St John’s United Church of Christ

In 1843, fifty German residents of Richmond with a desire to worship in their native language founded the St. John’s German Evangelical Lutheran Church and held their first service at 412-414 East Marshall Street. By 1847, the congregation of the St. John’s German Evangelical Lutheran built a church located on the corner of North Fifth Street and Jackson Street and held its first service on Christmas Day. The congregation established a school in the church basement, and the school continued to be important part of the community for forty years.

St. John’s German Evangelical Lutheran Church became associated with the Evangelical Synod of North America in 1874. The church then changed its name to St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church. Although “Lutheran” was part of the church name, St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church was never a part of the Lutheran denomination. The “Lutheran” designation simply reflected the tradition of the church’s first members.

St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church moved the church to the corner of Eighth and Marshall Streets in 1881. The move provided a central place for the German community to worship at that time. By 1913, St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church purchased property at the corner of Lombardy and Franklin streets, which was originally part of the University of Richmond. The members of the St. ohn’s Evangelical Lutheran Church began to build a new church, and by 1921 the Parish House (Christian Education Building) was built; the sanctuary was built by 1928.

St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church changed its name again in 1943, this time to St. John’s Evangelical and Reformed Church, as a result of the 1932 merger between the Evangelical Synod and the Reformed Church in the United States. The final name change occurred in 1962 when St. John’s Evangelical and Reformed Church changed its name to the St. John’s United Church of Christ as a result of the 1957 merger between the Evangelical and Reformed Churches with the Congregational Churches.

The United Church of Christ is a pluralistic and diverse denomination and is the result of a formation of the Congregational Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Churches. The Congregational Church traces its origin in the United States to the 1620 Pilgrims of Plymouth Plantation and the 1629 Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Evangelical and Reformed Church traces its beginnings to 1725 congregations of German settlers in Pennsylvania. At the time the United Church of Christ was formed, there were nine hundred diverse congregations. The newly formed church accepted the diversity among its congregations and made it the foundation for the church. According to the UCC website, “The United Church of Christ seeks unity within its diversity.”

The St. John’s United Church of Christ is a small size congregation consisting of approximately 200. The congregation consists primarily of middle class families of all ages, and most members are of European descent. According to the United Church of Christ website, the United Church of Christ seeks to be “Multiracial, Multicultural, Open and Affirming, and Accessible to All.” The worship service at the St. John’s United Church of Christ is characterized as pluralistic. The United Church of Christ provides the local congregations with sacraments, liturgies, prayers, songs and worship suggestions for their worship service throughout the year. The “Book of Worship” is available for pastors and individuals attending a United Church of Christ worship service.

The St. John’s United Church of Christ is actively involved with many local outreach programs. These include CARITAS (Congregations Around Richmond Involved To Assure Shelter), William Byrd Community House, Circle Center for Adult Day Services, Stuart Circle Meal Ministry, Habitat for Humanity, James River Regional Clean-up, Confirmation Class Mission Activities, Narcotics Anonymous, and Alcoholics Anonymous. National and International outreach activities for St. John’s United Church of Christ include Church World Service, which provides worldwide disaster relief; Heifer Project, which provides third world individuals and families with live animals for both sustenance and a livelihood; and Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS), which provides international self help programs.

St. John’s United Church of Christ
503 North Lombardy Street
Richmond, VA 23220
(804)-358-9291

Sources:
John’s United Church of Christ website
United Church of Christ website

Profile prepared by John Lack
February, 2007

Spiritual Mind Center of Richmond

The Spiritual Mind Center of Richmond traces its history to the United Church of Religious Science, founded by Dr. Ernest Shurtleff Holmes. His book, The Science of Mind, was first published in 1926 and is used by congregations as a text that augments meetings. The tradition is currently represented in the Spiritual Mind Center, which describes itself as an “independent Religious Science Community” and which has been present in Richmond since the early 1980’s. According to Pastor Dwight Smith, Holmes’ intentions in creating Science of the Mind were “not necessarily to start a new religion, so much as to get new principles out for people to use in their own churches and everyday life.”

Pastor Dwight Smith and his wife Thelma Smith, are the founders, preachers and facilitators of the Richmond Center. The Spiritual Mind Center encourages an individual’s pursuit of holistic balance: mental, physical, and spiritual harmony with themselves and in their interactions in the world. In explaining the history and tradition of the Spiritual Mind Center, the Smiths credit a divine Creator for “the creation of everything that is,” and explain that “there is a God essence in everything and everyone.” Pastor Dwight Smith states that “Realizing that nothing can be created or destroyed gives us a greater appreciation for everything and everyone, (and in) being ourselves, (in our) divine expression, we can see that nothing opposes God.”

The Center holds religious services on Sundays that emphasize an affirmation of God as creator, revealer, and sustainer of all things known to humanity and beyond human knowledge. The two pastors, both of whom trained as teachers of the Science of the Mind tradition, take turns leading the Sunday service. The average service is attended by a congregation of several dozen members. The congregation is diverse in ethnic and gender composition and consisted primarily of persons seemingly over 35 years of age. Once a week the two teach a class on the elements of Science of the Mind concepts and beliefs.

The atmosphere in the Spiritual Mind Center’s Sunday service is casual, and the majority of the congregation claps casually at the closing of the guitar players’ rendition of familiar songs. A printed program accompanies the Sunday service and provides lyrics for the songs as well as updates about church events. Transitions between the different parts of the service are marked by group and solo singing, silent meditation, or prayer. Some passages from the program are read in unison during the service, such as the Richmond Center’s “Declaration of Principles of Religious Science.” There is a recurring theme in the service and the (quite frequent) vocal interaction between the congregation and the pastors on “the law of cause and effect.” Pastor Thelma Smith explains that “through good works and deeds, good comes back to people” and eventually people can “get a better understanding of what Jesus was trying to preach.” The service is filled with energy as the pastor engages in a speaking, asking, and listening relationship with the congregation. The ending of the service is signified by those in attendance holding hands in a large circle for a prayer and affirmations of the Center’s core beliefs. The service concludes with individuals acknowledging one another’s strengths and insights. At the end of the service visitors also are acknowledged.

Spiritual Mind Center of Richmond
12594 Patterson Ave
Richmond , VA 23238
(804) 784-9830

Sources:
Interview with church pastors

Profile prepared by Daniel Scruggs
May, 2007

Tivak Israel

Messianic Judaism emerged as a movement in the 1960s among American Jewish converts to Christianity in the larger context of Hebrew Christianity, which began earlier in the 20 th century. Since the establishment of the first Messianic Judaism synagogue in 1967, tens of thousands have joined congregations in the U.S. A former member of the American Board of Missions to the Jews, Mioshe Rosen, founded Heneni Ministries (Jews for Jesus) in 1973, which is now one of the most well-known of these evangelical Jewish missionary ministries. The movement’s major organization, the Hebrew-Christian Alliance, located in the Chicago area. It is estimated that currently there are about 100,000 Messianic Jews in the U.S. alone, with more joining congregations in Canada, England, Israel, and a number of republics of the former Soviet Union. A vigorous debate occurs over whether Messianic Judaism belongs to the Christian or Jewish faith. One of the main precepts of the tradition is that Jews can reconcile their Jewish culture and faith with Christianity. Their perspective is that Christianity does not conflict with Judaism but completes it. Unlike Christianity, which shares a belief in the savior Yeshua (Jesus in Hebrew), Messianic Judaism is fully Jewish in practice and members of the group identify themselves as a Judaic sect. However, many Jewish Christians are simply members of mainline Christian churches and are only evident through the various independent evangelical Jewish missionary ministries they support.

Tikvat Israel is the first house of worship in the Greater Richmond area to serve the Hebrew-Christian community. The Tikvat Israel worship center on the corner of Grove Avenue and the Boulevard was originally constructed around 1915 as the home of Grace Baptist Church. In the 1940’s, during the Holocaust period, the building experienced a devastating fire. In 1948, the same year that modern Israel became a nation, the Jewish community bought the building and turned it into an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, naming itself Kenneset Beth Israel (the assembly of the house of Israel). Large round stain glass windows with the Star of David were installed. Kenneset Beth Israel remained in the building for thirty years. In the 1970’s Kenneset Beth Israel moved to Patterson Avenue. Since then the building changed hands several times. In December 1990, the building was rented and eventually purchased by Tikvat Israel. Original members of the congregation associate the first services in the building with their own Chanukah miracle – in which four furnace tanks miraculously filled with over 1000 gallons of oil to heat the service.

The main sanctuary seats approximately 500 facing east towards Jerusalem. This is used primarily for Shabbat services on Saturday mornings. There is also a smaller sanctuary used for morning and evening prayers, a bookstore, classrooms, and a library. Another central place for congregation, called the Oneg area, is used for eating. The two adjacent kitchens date to the time when the building was used as an Orthodox Jewish synagogue and reflect the traditional separation of milk and meat products. Tikvat Israel established a subsidiary organization, Russian Immigration Services. The services provided include a food bank, a Russian library, social service needs, legal services, English and citizenship classes.

Tikvat Israel
2715 Grove Avenue
Richmond, VA 23220
(804)-355-5709

Sources:
Rabbi Jamie Cowen
www.tikvatisrael.com

Profile prepared by Julie Philp
February, 2007

Unity Church History

Unity Church

Unity Church of Richmond was established in the early 1960s, initially meeting in various locations, such as the Jefferson Hotel. Since 1994 Unity of Richmond has been at its current Blanton Avenue location, which is a private residence converted into a church. On average the congregation size for the regular Sunday service is 80 to 100 parishioners.

Unity has as co-ministers, Reverend Richard Bunch and his wife Reverend Victoria Bunch. Reverend Victoria Bunch, a former therapist, is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University. There are two services each week. On Sunday there is a one hour Sunday Celebration followed by another hour Quest service. On Wednesday evening there is a one hour Silent Meditation service followed by a Guided Meditation service.

Unity of Richmond Church
800 Blanton Avenue
Richmond, VA. 23221
(804) 278-6489
http://www.unityrichmond.org

Sources:

http://www.unityonline.org
Interviews with members

Profile prepared by Norma Montgomery
November, 2006

Victory Tabernacle Church of God
Musical Presentation at Victory Tabernacle
Musical Presentation at Victory Tabernacle

Victory Tabernacle is a multi-cultural Church of God in Midlothian. The church is part of the Church of God International denomination located in Cleveland Tennessee. The denomination was founded in 1886 and opened its first Bible College in 1918. Control over local churches comes from the centralized leadership of the denomination’s offices. Denominational leaders are approved by the biennial General Assembly, which is comprised of laity and clergy from churches worldwide. The “First Overseer” conducts the general business of the denomination. There are four ranks of the clergy: ordained bishops, ordained ministers, exhorters, and ministers in music and education. In addition to Victory Chapel, the Richmond area has eleven other congregations of the Church of God International.

A priority for Victory Tabernacle and for the Church of God International is fulfilling the Church’s social obligation. In its efforts to return America to Christian values, the church and denomination support Evangelical politicians and work for pro-life and family-friendly-legislation.

The church’s small group program, called “Connecting Points” unites people by common interests rather than by the common method of geography or Bible-study topic. The areas of interest range from classes on apologetics and effective prayer to groups that meet for scrapbooking, NASCAR, fantasy sports and video game tournaments. For those who are interested, the church also provides a program for determining and developing one’s “spiritual gifts;” it is something akin to a personality and aptitude testing for work in churches. A group called “Prime Time” recruits active seniors for volunteer work in the community.

The church has a variety of ministries to help families and individuals in need. In addition to a food pantry, the church has a clothes closet and a counseling ministry, called Walking in Victory, that offers prayer and counseling services to church members as well as the general public. Those seeking marriage, anger-management and addiction counseling, as well as those seeking conflict-resolution services, are evaluated at Walking for Victory; those requiring specialized care are referred to local, licensed therapists.

Victory Tabernacle holds two weekly worship services, one on Sunday morning and the other on Wednesday evening. On Sunday evenings, the church’s classes for religious education meet. On Wednesday night, the church’s youth group holds its own worship service called Fusion. The church also holds services for the Hispanic population of Richmond. The pastor for this group is Juan Carlos, who began serving at the church with his wife Maria Rocca in 2004.

Victory Tabernacle Church-God
13501 East Boundary Road
Midlothian, VA 23112
(804)-744-8881

Sources:
Church of God website
Victory Tabernacle website

Profile prepared by Christine Woodman
January, 2009

Musical Presentation at
Victory Tabernacle

Musical Performance by David Price at
Victory Tabernacle

Richmond Vineyard Church

The Vineyard Church grew out of the Calvary Movement, which resisted traditional denominational structure and ministered to young adult “hippies” in the mid-1960s. The movement was Pentecostal and emphasized a strong relationship with Jesus. In 1982, Kenn Gulliksen, and some other Calvary Chapel pastors changed their congregation names to the Vineyard in order to reflect their strong emphasis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit through tongues, prophecy, and healing. Kenn Gulliksen and John Wimber, a pastor in the Calvary Chapel in Yorba Linda, decided to merge their churches because of the similarities in the worship services. Wimber subsequently emerged as the spokesman for the Vineyard Movement until his death in 1977 and established the Anaheim Vineyard, which serves as the Vineyard’s headquarters. There are over 1,500 Vineyard churches, with 600 of those churches located in the United States.

Richmond Vineyard Church originated in October, 1995 and began meeting in the basement of the Tikvat Israel under the leadership of Ken and Becky Peters. The Peters saw that many churches were leaving the city for the suburbs and that the churches that remained were did not seem to be relevant to the new generation of church goers. The Richmond Vineyard states that its mission is “serving our way into the heart of the city” and emphasizes worship, word, ministry, community, justice and simplicity. The church’s vision statement describes its mission as healing hearts and minds through Jesus and serving people with simple acts of kindness. The church regards practicality as a key component in its success. Members state that they want to transform lives by forming a relationship with Jesus. While currently renting space from Temple Beth-El, the congregation meets every Sunday morning over fair-trade coffee and bagels to create a more comfortable and welcoming atmosphere. The church believes that a friendly environment is necessary to help the church’s growth. Childcare is also provided as a complimentary service. The congregation numbers 50-60 and is composed of a number of college students and a few older adults. The age group is made up of mostly 20-30 year olds. The congregation supports a missionary to Ouanaminthe, Haiti to help feed the poor and is working closely with a church and school in the Northeast corner of the country. Through the project the community has been able to dig a well, build a kitchen, cafeteria and receive food shipments from the United Nations on a regular basis so that children get fed each day at school.

Richmond Vineyard
213 Roseneath Road
Richmond, VA 23221
(804)-355-1111

Sources:
Richmond Vineyard pastor
Richmond Vineyard website

Profile prepared by Ellen Bucher
November, 2009

All Saints Reformed Presbyterian Church

All Saints Reformed Presbyterian Church was established in June, 1984 as a church plant of Stony Point Reformed Presbyterian. The church rented space in First Congregational Church of Christ until July, 1986 when it bought the building. The church building has many unique features. In the center of the building is a large copper dome. In the sanctuary there are rows of stain glass that were put in place when the building was originally constructed. Another unique feature o All Saints Reformed is a stage and orchestra pit in the front of the sanctuary.

All Saints Reformed holds worship services on Sunday morning and evening. These services are usually traditional and start with a call to worship, hymn and a silent prayer. They will also have a scripture reading, a sermon by the pastor, and the Apostles’ Creed. Sunday worship services usually end with Doxology and Benediction. All Saints Reformed offers two adult Sunday school classes as well as children’s Sunday school classes for grades two through twelve on Sunday mornings. There are also covenant groups that meet twice a month on weekday evenings at member’s homes. A youth group and women’s Bible study group are offered at the church as well. All Saints Reformed offers a Christmas Eve mass, an Easter Sunday Service and a Thanksgiving service. There are about 170 members of All Saints Reformed, and about

160 that regularly attend services. Most of the membership is Caucasian families, but the majority of the churches membership commutes from outside of Richmond to the church since All Saint’s membership consists of the families formerly affiliated with the Stony Point Reformed Presbyterian Church.

All Saints Reformed also works with local organizations in Richmond, such as S.T.E.P (Strategies to Elevate People) and C.H.A.T (Church Hill Activities and Tutoring), which reach out to adults and children in the Richmond community. The church also offers a Women’s Bible Study that meets from September until May on a weekday evening and a Women’s Morning Fellowship that meets twice a month for food and conversation.

All Saints Reformed Presbyterian Church
3000 Grove Avenue
Richmond, VA 23221
(804)-353-7321

Sources:
All Saints Reformed Presbyterian Church secretary
All Saints Reformed Presbyterian Church website

Profile Prepared By Alessandra CucciaOctober, 2009

Bon Air Presbyterian Church

The Presbyterian Church traces its ancestry back to the 16 th century Reformed theology movement of John Calvin when John Knox brought Calvin’s teaching to Scotland and England. As immigrants from Scotland and England arrived in the United States, the Presbyterians became an established church in the United States during the 18 th century. The history of the Presbyterian Church in the United States has been a record of divisions and mergers mainly over doctrinal issues such as slavery, science, and modern philosophy within the church . The Presbyterian Church of the United States of America “Book of Order” provides information concerning the PCUSA beliefs.

The Bon Air Presbyterian Church is a member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which is the largest part of the overall Presbyterian denomination. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was formed in 1983 when the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (PCUS) and the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (UPCUSA) merged. Its national offices are located in Louisville, Kentucky. The Presbyterian Church (USA) currently has 2.4 million members, 11,100 congregations and 14,000 ordained and active ministers.

The Bon Air Presbyterian Church was formed in 1884 and began worshiping in the beautiful little Victorian Gothic building known as the “Union Chapel,” which is located on Buford Road on the Southside of Richmond. The old Union Chapel served the Bon Air Presbyterian congregation until 1963. As the congregation grew, a new church building located on Huguenot Road was erected to meet the demands of the larger congregation. On Palm Sunday in 1963, the Bon Air Presbyterian Church held its first service in their new church. By 1995, the church was expanded to include an extended sanctuary, fellowship hall, kitchen, classrooms, and a redesigned roof that brought together all of the church’s additions. 

The Bon Air Presbyterian Church describes itself as theologically reformed. The Sunday services are determined by the local pastor and are kept within the guidelines of the PCUSA church’s governing body. Sunday service typically includes prayer, music, scripture reading, sermon, sacraments, time for personal response, and community concerns. In addition, Sunday school classes for all ages are held each Sunday and there are evening services held during the week at various locations throughout the community. The first Sunday of each month, the Bon Air Presbyterian Church offers an informal worship that includes upbeat and contemporary music and congregational participation. Communion is typically offered on the first Sunday of each month.

The congregation of approximately 600 members consists of mostly middle class families of all ages, and most members are of European descent, with a small percentage from other ethnical backgrounds. The church pastor and associate pastor are supported by a large staff that administers the following programs: music, youth ministries, children’s ministries, daycare, and outreach programs. The outreach ministries of the Bon Air Presbyterian Church include the Congregations Around Richmond Involved To Assure Shelter (CARITAS), Richmonders Involved to Strengthen our Communities (RISC), blood drives, and Fair Trade Products. The Bon Air Presbyterian Church also supports the ministries of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Bon Air Presbyterian Church 
9201 West Huguenot Road
Richmond, VA
(804) 272-7514

Sources:
Bon Air Presbyterian Church Website: http://www.bonairpc.org/
Presbyterian Church (USA) website: http://www.pcusa.org/

Profile prepared by John Lack
March, 2007