First Baptist Church is a historic Baptist church in Richmond,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

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. Established in 1780, the church is currently located on the corner of

Monument Avenue Monument Avenue is a tree-lined grassy mall dividing the eastbound and westbound traffic in Richmond, Virginia, originally named for its emblematic complex of structures honoring those who fought for the Confederacy during the American Civil War. ...

and Arthur Ashe Boulevard. The current senior minister is the Rev. Dr. Jim Somerville, former pastor of the First Baptist Church of Washington, D.C. Its historic building at 12th and East Broad streets is the home of

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virginia ...

's Hunton Student Center.

History

The church moved from its original location in 1841 to E Broad St. at 12th St. Their new building was designed by architect Thomas U. Walter. It is a stuccoed temple-form

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

style building with the two fluted

Doric order The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of c ...

columns of its portico in antis. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

the church building served as an emergency hospital for Confederate Army soldiers. In 1938, the congregation sold the church to the

Medical College of Virginia The VCU Medical Center is Virginia Commonwealth University's medical campus located in downtown Richmond, Virginia, in the Court End neighborhood. VCU Medical Center used to be known as the Medical College of Virginia (MCV), which merged with the ...

. an
''Accompanying photo''
/ref> Also in 1841, a group of members formed the First African Baptist Church. The original First Baptist Church had a mixed congregation. In 1841 they separated. The First African Baptist Church occupied and purchased th
original church building at E Broad St. and 14th St. (now College St.)
This building was torn down in 1876 and replaced with the one that stands in that location today. Basil Manly Jr. was the pastor from 1850 to 1854.

Style and Worship

First Baptist Church offers two traditional Sunday services, the one at 11:00 am being broadcast live on

WRIC-TV WRIC-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Petersburg, Virginia, United States, serving the Richmond area as an affiliate of ABC. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios in unincorporated Chesterfield County (w ...

. Most aspects of the church reflect traditional Baptist churches, including Sunday school prior to worship and evening bible studies throughout the week. The music during worship is several hymns, an offertory song (usually instrumental) and a choral anthem. Other music that may be added is children or youth choir, English

handbells A handbell is a bell designed to be rung by hand. To ring a handbell, a ringer grasps the bell by its slightly flexible handle – traditionally made of leather, but often now made of plastic – and moves the arm to make the hinged cla ...

or various soloists on instruments. Wednesdays offer a meal and activities for everyone. The Youth Group takes up the whole third floor and is 8th to 12th graders. There are usually a minimum fifty people during Sunday services.

Firsts

Not only was it the first church of any denomination to be organized in Richmond, the first Baptist church organized in a

city, and the first church in Virginia to organize a missionary society for women, but it also was the first in the city to organize a Sunday school for children, the first in America to send her own members as foreign missionaries to the continent of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, and the first in the Southern Baptist Convention to have a church library.

Modern use

The

acquired the building in 1938, and it became the institution's first

student center A student center (or student centre) is a type of building found on university and some high school campuses. In the United States, such a building may also be called a student union, student commons, or union. The term "student union" refers mos ...

. In 1989, the building, then part of

, was named Hunton Hall for Eppa Hunton Jr. and Eppa Hunton IV. It was renovated from 2005 to 2007.

References

External links