BERNE — Sometimes humility is not absolutely required of a Christian church.

Such is the case with St. Paul’s Lutheran Church — also known as St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church — on Helderberg Trail in this hamlet. Pastor Wendy Cook and congregants like Nancy Lendrum and Sharon Nevins are proudly announcing to the world that their church now has a special status: It’s officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History did happen here.

In 1845, the Anti-Rent movement ignited by Hilltown tenant farmers to protest onerous rents, imposed by the patroon of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck, held its first convention in this church, the only building around large enough to accommodate the big and important meeting that drew delegates from 11 counties. The building was just 10 years old at the time.

Earlier this year, Governor Andrew Cuomo nominated the now venerable edifice to the state and federal registers of historic places. On Nov. 2,  the church learned that it had, in fact, been added to the National Register, which honors over 90,000 buildings and places  “worthy of preservation” because of their role in history and, often, because of their architectural distinction.

The governor’s nomination singled out the church for being “this rural hamlet’s most impressive work of nineteenth-century architecture as manifested in its overall  scale, brick construction, and tall bell tower.”

The church joins 146 other places and buildings in Albany County — outside  the city of Albany  — that have been placed on the register over the 50 years of its existence.

St. Paul’s joins a more exclusive club of three Hilltown listings already on the Register: Potter Hollow District School 19 on Route 354 (listed in 2012); Knox District School 5 in Thompson’s Lake State Park (2005); and the Rensselaerville Historic District (1983).

Sharon Nevins, the St. Paul’s member who spearheaded the effort to get the church officially designated as historic, has said she hopes the listing on the register will help the church win grant money awarded to historic structures for their preservation.

At 181 years old, a little more preservation can’t hurt.