tbc Worship & Fellowship

Embracing a God-Sized Vision: History, part one

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]

tbc Worship & Fellowship

Lenten Reflection: Day thirty-three, “Empathy”

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?
tbc Media

Worship: Pastor’s 10th Anniversary, 4.6.14

Today we are excited to celebrate a number of important things in the life of the church.  Today we ordain four new deacons to servant ministry: Art Wright,  Lawt Awng, Naomi Reddish, and Kate Ayers.  We are also celebrate today on the 10th anniversary of Sterling Severns as pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church.

tbc Testimonies

Embracing a God-Sized Vision: Laura Jones

Welcome Home

I’ve moved 20+ times in the past 25 years, so being settled here now gives me a sense of immense relief. All that successive putting down roots and pulling them up again has left me emotionally exhausted. Shredded. Fragmented. One of the most comforting things to me about Tabernacle is the acceptance I feel here. I am welcome just as I am, fragments and all. I’m not expected to have it all together or to fit a certain mold. Even our children are allowed to be themselves and to be present, not sequestered away in a separate part of the building but welcome in the mix, like a real family. Tabernacle feels authentic to me. I love the honesty, the focus on each person as someone of incomparable worth – the whole person with all their good, bad and broken bits.

Every place I’ve lived, God has brought me the most amazing, heart-level friendships with local women. Through these beautiful friends, I’ve been challenged to see things from different cultural viewpoints. I’ve realized that some of my beliefs about God reflected my own culture rather than scripture, and as a result I’ve learned that God is even bigger than I had given Him credit for being. One of my favorite things about Tabernacle is the desire to see God in bigger ways and the willingness to live with the tension and mystery of not having Him completely figured out.

I cherish the diversity at Tabernacle, and as the church family continues to reach out and expand, I hope that people from even more ethnic, color and language backgrounds will find their home among us. I would especially love to see genuine friendships develop across the cultures. Logistics make this more of a challenge in the U.S. than it is overseas. I’m still finding my feet here, struggling to find the time and energy needed to make meaningful connections, but I’ve experienced firsthand what a lifeline it can be so I’m motivated to work toward it. I look forward to getting to know people beyond the surface of “how-are-you?-fine” and discovering together how our unique experiences and perspectives will contribute to our collective understanding and expression of God’s amazing love for the world.

 

My Prayer for Tabernacle:

  • May Tabernacle continue to be a place of welcome, hope and healing for broken people, and may Jesus continue to be the center of everything we do, the source of all we are.
  •  May we lean together into the mystery of life, unafraid to wrestle with hard questions and okay with not having all the answers.
  •  May we find practical ways to truly connect with one another, developing soul-friendships across cultures.
  •  May Tabernacle become more and more a full reflection of God’s kingdom, a blended family of people from every culture and every background.

 

Epiphany 7 Worship 2014

 

[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’][/author_image] [author_info]Content goes here “Welcome home!” These were Sterling’s first words to our family when we joined Tabernacle Baptist Church in February. Actually, I felt at home at Tabernacle as soon as our family started attending last September. This was a huge surprise to me. For 16 years we served in Kenya, Cyprus and England, countries where I had felt profoundly at home. I especially loved worshipping alongside people from multiple nationalities, and I had thought we were giving that up when we moved back to the States last year. Then we found Tabernacle! I’m so glad that God’s ways are higher than ours. I remember sitting at the church-wide picnic at the home of Ler Htoo and Lay Htoo, tears streaming down my face while listening to the gentle harmonies of worship songs in various Burmese languages. I didn’t yet know anyone, and I didn’t understand a word, but my heart basked in a fresh wave of God’s grace to me as I thought: “These Tabernacle people are my tribe.” I was raised in a cross-cultural American home: my mom is from Kentucky and my dad is from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I loved visiting both sets of grandparents and early on came to appreciate the beauty of diversity. I grew up in a Salvation Army church in Michigan, graduated from a conservative Christian college in Kentucky and was baptized by a Methodist minister in New Jersey. I went to Bible College in Detroit, lived among the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs of Nairobi and taught at Rift Valley Academy in Kenya. After meeting Matt in Kenya, we lived in the Fan early on in our marriage (two different apartments, each within three blocks of Tabernacle!) before serving with the International Mission Board in Cyprus and England. Now we live in Bon Air with our two children, Jack and Sophie, a fluffy cat called Luna and a chirpy cockatiel named Pearl. I’m an introvert who loves people. I cry easily but always because I feel deeply. I need strong tea, good books, spicy food and fresh air. I dream of peace and quiet. And seriously: I’m done moving.[/author_info] [/author]

tbc Worship & Fellowship

Deacon Ministry: An Introduction

DEACON MINISTRY: A DESCRIPTION
The word deacon is based on a compound Greek word that means, “through the dust.” In ancient times, it referred to those servants who walked through the dust to wait on tables — waiters and waitresses with dirty feet — but it came to be used generally as a term meaning, “to provide care for.” Hermann Beyer says that of all the words for servant int he New Testament, this one “has the special quality of indicating very personally the service rendered to another.” So a deacon doesn’t have to be someone with good business sense or who is a leader in the wider community. A deacon only has to be someone who is willing to walk through the dust to render service for another. In Matthew, Jesus says, “whoever wishes to be great among you must be your diakonos — your servant” (20:26).
In line with our scriptural understanding, twenty-first century deacons are selected and affirmed by their congregation to be servants of the church body, who lead not only with words, but also with hands eyes, ears, and feet. They equip and encourage us to follow christ as he leads us out into the world. In the coming months, pray for these servant leaders as we ordain them and recognize their gifts for servant leadership.
THE LAYING ON OF HANDS
The laying on of hands is an ancient practice of the Christian community, which stems back to Acts 6 when the seven chosen to serve stood before the apostles, “who prayed and lad their hands on them” (6:6). This practice serves as an opportunity for the congregation to affirm the ordinand and offer a prayer of blessing over their service. All are welcome to participate in this special ritual.