Community Outreach & Partners

Community Outreach & Partners
Serving our neighbors with love—keeping the gospel at the center.

“Get involved in the community!” It’s a phrase we hear everywhere—walks for health causes, school board and local government service, feeding neighbors in need, blood drives, and so much more. At Historic First Baptist Church, we respond to that call with purpose: to serve with compassion, build community, and keep Christ at the center of our witness.

In the Community

How We Serve

“Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” — Matthew 5:16
We show up, serve well, and shine the light of Christ in our community.

Here are some of the ways Historic First Baptist Church members are involved in the life of our community:

  • We are involved in every aspect of our community, from meetings with Senator Norment to expand Medicaid in the Commonwealth of Virginia to our work in the community with the NAACP.

  • We support and march with local students in youth-led protests in the Williamsburg–James City County area, the United States, and the world in order to be heard by legislators on the issues of justice, equality, and gun violence.

  • We visit the elderly, the sick, and shut-in in all of our local hospitals and continuing care residential units (including senior citizen residences).

  • Our members volunteer at the WHRO television station to help raise funds for public television and positive programming.

  • Our members work with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a civil rights organization founded in 1909 to fight prejudice, lynching, and Jim Crow segregation, and to work for the betterment of “people of color.”
    NAACP (Williamsburg/James City County): https://www.yjcwnaacp.org

  • We support RESTORE and Habitat for Humanity.

  • Our Care Groups purchase backpacks and fill them with food for distribution to the children in the community.

  • We partner with other churches in the community to provide shelter for the homeless.

  • Our members work with All Together Williamsburg, a community organization bridging racial, ethnic, and cultural lines.
    All Together Williamsburg: https://www.alltogetherwilliamsburg.org

  • We volunteer at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail to pray with, and for, the inmates and correctional officers.

  • We work with the community to strengthen the nutrition safety net through the distribution of USDA Foods and other nutrition assistance to children, low-income families, emergency feeding programs, and the elderly.

Our Partners

Who We Work With

“Two are better than one…for if they fall, one will lift up his fellow.” — Ecclesiastes 4:9–10
Better together—faithful collaboration for a stronger community.

As faith-based partners, we cooperate to advance mutual interests in Williamsburg, James City, and York Counties. Our partners may include other faith-based organizations, individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments, or combinations working to make our community better.

Highlighted partnerships and community collaborators include:

Why We Serve

The Gospel at the Center

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus…” — Colossians 3:17
Not for recognition—but for the gospel and for God’s glory.

Our community involvement is not just for good PR—it is for the gospel. Christians, because we’ve been redeemed through the blood of Christ, are citizens in the community and the world. We are salt and light; we are ambassadors for Christ. Getting involved in the community is about reaching our community with the good news of Jesus, using legitimate and meaningful opportunities to serve.

Our members don’t get involved in the community simply for the sake of being busy. We don’t serve merely to provide something for church members to do or to give volunteers a way to feel better about themselves. We serve to better represent Jesus and to make His name known.

Whatever we, the members of Historic First Baptist Church, choose to do as a church, we keep the gospel at the center. Yes, we do have fun, we get to know our neighbors, and we do gain trust and respect in the community—but the real reason is to glorify God by reaching people with the gospel.

Get Involved

Serve With Us

Scripture: “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another…” — 1 Peter 4:10
Tagline: There’s a place for you here—serve with joy, purpose, and love.

Interested in serving with us? Please visit our Volunteer page to learn about opportunities and how to get started.








Virginia  Historical  Society  Lecture

At  the  Hennage  Auditorium

October  9,  2022

 

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