About our Church

 

Our Mission

LOVING GOD - GROWING TOGETHER - SERVING OTHERS as we strive to know Christ and make Him known.

LOVING GOD - Each believer is encouraged and expected to attend the Worship Experiences where the church collectively expresses our love for God.

 GROWING TOGETHER - Each believer is encouraged and expected to join one Life Group where we experience events of life and grow together.

SERVING OTHERS - Each believer is encouraged and expected to join themselves to one Ministry where we can meet needs of others.

STRIVING TO KNOW CHRIST AND MAKE HIM KNOWN - indicates that we are always learning more from and about Christ AND that we are passionate about making Him known to everyone with whom we come in contact.

Our History

Jerusalem Baptist Church was founded September 4, 2005, with forty-four Charter Members and Rev Doyle J. Thomas, Jr. as Pastor. A group of persons had contacted Pastor and Mrs. Thomas to persuade them not to leave the Charlottesville area. After several conversations and meetings it was decided to take forty days to pray, fast and have worship services under the name of RevDoyle Ministries. July 1, 2005 marked the beginning of Forty Days of Fasting, Fellowship and Focusing on the Future. Reverend Stanley E. Woodfolk and the members of Evergreen Baptist Church, Profit Road, Charlottesville allowed us to use their church building (for as long as we wanted) for the purpose of deciding if we would form a church. So on Friday July 1, 2005 fifteen people met at the Evergreen Church for prayer and Bible exposition. The Lord opened himself through His Word as Rev. Thomas facilitated the evening’s gathering teaching from the 1st Chapter of the Acts. As Acts 1:3 says of Jesus, so Pastor Thomas set a time of “forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Before the forty days were up it was evident that we would start a new church in this area and we thought it would be called Macedonia.

Having grown in attendance and seeking to be in a more central location, we began in mid-August meeting at the Monticello Events & Conference Center. Continuing under the umbrella of RevDoyle Ministries this location serviced our need very well until the last Sunday in December 2005. During the Month of August, 2005 preparations were made for the constituting of a new church in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Lord gave us the name of Macedonia, which WE THOUGHT was to be the name of the church. However, on a Saturday morning, Rev. Thomas was awakened by the Lord with a challenge to do a study of God’s word placing Macedonia beside Jerusalem. As Rev. Thomas tells us, “the Lord said, Macedonia is only known for its plea FOR help and I have not called you to be a begging people. Come on over to Jerusalem”. Rev. Thomas says, he got up and did a search and could only find a paragraph or two on Macedonia, yet he found page after page on Jerusalem. On Sunday Morning when he told of his encounter the congregation erupted in praise and applause. And so, on September 4, 2005, before the Morning Worship, a meeting of the proposed Charter Members of the proposed Jerusalem Baptist Church was held wherein an acting clerk was elected from among the people.

The forty four charter members were: Georgie R. Barbour, Pearl Barbour, Madelyn Boling, Rose B. Brown, Darnella Buster, Sadie J. Carr, Eugenia Cooper, Myrtle N. Dillard, Cordelia Fitch, Priscilla Fitch, Patricia Flowers, Sheila Ford, Lenora Gray, Brenda Harris, William H. Harvey, Debbie Henry, Roger Henry, Barbara Hogan, John Hogan, James Hollins, Shonda Howard-Moore, Brenda Humes, Mary Ann Jackson, Alice Jefferson, Carolyn A. Jones, Charles E. V. Jones, Darlene A. Jones, Jackie S. Martin, Lucy Monroe, Warren M. Monroe, Renee Quick, John W. Ross, Jr., Katherine W. Ross, Carolyn Rush, Annamae Spottswood, Regina Spottswood, Lois Stokes, Sarah Terrell, Eva Thomas, Odessa H. Thomas, Brenda C. Thompson, Janet Tillage, Henry White and Marcus Williams. During the fall of 2005 we began searching for a place we could call our own. This came more clearly into view in late October and early November as Pastor Thomas was searching for a place to baptize new converts. We entered into an agreement with the Double Tree Hotel Charlottesville to baptize in their indoor heated pool four times a year. Our first baptizing service was held November 27 at 2:00pm., with 40 persons in attendance and while making these arrangements the lord set someone in Pastor Thomas’ path who handles real estate and who shared some listing with him. On December 31, 2005 we held our watch night freedom service in a building we could call Jerusalem, which is located at 630 Country Green Lane, Charlottesville. Pastor Thomas preached “God Has A Plan” from Exodus 14:1-4. The next morning our first 9:00 a. m. Sunday worship service of 2006 was held in the new location. Since that time God continues to awe us with His Grace and Favor.