Standing Order churches. Under this financial strain and the stress of operating a church outside the community's religious norms, the Separate church floundered. Winchester's visit coincided with the Baptist minister, Ebenezer Lyon, gathering Separates and others from the Congregational church into a shared community. Lyon offered this community open communion. Allowing all, regardless of baptismal ritual, infant sprinkling or adult immersion, to come to the Lord's Table. Ebenezer Lyon received the young Winchester into this Baptist church and baptized him, via immersion. Winchester's conversion from a Separate Congregational New Light to a Separate Baptist church was not uncommon. Both Congregational and Baptist Separates, influenced by the First Great Awakening, shared a common desire for a more biblical and simpler form of worship. Rehoboth Baptist Church (1771-1772) After leaving Connecticut in the spring of 1771, Winchester and his wife settled in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Rehoboth and nearby Swansea had long been centers of Baptist activity. Winchester was likely drawn to Rehoboth by the presence of established Baptist churches and a religious revival sweeping the area. The Baptist churches in Swansea and Rehoboth had recently added several hundred members. The twenty-year-old Winchester assisted the Rehoboth church's 59-year-old minister, John Hicks. The church ordained Hicks in 1762, but a few years later, the church witnessed a severe drop in membership when many immigrated to Nova Scotia. An effort was now underway to rebuild the church membership. Hicks began that rebuilding effort in 1771. He baptized 40 people before falling ill. Winchester stepped in, baptizing 20 more people. With renewed membership, Ebenezer Lyon traveled from Canterbury and ordained Winchester on September 4, 1771. A noted Congregational minister and later president of Yale College, Ezra Stiles, recorded Winchester's ordination in his September 19-20 diary entry. The entry also revealed the disdain that orthodox Congregational ministers had for the Separate Baptists. It must be noted that the term "separate" was frequently applied to both Congregational and Baptist churches denoting them as not adhering to the dogma of either the Congregational Standing Order or within an established Baptist association. Stiles wrote (text corrected to modern English), "A New Light Baptist Elder from about Pomfret (near Canterbury) was the only Elder present & performed the Ordination in a boisterous if not blasphemous manner." Stiles continued, "These New Lights Baptist Teachers go about ordaining many that are by no means fit for the sacred Office, some that are fitter for