The first offering taken at the new Park View Baptist Church in Portsmouth was for missions. There were 57 charter members and on the day of constitution in 1899 the congregation gave $5.50 for foreign missions. On Sunday, April 3, Park View will hold its last service and once again an offering will be collected for missions. The final act in a long church drama will be about missions.
On the following Sunday, April 10, the Park View people will have a joint service with the congregation of Zion Baptist Church, an African-American congregation which has purchased the Park View building. The two churches came from the same mother, the venerable Court Street Baptist Church, and they have been near neighbors across the long years. Zion was located in the downtown business district until its building burned three years ago.
Fred Anderson
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The Park View community was one of Portsmouth’s first suburbs. The members of Court Street recognized that a church was needed in the new neighborhood.
The women of the new suburb especially were active in pushing the church movement forward and securing a place to gather. An open-air tabernacle was erected; and when cool weather came, sides were created by rough boards. The next step was to organize a Sunday school. A permanent wooden church house was erected; and as new residents kept moving into the suburb, the Baptist church also continued to grow at a fast pace.
The hopes for an adequate facility were postponed because of the First World War; but by the early Twenties a great push was made to construct the new building. In October 1925, a magnificent Greek temple was occupied. Period photographs show the large congregation, which included many children and youth at the time of the relocation.
Park View Baptist Church in Portsmouth.
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The building became a Portsmouth showplace with its beautiful stained-glass windows and theatre-style seating. An educational building and chapel were added in 1953.
By the early 1960s the membership stood at over 1,200 and attendance averaged between 400 and 500. But as the Sixties progressed many residents began to move to the newer and more distant suburbs. Some of the faithful still made the trip to Park View for services and activities but the inevitable already was happening. Tidewater people know better than anyone else that time and tide wait for no one. The times were changing.
Park View Church enjoyed numerous pastorates. As in any church, a few pastorates became markers, including the 14 years of William H. Baylor, who came to Portsmouth from the position of executive leader of Maryland Baptists, as well as David Hammock, Thomas J. Powers and Robert V. Forehand. One of the church’s own deacons, John C. Ivins, entered the ministry and became the assistant executive leader of Virginia Baptists. Another son of the church is Roy DeBrand, who taught at Southeastern Seminary and Campbell Divinity School and was a Virginia Baptist pastor.
In January 2005 Aaron Brittain was called as pastor. A young graduate of Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Brittain was in his first pastorate. He and his wife, Molly, brought new hope to the congregation. They possessed “people skills,” wisdom beyond their years and a fresh enthusiasm. In time, they even began to replenish the church nursery with the birth of their son, Amos, who recently turned 2 years old. The couple is expecting a daughter this August.
Aaron and Molly also brought some other values. They graduated from Berry College, a unique school in Rome, Ga., which places emphasis upon the development of head, heart and hands. Since its founding the school has maintained a work program which helps students finance their education while providing the experiences which only work can offer. The Brittains possess a work ethic combined with the integrity of sound scholarship and compassionate caring.
Aaron and Molly were good for the church but even the young couple in the parsonage could not halt the tide. The gradual decline over the years had reduced the average attendance to about 50 from a membership roll of about 170, with most of them identified as inactive. The best service the pastor could offer was to enable the church to face reality and to close with grace and dignity befitting its worthy heritage.
In September 2010 the congregation began to grapple with the situation. Everyone had an opportunity to express their thoughts, concerns and ideas. It was decided with only one negative vote to offer the building for sale and to disband as a congregation. It was not a decision made lightly.
Marty Hoover is a third-generation deacon. He has been coming to Park View since he was a baby. He knows no other church; and in its closing years, the church has benefited from his time as he cared for the building. He can remember as a youth serving as an usher and having a difficult time finding an empty seat in the auditorium and placing folding chairs in the aisle. He recalls the Seventies when drug traffic in the area caused concern and the parking lot had to be under patrol to keep the members’ cars from being stolen. He admits that there was some turnaround when the neighborhood was designated as an historic area; but the decline had been too deep for the church’s survival.
As a final act, the church divided its assets with several worthy causes, including a local nursing facility known as Emily Green Shores; Woman’s Missionary Union of Virginia, which will receive funds to enable children to attend camp; and even the Tidewater Music Forum, which provides piano lessons for children who otherwise could not afford them. CBF National and CBF Virginia will receive funds. Imagine the curtain calls and encores for Park View every time someone is blessed because of the perpetual distribution of their assets.
Zion Church is anxious to take possession in time for Easter. As for Aaron Brittain, he awaits God’s direction and advocates that the final act for Park View is “about death and resurrection, the Christian story.” He says: “The lower case ‘c’ church has served the capital ‘C’ Church over time and can be proud to hear, ‘Well done thy good and faithful servant.’ ”
For Christians such commendation is equivalent to the sustained applause sought by actors and artists. It is appropriate for the final act.
Fred Anderson is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies, located on the campus of the University of Richmond. He may be contacted at [email protected] or at P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173.