RICHMOND, Va. — Calvin Birch’s 6-year-old son, Joel, was dressing one Sunday and asked his dad, pastor of the African Christian Community Church in Richmond, where they were going.
“What do you mean?” he replied to his son. “We’re going to church.” To which Joel replied, “Are we going to the fun church?”
Birch knew exactly what his son was thinking as Joel and other children from the African Christian Community Church had just completed an exciting week of Vacation Bible School at Second Baptist Church in Richmond. It was one of many summer activities provided through a partnership with the churches in the Richmond Baptist Association.
RBA’s three Sojourner missionaries with children at the African Christian Community Church.
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Birch came to the United States in 2000 to complete his academic studies with the intention of returning to his native Liberia. He is currently enrolled at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond in pursuit of the doctor of ministry degree.
But when the civil war in Liberia prevented his return he sought God’s direction and became aware of the increasing number of residents from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Sudan and Zambia in the Richmond area.
The African Christian Community Church was accepted into membership by the Richmond Baptist Association in October 2009, and the next month the association entered into a covenant with ACCC to partner in ministries to reach African immigrants for Christ.
As a new church start ACCC received assistance from the Baptist General Association of Virginia through its Alma Hunt Offering for Virginia Missions. Hatcher Memorial Baptist Church in Richmond offered its chapel as a site for the new church.
“We issued a Macedonian call for churches to help,” says Birch, and just a glimpse of the many programs now provided are evidence that RBA churches have answered that call.
Ruth Guill, partnership coordinator for the RBA, says it began when the staff and members from Huguenot Road Baptist Church in Richmond spent 10 days preparing the facility for use. The rooms had not been used for some time. The team cleaned the rooms and painted them. Electrical wiring was checked and repaired. New locks were installed on doors. Air conditioners and carpet were donated.
An after-school tutoring program at ACCC now assists children who lost valuable years of schooling during the seven years of civil war in Liberia. Most of the boys and girls participating were either born in refugee camps or in situations that did not afford an environment for learning. Volunteers lead reading programs and tutor children in math and other skills.
ACCC provides community ministry through a clothes closet and food pantry. A Christmas Store was held last year with people receiving clothing and toys through the generous donations of items from RBA churches. Volunteers from numerous churches participate in mentoring, providing snacks, games and groceries.
“It’s surprising with the economy as it is today the abundance that the Richmond centers and ACCC continue to receive,” says Michael Robinson, director of missions for Richmond Baptist Association. One would think resources would shrivel up, he adds, but they haven’t.
On a recent afternoon at ACCC, members from New Bridge Baptist Church in Richmond had just served lunch. The younger children were playing Bible bingo and the older ones were making flowers using duct tape, led by a team from Chesterfield Baptist Church in Moseley, a Middle District Baptist Association church.
A puppet team from First Baptist Church, Richmond, came to ACCC. The response was so positive that FBC members invited the children to their church on another day. One of the most anticipated activities by the children this year was a trip to the zoo.
A team from Bon Air Baptist Church, Richmond, spent a week at ACCC offering BookNet, a program aimed at getting children engaged in reading. Children were able to choose a book for themselves. “For some children,” says Birch, “this was the first time they can say ‘this is my book.’ ”
The most energetic and noisiest week of the summer, Guill and Birch are quick to admit, was the week that RBA’s three Sojourners were there. Molly Gardner of Westhampton Baptist Church, Lindsey Turner of Pine Street Baptist Church and Valerie Westerman of Sandston Baptist Church served as RBA summer missionaries and the children delighted in the music and games planned by these high school students.
“The summer program is a joy to our children,” says Birch. The after-school and summer programs reach an average of 25 to 30 children whose parents would be unable to afford other summer programs.
The value of bringing children who share the same culture together to form relationships is enormous, he says. And this not only allows ACCC to teach the children about Jesus but opens the door to touching the lives of their families.
For many in the association, she’s now referred to as the ‘professional beggar,’ says Guill. She’s become good at plugging people in where they have skills and are needed.
“Lots of our folks in our churches want to do hands-on missions,” says Robinson. By driving 15 minutes and spending the day at ACCC, they have done something significant and they can see the benefits. And it’s a thrill, he adds, to attend RBA council and Woman’s Missionary Union meetings and hear reports of how churches have served and how they’ve been blessed as they’ve served.
When asked what they think about the churches that come and help them, Birch says many of the children will say that God cares for them. And if you were to ask Joel, he would tell you that RBA churches have made learning about God fun.
Barbara Francis ([email protected]) is a staff writer for the Religious Herald.