Central Baptist Church
The idea for Central Baptist Church originated in December, 1889 with S.P. DeVault, a student at Richmond College at the time. In January 1900, an Ecclesiastical Council meeting was held to decide the future of the church. The Council recommended that the church be built only when there were 25 confirmed members. The proposal was passed, and by April, 1900 the church had secured the necessary 25 members.
The church was appropriately organized with S.P. DeVault as its pastor, and land and lumber were donated for the site and building on Courthouse Road in Richmond. The first church building was a small, quaint wooden building; in 1958 a much larger sanctuary was created, which is currently used and seats up to 700 worshipers. Membership has grown to 1,200 with over 300 members regularly attending services.
The mission statement that the church states that the church desires to: “ To share with the unsaved the Gospel of Jesus Christ, through the influence and power of the Holy Spirit, and to seek, through God's love, to meet the spiritual, emotional and physical needs of all people.” This Baptist church, as many Baptist churches, is organized as a local, independent congregation. Also like all Baptist churches, Central Baptist emphasizes complete members’ spiritual accountability to one another. Organization is not hierarchical, and there is no bishop.
At Central Baptist church, Sunday school begins at mid-morning for all age groups, and the formal church service begins late morning. Both church services are about one hour in length and are traditional in their style. In the middle of the week the church holds a church dinner, youth group, discipleship classes and choir practice. Central Baptist is involved in a variety of outreach programs. The church works with such organizations as Meals on Wheels and Richmond SCAN (Stop Child Abuse Now) as well as sponsoring Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous programs. This church also supports a food pantry “Broken Loaves.” This program provides food and toiletries to people in the Richmond and Chesterfield communities who are living with any number of challenges, such as job loss or illness.
Central Baptist Church
1500 Courthouse Road
Richmond , VA 23236
(804)-794-8055
Sources:
Central Baptist Church website
Profile prepared by Heather Riekers
May, 2009
