Virginia-Highland Church

What we believe at Virginia-Highland Church

We gather together at Virginia-Highland Church as diverse followers of Christ with beliefs as diverse as we are. As a progressive Christian congregation, Virginia-Highland Church has no required doctrine for membership or recitation of creeds in our worship. However, there are certain values we all hold so dearly that once a year, all the members of Virginia-Highland Church covenant together to uphold them.

OUR COVENANTED VALUES

GOD	We believe in embracing the power of God's Word, the example of Christ Jesus, and the nurture of the Holy Spirit to transform our lives and enable us to experience the presence of God in the world.
LOVE	We believe that all people are children of God, touched by the grace of the Holy Spirit, whatever their culture, their heritage, or the tradition into which they are born.
WORSHIP	We believe in gathering regularly to publicly worship God, honoring the traditional practices of the Christian Church while remaining open to the present, creative guidance of the Holy Spirit.
DIVERSITY	We believe in celebrating and joyfully embracing our differences, acknowledging that conflict is a natural and inevitable part of being human that provides opportunities for personal growth and strengthens the body of Christ.
LEARNING	We believe in studying the scriptures faithfully and critically, listening for insights that we have not yet heard, and respecting the right of each individual member to read and interpret the scriptures as led by the Holy Spirit.
NURTURE	We believe in discovering and developing the gifts that God has given us, affirming and fostering the God-given talents of those among us, supporting one another with prayer, and promoting the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of each member of our community.
SERVICE	We believe in supporting our church and its mission by giving time, talents and possessions, using our facilities faithfully and creatively to further its mission.
MISSION	We believe in living our lives committed to integrity, following the example of Jesus, seeking both peace and justice, and sharing the love of God with our community and throughout the world.
FREEDOM	We believe in actively promoting historic principles of freedom: the priesthood of all believers, the autonomy of the local church, and the principle of a free church in a free state.
FAITH	We believe in recognizing that all of us see through a glass darkly and that we all are striving to discover and understand ultimate truth, and therefore we cooperate with other communities of faith, we respect and affirm the rich differences of traditions other than our own, and we listen to those elements in their faiths which speak to the universal presence of God's love and work in the world.
EARTH	We believe in nurturing awareness of the sacredness of the land and its limited natural resources, and working with other communities to protect and preserve the ecological balance of all creation.

WHY DO WE BELIEVE WHAT WE DO?

Virginia-Highland Church has a rich history, and one that is integral to the beliefs the congregation holds today.

Virginia Avenue Baptist Church was established on July 26, 1923. It was created to be a neighborhood church for what was then suburban Atlanta. The congregation initially met in a store at the corner of Boulevard and Cooledge Avenue. They moved to a permanent building on the corner of Virginia Avenue and Ponce de Leon Place in 1924. As Atlanta grew, so did Virginia Avenue Baptist Church. Shortly after the twenty-fifth anniversary of its founding, the church began construction on a new, brick sanctuary at the Virginia Avenue-Ponce Place intersection. The first service in the new building was held on March 5, 1950. The church still worships in this building. The attached three-story educational building, which houses church offices and Sunday School classes, was completed in 1955.

The Reverend J. Omer Jones served as the pastor of Virginia Avenue Baptist Church from 1941 to 1968. During his tenure, the church grew exponentially, rapidly filling its new facilities. The choir, under the direction of Marie Newton, grew likewise and was widely regarded as one of the finest choirs in the Southern Baptist Convention. Times change, and so do neighborhoods. In the 1970's and 1980's, the "suburbs" of Atlanta moved thirty miles farther in every direction. Many families moved with them, and urban churches of all varieties dwindled. Many closed their doors, and Virginia Avenue might well have done the same.

The members of the church, however, were committed to staying and serving their community. Under the leadership of the Reverend Timothy W. Shirley - who arrived on March 1, 1990 - the church made significant changes. On October 28, 1990 they ordained women to the Diaconate for the first time. In January of 1992, the church changed its name to Virginia-Highland Baptist Church to reflect its connection with the neighborhood it serves.

Perhaps the most significant indication of that connection came in 1993 when the church declared itself an "inclusive community of faith where everyone is welcome." In an area heavily populated with gay and lesbian professionals, this meant re-evaluating the church's historic opposition to homosexuality. At that time, Virginia-Highland took the courageous stance of becoming a place where gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender Christians can be welcomed and affirmed; and where they can be fully participating members of the church. As Virginia-Highland Baptist Church was working to become more inclusive, the Southern Baptist Convention was becoming more exclusive. In 1992, Virginia-Highland severed its long-standing relationship with the SBC. In 1999, the Georgia Baptist Convention voted to withdraw fellowship from VHBC. In 2002 VHBC voluntarily withdrew from the Atlanta Baptist Association after that association's decision not to expel the church led the SBC to threaten to withdraw funding.

A baptist church certainly needs no larger affiliations to function effectively. Nevertheless, Virginia-Highland church was committed to preserving accountability and collegiality with other baptist bodies. It did so by being one of the first churches to join the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (1992) and then later joined the Alliance of Baptists (1996). Virginia-Highland church cherishes these baptist relationships and is proud of its baptist heritage and baptist witness. As part of a strong dedication to ecumenism, the church also joined the United Church of Christ in 2002. To reflect its new, ecumenical identity the church changed its name a final time to Virginia-Highland Church, a Baptist and United Church of Christ Congregation.

In 2001 VHC also completed the renovation of its sanctuary, a multi-stage process which included extending and dividing the chancel, replacing the ceiling, creating a lower platform, and replacing the carpet with acoustically vibrant tile. Thus Virginia-Highland enters the new century with a renewed commitment to serve its neighbors, and with new friends to help with that mission.