RayofHopePentecostal

Ray of Hope Pentecostal Church

The Ray of Hope Pentecostal Church was founded in 1960 by Reverend Carl L. Campbell. It was initially located on Fairmount Avenue and subsequently moved to it current location on Chatham Road. Ray of Hope is a member of the Redemption Ministries, which is located in Prince George County. Redemption Ministries, in turn, is a conference of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, which is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The church has approximately one hundred members, and most of them are middle age adults, though there is a sizeable contingent of youth from grade school to high school ages. The members come from mostly middle to upper-middle class families. The church has membership from New Kent County, Mechanicsville, Northside Richmond, Chesterfield County, Highland Springs and Sandston. Currently, its membership is mostly American Caucasian, but the church has had a long history of African-American and Hispanic- American membership as well, and it reaches out to all ethnicities, cultures and nationalities.

The church’s three formal services take place early and late on Sunday morning and again on Sunday evening. The church pastor describes the services at the church as less formal than most churches. For example, in addition to readings of scriptures and prayers, the pastor will also take requests from members about any personal or community issues that concern them that they would like to have addressed by the church. The church does not request offerings from its members, but does occasionally give money to struggling families or community members, or provide them with assistance, such as lawn work or home repairs.

Ray of Hope Pentecostal Church contributes books, clothing, food and money to various charities, such as the Central Virginia Food Bank, Goodwill, and the Salvation Army. The church also sponsors missions, both foreign and domestic. Internationally, the church sponsors missionaries in the Ukraine, the Philippines, Africa, Germany, and Spain. Locally, the church conducts home Bible study outreach programs that take place in selected communities. These Bible studies consist of discussions of community goals and purposes, Bible readings, and prayers. Currently, there are five of these local study groups led by the church pastor every month and are advertised by fliers. Two are in Mechanicsville, one in the Parham Road Regency Mall area, one at the Patterson Avenue YMCA, and one in the Highland Springs and Sandston area. The church is also trying to establish a sixth, which would be located in Northside. The church’s pastor is gradually training other members to assume responsibility for leading the Bible studies.

Ray of Hope Pentecostal Church
3105 Chatham Road
Richmond, VA 23227
(804) 353-8351

Sources:
Ray of Hope Pentecostal Church pastor

Profile prepared by Anthony Grillo
May, 2009

 


 

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