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We Listened, and Here’s What We Heard

We extend our thanks to the over 100 members of our congregation who attended one of twelve church dinners in February. What a great start to our Vision Campaign, giving us an opportunity to listen to what many of you believe is instrumental to our vision and our success in the years ahead! These dinners provided a chance for members of our congregation to participate in discussions about both our spiritual mission and physical structure. We have had similar discussions over the years, but this was a time to openly consider again how we view our future, based on the impact of our recent growth and the expanding needs of our community.
Our facilitators asked three questions at each dinner:

What excites you about the church right now?
How do you see us as we move forward?
How does the community see the church?
Participation at each dinner was excellent (along with the food)! Your comments were shared with the church staff and the Campaign Leadership Team, and now with you.

The first question—what excites you about the church today—sparked the most discussion and the greatest variety of responses. The most frequent answers sounded like this:

• The consistent welcoming, open nature of the church—everyone
• Very welcoming personality — genuine and naturally warm
• People invest in each other–for example, sponsoring artists, taking kids fishing, mentoring, helping with meals, taking care of each other
• Children’s ministry growth—so much growth in the nursery they’ve split into two classes, plus the infants
• Kids playing up and down the halls…and how many people know those children’s names
• There is a great emphasis on celebration of tradition, yet without sacrificing the desire to embrace change.
• Comfortable acceptance; open to ideas; no “cliques”
• Multi-generational, multi-cultural, multi-national
• Music and sharing of talents and individual gifts freely
• We are a church, not just an organization; we have a passion for a God-led ministry; our basic mission—serving God, and so many people “get it”
• For our size, we have great programs; our clothes closet, food pantry and serving our community’s various needs
• Good energy—mainly due to growth and the energy of the staff
• Wide spectrum of musical offerings
• Sermons stimulate, communicate and connect

Your outlook for Tabernacle is a very positive one! The consistent message is that we strive to open our doors and genuinely welcome anyone who wants to join us. Our church family and its spiritual mission are core to our continued growth and ability to expand what we offer to the world. We are truly an accepting and sending congregation that believes that what we do does make a difference. We are truly blessed with a sense of service and talent to help make that desire to serve a reality.

We are very grateful to all of our of our dinner sponsors—your time and efforts are sincerely appreciated!
In the next article about our “discovery dinners” we will focus on the second question—how do you see us as we move forward?

The main focus of this column going forward will be the history of parts of Tabernacle Baptist Church as it exists now, and how and why it got to be the structure that it is. Before reminiscing about special parts of the church, let’s visit the history surrounding the building of Tabernacle Baptist Church—that is, to present a snapshot in time of the fledgling church, and the challenging times that surrounded its expansion.

Many readers will know that what is now Tabernacle Baptist Church started as a mission school in what was then a rural part of Richmond in 1897. The mission school, known then as West View Sunday School, was located at the corner of Meadow and Cary Streets and was an outgrowth of Grace Street Baptist Church.  In 1891, West View Sunday School decided to become its own church:  West View Baptist Church.  It was recognized in that year.  In 1893, problems with the building had become apparent.  Anyone who has owned property will appreciate how maintenance can become an issue!  In just a few years the baptismal font required extensive repairs, and the furnace had failed to such an extent that replacement was necessary. Growth in the congregation necessitated extension of the existing building.

In 1893, some parallels may be seen to our own challenging winter of 2014. The US had suffered a financial panic, causing people to hoard what money they could, as banks would only pay $50 from any given account. The understandable hoarding of money accelerated a depression, and many suffered in Richmond and elsewhere. Financial worries abounded, and many businesses failed.

The winter of 1893 in Richmond was sheer misery. Deep snow covered Richmond, and the James River was frozen from bank to bank. On January 16, the temperature was 12 degrees below zero. Food was scarce and expensive. On January 17, fires broke out in the American Tobacco and Valentine Meat Juice factories, nearly destroying those businesses. It was impossible to fight the fire as pipes everywhere were frozen. Enterprising firemen dug down into Richmond’s canals to find unfrozen water, but when this water was piped from the canals to the building, it froze before it could even reach the fire. Schools were closed for nearly two weeks as the winter weather persisted, with blizzards that lasted for days.

Still, fundraising for West View Baptist continued, and work on the expansion was undertaken in spite of cold and hazardous conditions.  The church never stopped working to relieve people’s suffering from the winter and from the financial depression, and the size of the congregation and the services provided to the community continued to grow year over year.  Today, as in the early years of our church, we face the task of raising funds to alter the physical space of the church to achieve the mission that the Lord lays before us.  Borrowing words from our pastor:

““Each generation that has come before us has taken a significant leap of faith into the unknown. God has blessed those courageous efforts in the rebirth of the church, one beautiful chapter at a time. Now, it is time for us to continue that legacy of bold faithfulness. The God-Sized Vision that has been given to us is creative, responsible, and transformative. The Vision mandates sacrifice in the present with eyes cast toward the future. …The answer to prayers offered a generation ago is being revealed through the reemergence of our congregation. The legacy of our forbearers is being lived out by each and every one of you. …One day, the next generation will look back at this critical moment in our story and I believe they will do so with hearts full of gratitude.”

 

 

[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’][/author_image] [author_info]We sincerely appreciate the talent and efforts of Natalie Powers in helping us gain this historical perspective of Tabernacle. Credit for content of this article is given to The First Hundred Years: a History of the Tabernacle Baptist Church of Richmond, VA by Margaret Hickerson, Emery, 1991.[/author_info] [/author]

Empathy is the practice of suffering and the capacity to have learned enough of God and ourselves to be awake to others pain. Empathy involves telling our stories of pain, suffering and it opens up spaces of undefendedness. We love because we’ve first been loved. Oh, and by the way, there is no program for this.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

1. What gifts have you experienced being “birthed out of the suffering” in your life?
2. How have you seen suffering lead to greater capacity for empathy?
3. Think of a story of empathy that you have witnessed or been a part of. What happened? How does this story speak to your life?
4. Think of a time, even if it is a moment, when you knew yourself loved. How did this knowing change you?