

If you are considering a new place of worship or are relocating to our area, we would love to have you be our guest.

When you visit us, you will find:

• A caring congregation that will gladly welcome you
• Preaching/teaching that is centered on the Word of God
• Ministries to meet the spiritual needs of every age

Our mission is to serve and honor God, by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, striving to image the Lord through Christ centered lives.  We look forward to seeing you soon.