AMHERST — In the first years of the North Congregational Church, Black members were prohibited from sitting in the pews on the sanctuary’s main level, instead being required to stay in the balcony.

Only four years after its 1826 opening, though, this restriction was dropped, and by 1843 church members became active in abolitionist efforts, adopting a resolution stating that slavery was an “enormous sin against God.” And four of the five officers serving North Amherst’s anti-slavery society at the time were members of the church.

Now, 200 years after the traditional white clapboard building with a steeple opened at the corner of North Pleasant and Pine streets, the church, along with its neighboring Parish Center, continues to be part of the village center, even as it now hosts the Amherst Church of the Nazarene, an evangelical Korean community established in 1987 and moved to the site in 2012.

Those who lead the 50-member congregation say this long history, and importance to the northern part of town, is why they will be marking the milestone bicentennial anniversary with a community gathering Saturday.

“The church carries a meaningful moral history,” says John Kim, who assumed the role as the church’s senior pastor last September, arriving from California with his wife and five children. “This is not only our church building, it’s a precious part of the history and community life.”

Understanding the building’s importance, people are welcome to an hourlong secular service starting at 11 a.m., which will also feature a presentation on the church’s history and the playing of its 1899 organ, followed by a meal with Korean food.

“We are deeply grateful that our congregation can celebrate the 200th aniversary of this church building,” Kim said.

The congregation bought the church 14 years ago, less than two years after the previous church closed due to declining membership.

“We’re just overwhelmingly overjoyed to open the doors and to welcome the community,” said Seekyung Pak, the church’s administrative local pastor and church secretary.

One of the highlights Saturday will be Chris White, assistant professor of music theory at the University of Massachusetts, playing the built-in organ. Donated by Ellen Fisher and installed in 1899 before electricity, it dates to a time when boys had to sit behind the organ and pump the bellows.

White will bring the historic organ back to life and describe the organ’s history and how old pipe organs were able to operate before modern electronics.

While this isn’t the first time it is being played since the Korean church arrived at the site, with a visiting organist who comes from Springfield with her husband for special events, it has not been used regularly.

Pak said “Amazing Grace” will also be sung during the event.

Local historian Margaret Orelup will give an overview of the church’s 200 years with vignettes about the past, and then Korean cuisine and other Asian food, prepared by House of Teriyaki, a neighbor in North Amherst, and Goten of Japan in Sunderand, will be served.

Part of the motivation, aside from the anniversary, is to get people more familiar with the church. The Parish Center’s main level had been used for many years as a town polling site, and the upstairs as a place for Boy Scouts weekly meetings.

One of the last times the church was filled was for the funeral, in 2011, of Paul C. Jones, the founder of Cowls Building Supply. The first baby christianed at the church in the 19th century was also a member of the Cowls family.

Pak hopes that people will be inspired by what the congregation has done, from cleaning and getting the building “ship shape” and the spiritul leadership.

“Our church is changing dramatically,” Pak said

Since buying the building, the inside has been refurbished with all new padded pews.

The church is also thankful to the town for providing Community Preservation Act funding, which allowed for repairs to the roof, though other aspects, such as the steeple and foundation need work, as do the heating and ventilation systems. This has prompted the church to create Grace Chapel, on the upper level of the Parish Center, for services during the winter months.

The main church building basement is where Sunday schoool takes place.

The congregation’s former church in Greenfield, where it had been the Zion Korean Church on Main Street, was dismantled last year and moved back to Barre, where it was originally built.

The denomination is over all the world, including in the United States, but because it is scattered there are some who drive an hour or more each week to attend. The service is in Korean, though for those don’t speak the language, Pak serves as the interpreter.

It also draws some undergradates from the Five Colleges and those pursuing their master’s and doctoral degrees. Because of this, the church has stepped up outreach, such as monthly home meal which they call the ACN table at the Parsih Center.

Community involvement also includes partnerships with the Amherst Survival Center, making a donation to support victims of the Olympia Place fire last fall and a Saturday morning prayer.

To begin raising money, too, the church has put on a tag sale and may have other fundraisers.