Broadus Future Story, 2017

In 2017, Broadus Memorial Baptist Church is living its commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because we know that spiritual and social isolation harms us and our neighbors, we have reached out beyond our church walls to create networks of relationships in Fontana, Cascadia, Park View, Wilton Farm, and all other Pantops neighborhoods. We are making Christian love real across the boundaries of age and social differences.

In accord with our commitment to discipleship and evangelism, we are working to bring worship, Bible Study, friendship, and service in Christ’s name to the places where our members and neighbors are. At the same time, we are welcoming our neighbors into Broadus for worship and fellowship. Guided by a dedicated staff and a strong lay leadership, our entire congregation is engaged in discipleship and evangelism that is authentically Biblical and historically Baptist.

We worship, study the Bible, and pray in small groups at our home church and at various satellite locations throughout Pantops, including the Broadus Community Center on our Broadus home grounds. Senior adults, Broadus members, and Pantops residents come together to share faith stories and life experiences, to mentor and counsel, and to exchange assistance and information. We are meeting one another as foster grandparents, tutors, advisors on practical skills, and, above all, as children of God. Through the individual talents and gifts of our congregation, we offer and receive ministries that range from financial planning, couple mentoring, parenting, crafting and sports to sitting for children and for adults who need care. We also learn how to carry these services and ministries to our neighbors. We talk frequently with our neighbors in need and help them access the community resources designed to address their practical problems. As a result of our new relationships with one another and throughout Pantops, we have established cooperative partnerships with local service organizations and institutions. In addition, we have strengthened our relationships with other local churches and with our international Christian partners.

We are recognized throughout the Charlottesville-Albemarle region for ministry to senior adults and to children. Through the Broadus Community Center, senior adults remain intimately involved with their Broadus friends and their Pantops neighbors in ministries of faith and service. We make our tutorial services available to the local schools in our area, and the special worship programs designed for the children of our membership are open to those who choose to let their children join us.

We are in no way limited to our programs: we nurture a culture that encourages each person’s sense of mission and calling. As a result, we maintain a long-standing relationship with the chaplaincy of the prison in an adjacent county. The continuity of this partnership involves our members in ministries of music, literacy, and recovery from physical and sexual abuse. We also continue a strong ministry to the homeless initiated in 2006 which has led us into partnerships with other churches and social organizations.

Through service we are winning the trust of our neighbors and listening to their questions about faith. As they speak, and as we listen, we have found new opportunities to witness for Christ. In Wilton Farm, we are inspiring children and their families to find their identity and hope in Jesus Christ. In Fontana, Cascadia, and Park View, we are drawing people to deeper relationships with their neighbors and God. Broadus is touching the lives of our neighbors in these and all the neighborhoods of Pantops and beyond. As they speak, and as we listen, we have found new opportunities to witness for Christ.

In all that we say and do, the witness of the Church is precious to us. Through baptism, we share our confession of Jesus as Lord and enter a community that transcends social connection. By the observance of communion, we remember that we are made whole by the sacrificial love of Christ that surpasses all human care. Blessed by prayer and scripture, we draw near to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In our journey of discipleship, we are seeing faith made stronger and hope made new, both the earthly hope for human intimacy and the spiritual hope that comes from seeking relationship with God.

We are being renewed daily by God’s love and grace. And the Lord is adding to the numbers of Broadus Memorial Baptist Church “such as would be saved.”