In the early years of the church one item of business during the conference was a call for the fellowship of the church. At this time they dealt with private offenses according to the 18^th chapter of Matthew and public offenses according to the "general tenor of the Scriptures." Members were admonished first about their behavior and given an opportunity to make a full explanation and, if they so desired, to ask for forgiveness. The more serious offenses were: intoxication, distilling intoxicating liquor, profane swearing, dancing, fornication and heresy. Lying and covetousness were considered misdemeanors. People were excluded from the church fellowship if they refused to "mend their ways."

Two leaders in the church building in 1874 were Mr. C.W. Hood and Bro. W.J.J. Hardman. The estimated cost of the building was $800.00, largely financed by Mr. Hood and Mr. Hardman. Mr. Hood gave the land not only for the church, but also for the school and the cemetery.

The original church building was rectangular, about 40x 60 ft. which was the orthodox size of large Baptist churches of that day. The front of the building was close to the center of the auditorium of the present brick church. It had high ceilings, and wide pine paneling. On the roof was a steeple which contained a bell later used at the Madison Street Church (the wooden building).

Inside there was a pulpit in the rear with a rostrum in front covered with red carpet donated by Mrs. C.W. Hood. In front of the rostrum was an aisle. On the left was the ladies' stove because the ladies sat on that side. On the right was the men's stove. The men were forbidden by custom to cross over to the ladies' side. On the right from the pulpit was the "Amen Corner" where the elderly brethren sat. If a young man was particularly interested in a young lady, he made it a point to get near the partition. There were two outside front doors--one for the ladies to come in and one for the men. Married men usually brought their wives to "their door" and then went to the other to come in on the men's side.

During the early years of Harmony Grove Baptist Church, quarterly conferences were held when they exchanged correspondence with "sister churches," those mentioned most frequently were: Cabin Creek, Black's Creek, Beaverdam, Grove Level, and Maysville. There was also a union meeting of Baptist churches in "Jackson District" on the fifth Sabbath. One such meeting was held at Oconee in 1882.

Member of Harmony Grove Church began a Sunday school as soon as it was constituted. They organized a Men's Bible class, a class for young men and one for young women. A Feature of the early Sunday school was the Beginners or Primaries who were taught by Mrs. W.B.J. Hardman who used the "Blue Back Speller" and "Kind Words" for her teaching.

The women of the church were among the first of the state to organize a Woman's Missionary Society in 1881. In the early years they gave direct support to missionaries. Even before organizing into a missionary society they made special contributions to the Harmony Grove Church. One of these was the purchase of a chandelier and matting for the floor of the church in 1879. In 1883 they paid for a fence around the churchyard. Before 1900 there were several gifts to Indian Missions and one in 1888 to Cuban Missions.

In 1914 the W.M.S. was divided into circles and made outside contributions to Mississippi flood sufferers and to Armenian Relief. They also subscribed $14,000.00 to be paid in five years to the 75 million campaign. For several years they sent a monthly contribution to Miss Florence Lide in China. From their ranks there were three foreign missionaries: Mrs. Wilda Hardman Poteat who served 12 years in China; Mrs. Edith Adair Whisenhunt who also served in China; and Margaret Collins who served for 16 years. A short while of this was in china but most of it in the Philippines. She is now Mrs. Carlos Vidal and lives in South Carolina.

At first Harmony Grove Church had preaching services only on the fourth Sunday of each month. In 1892 they added the second Sunday of each month while W.M. Coil was pastor. In 1900 they adopted full-time service when G.W. Garner was pastor. For nearly thirty years the church in annual conference elected by ballot the pastor, church clerk, assistant clerk, and treasurer. In 1903 they discontinued the annual election of the pastor. After that time he was called "to serve as long as the church may require." Other officers were elected annually.

The church minutes give no early figures about the pastor's salary. In 1880 he was given $110.00 and this was increased to $125.00 the next year. However, the first pastor also served one Sunday a month at each of the three other churches: Cabin Creek, Beaverdam and Grove Level. After the church adopted a schedule of 2 Sundays a month, the salary was increased to $250.00 a year and later to $400.00. In 1900 the church adopted full-time service and they paid the pastor, G.W. Garner, $1,000.00 that year.

Pastors of Harmony Grove Baptist Church were W.B.J. Hardman, W.M. Coil, Dr. B.F. Riley, G.W. Garner, and W.A. Nelson. Bro. Hardman served 16 years and each of the others from 2 to 7 years.

On September 18, 1904 there was a change in the name of the church. The following resolution was passed on that date: "Inasmuch as the name of our town has been changed from harmony Grove to Commerce, and as it is desirable to have the name of our church correspond to the name of the town, Therefore be it resolved that hereafter our church be known as Commerce First Baptist Church instead of the Harmony Grove Baptist Church.

After September 1904, the pastors were: W.H. Williams, Gilbert Dobbs, W.L. Culbertson, M.H. Wrighton, C.C. Tooke, E.B. Shivers, Dr. J. Powhatten Cox, Tom S. Turner, and W. Ray Austin. Rev. Tooke served for 24 years and Rev. Austin began his pastorate in January 1969.

The original wooden building was donated to Madison Street Church and moved in 1895. This was done by H.E. Hardman at his own expense. While the new building was under construction, church members had services in the school chapel across the street. This new church cost $9,250.00 and several individuals made special contributions. C.W. Hood and L.G. Hardman gave the church pews and windows; C.J. Hood donated the hot air heating system; and T.C. Hardman gave most of the hardware. The brick church was dedicated February 14, 1897 with Rev. T.W. O'Kelly of Griffin preaching the dedicatory sermon.

The cooperative spirit of Harmony Grove church was manifested in many ways. There were: an exchange of correspondence with sister churches, committees set up to assist and advise in time of trouble in these churches, and participation in union meetings of Jackson District. In addition, delegates were sent to associational meetings and conventions. Before the church was a year old, two delegates attended the Sarepta Association, requesting membership for the church and extending an invitation for the association to meet with them. This was accepted first in 1879 and later in 1897 (in the new building), in 1914, in 1936, in 1946, and several times since then. In 1902, when a Sunday School Convention met in Maysville, a committee from the Harmony Grove church requested that the Northeastern Railroad give reduced rates and daily train service from Athens to Maysville. Delegates were sent to Sunday School conventions, the Georgia Baptist convention, and the Southern Baptist Convention. In 1916 the Georgia Baptist convention met a commerce First Baptist Church. For this occasion Mr. C.J. Hood added a third floor to this home in order to accommodate extra guests. For associational meetings with neighboring churches' members would frequently help the host church by taking baskets of food.

Music has been important in the life of the church throughout the years. At first they had an organ-not a pipe organ, but a pump-organ. At the first church conference they elected a chorister and continued to elect one annually. In the early years different women in the church took turns playing the organ. Later an organist and sometimes an assistant were chosen to serve for a year. Still later there were a pianist and an assistant. There is mention of cornets in the early minutes of Harmony Grove Church. For several years they owned a bass violin, which was played by different musicians and finally sold in 1935.

The first pipe organ was installed in 1927, at a cost of $6,200.00. Mrs. Francine Hardman Harden was a member of the organ committee, chosen as the first organist, and rendered faithful service for thirty-five years. In 1974 a complete re-building of the pipe organ was a major project in the church budget. Numerous memorial gifts were donated for this fund.

For many years, there has been special music at Easter and at Christmas. More emphasis was placed on the participation of younger groups when the church employed a minister of music in 1956. Since then the graded choirs have added to the music in many of the church activities.

Members of Harmony Grove Church realized the importance of having books available for the use of its members. In 1889 the Sunday school purchased a library for $38.00. In the church minutes of 1982 there is mention of 112 volumes in the library. In 1900 Mr. George Hubbard served as librarian and in the following year Mr. Charlie Hardman. For several years Commerce First Baptist has focused attention on the use of a library containing in 1974–550 volumes, not including periodicals and study course books. Volunteer librarians have rendered valuable assistance in card indexing these books which afford church members the opportunity to study or just read for pleasure.

The first organization for the training of young people was called Baptist Young people's Union, or B.Y.P.U. In 1915 under the leadership of Mr. Landrum and Frank Leavell, the B.Y.P.U. was organized in Commerce First Baptist church. There were Junior and Senior B.Y.P.U.'s covering different age groups. For twenty years many faithful adults led the young people in sword drills, Bible study and in various training programs given every Sunday at their meetings.

In 1935 the B.Y.P.U. was replaced by the Baptist Training Union. B.T.U. also was divided into age groups and met on Sunday evenings preceding the worship service. One group was for adults and others were for the young people. In 1971 B.T.U. was discontinued.

The main organization for women, whether members of Harmony Grove Church or Commerce First Baptist Church, has been the Women's Missionary Society. This society had auxiliaries for young people. Young Women's Auxiliary was for ladies ranging in age usually from 18-25. At Commerce First Baptist Y.W.A. was active as early as 1910. Another auxiliary was called G.A.'s, and it was composed of girls 7-16 or 17 years of age. The first G.A.'s were organized in 1928 and continued until the name was changed to Acteens in the 1960's. The W.M.S. also fostered organizations for boys called Royal Ambassadors. R.A.'s were organized first in 1916. Sunbeams were the name of the auxiliary for the youngest children: boys and girls. The first organization of Sunbeams was in 1902 while Mrs. G.W. Garner was the W.M.S. president. In recent years the name of Sunbeams has been changed to Mission Friends.

A "History of the Woman's Missionary Society of Commerce First Baptist Church" was written by Mrs. William W. Stark and Mrs. Leona Wright Hardman. This book was donated to the church in 1940 and some additional information added. The history is a record of the missionary society from 1882 through 1944. It contains pictures and biographical sketches of the presidents as well as the principal activities during their term of office.

Sunday School is the teaching arm of the church. At first teaching materials were meager. In 1895 the church at Harmony Grove decided to furnish Sunday School Literature. In 1909 there was a large enough enrollment to require additional space for more Sunday School rooms. That same year and on other occasions the Sunday School Convention met in Commerce. In 1915 there was a complete organization of the Sunday School. Annexes were added to the church in 1918 and in 1936 for extra Sunday School rooms. Then in 1960 a large education building helped to take care of the growth in Sunday School as well as other church organizations. In 1974 all age groups are ministered to during the teaching hour; from babies in the nursery through classes for older adults. Throughout these years hundreds of devoted teachers have influenced their students as they encouraged them to learn and inspired them to grow spiritually. One who served faithfully for 55 years was Mrs. H.O. Williford.