History :

Founded in 1845, Neely Baptist Church is one of the oldest churches in Greene County still in existence. The earliest records indicate that the church was a member of the Providence Baptist Association as early as 1871. In later years the church became a member of the Leaf River Baptist Association in the late 1890's and the early 1900's. The Leaf River Association later became the Greene County Baptist Association in 1921. In it's early years the church was used as a school until a school building was erected around 1906. Pat Harrison taught at this school for some 4 or 5 years prior to teaching in Leakesville. The Original church was named Washington Baptist Church and in 1913 the church split into two different bodies, Washington Convention Baptist Church and Washington Missionary Baptist Church. The pastor at the time was Rev. D. W. Moulder. Each body called its own pastor and had preaching once a month. The Missionary Baptist Church called Rev. J. E. Glenn as its pastor and the Convention Baptist Church kept Rev. D. W. Moulder as its pastor. The Convention church changed its name to "Neely" Baptist Church in the early 1970's. Now it is a member of the George/Greene Association.

The current structure is believed to have been build around 1917. In the 1950's classrooms were added to the back. The structure was later bricked and just recently a new addition of 3600 square feet has been added to the church in the form of classrooms and a new fellowship hall. The parsonage is the former principal's home of the Washington High School. The church obtained the home when the Washington (Neely) School was closed in the 1950's.

The church currently has around 210 members and an average attendance of about 33 in Sunday School and about 50 for worship services. It is located on Old Highway 24 in Neely. The current pastor is Rev. J. Wilbur Hall with his wife, Betty at his side. Sunday School is held at 10 a.m., Worship at 11 a.m., Discipleship Training at 5 p.m., Evening Worship at 6 p.m., and Prayer Meeting on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Rev. Hall & the members of Neely Baptist Church invite you to attend any and all of these services.

In 2007 the population of the Neely zip code was reported to have 1206 residents.