The preaching of Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield helped to revive the churches of Dedham during the Great Awakening. The theological debates that arose as a result, however, helped bring about a split in the churches into different denominations. Allin Congregational Church was founded in 1818 when more conservative members of the First Church and Parish broke off from the increasingly liberal First Church. In the early 19th century, all Massachusetts towns were Constitutionally required to tax their citizens "for the institution of the public worship of God, and for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety." All residents of a town were assessed, as members of the parish, whether or not they were also members of the church. The "previous and long standing practice the church vote for the minister and the parish sanction this vote." In 1818 "Dedham rights distinct from the church and against the vote of the church." The town, as the parish, selected a liberal Unitarian minister, Rev. Alvan Lamson, to serve the First Church in Dedham. The members of the church were more traditional and rejected Lamson by a vote of 18–14. When the parish installed and ordained Lamson, the more conservative or orthodox members left in 1818 decided to form a new church nearby. They first met across the street, in the former house of Jason Haven, a former pastor of First Church when it was still united. In 1819, the current church building was constructed to meet the needs of the growing congregation. At the time, First Church's building faced the street that Allin was on, so the two churches were facing each other. The church was officially incorporated in 1929. The new congregation was initially called the Orthodox Church, but was later renamed Allin Congregational Church after John Allin, the founder and first pastor of First Church. During the split, the departing members included Deacon Samuel Fales, who took parish records, funds, and the valuable silver used for communion with him. Members of the First Church sued and the case, Baker v. Fales, reached the Supreme Judicial Court. The court ruled that "hatever the usage in settling ministers, the secures to towns, not to churches, the right to elect the minister, in the last resort." The court held that the property had to be returned to First Church, setting a precedent for future congregational splits that would arise as Unitarianism grew. The case was a major milestone in the road towards the separation of church and state and led to the Commonwealth formally disestablishing the Congregational Church in 1833. The orthodox faction supposedly responded to the decision with the saying, "They kept the furniture, but we kept the faith." Despite the court ruling, the silver was not returned to First Church. It remained hidden away until 1969 when it was donated to the Dedham Historical Society as a neutral third party. Today it is on permanent loan to the Museum of Fine Arts, and replicas have been made for both churches. Allin Church joined the Congregational Christian Churches when the denomination was created in 1931. In the 1950s, the church became part of the conservative denomination the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, before leaving in 1963, when it became part of the UnitedChurch of Christ.
Organ
The organ at Allin Church is over 100 years old and contains 3,500 air-blown pipes. Originally built in 1912 by Ernest M. Skinner for Appleton Chapel at Harvard University, and some of the pipework was altered by Skinner in 1931. The next year, Appleton Chapel was demolished and replaced by the current Memorial Church. The organ was put into storage, and in 1938 was installed at Allin Church by the Frazee Organ Co. In 1958 R. Kershaw changed nine ranks of pipes and added a new coupler. Today, the organ has 55 ranks of pipes and a repaired console which was added in 1999. The current organist and Minister of Music at Allin Church, C. Martin Steinmetz, has been organist for over 50 years.
