For fifty years, Ravensworth Baptist Church has been a progressive Baptist presence in Northern Virginia. We began as a mission of First Baptist Church of Annandale to the growing Ravensworth/North Springfield area. On March 15, 1959, the newly formed mission held a formal constitutional meeting, and 54 persons accepted the invitation to join RBC. The new church immediately took missions to heart by holding regular worship services at Leewood Healthcare Center and organizing what developed into the Ravensworth Parents Day Out program. Both ministries continue to this day.

In the years since our founding, we have found ourselves on the cutting edge of social issues. During the civil rights movement, RBC joined other local churches in a pledge to support fair housing. During the Poor People’s Campaign in the late 1960’s, we provided housing for those traveling to the capital, and even installed a shower head in our baptistry so they could shower before meeting with their legislators at the Capitol. During this period we sought to foster greater diversity in our congregation. This led to, among other outcomes, providing facilities for two different Korean congregations and joining in partnership with an African American congregation in the District of Columbia. We have always affirmed the full partnership of women in ministry, and have enjoyed the leadership of scores of women in positions of leadership, as deacons, and as members of the pastoral staff. A conversational journey that lasted a number of years moved us along the path toward full acceptance of gays and lesbians in our congregational life. In 2006 we voted to join the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists.

Throughout the years, we have been engaged in missions and social ministries in our local area, in the United States, and around the world. Support of Annandale Christian Community for Action (ACCA), Habitat for Humanity, Rebuilding Together, and, in recent years, the Shepherd’s Center of Annandale/Springfield has been steady and enthusiastic. We have also participated in efforts to combat hunger, make peace, and ensure religious liberty. We have developed relationships with congregations and organizations in as far-flung places as Bethlehem, Cuba, Washington, southern Sudan, Mississippi, and Malawi.

Our concern for social justice and peacemaking continues to be as strong as ever. Each year we participate in Bread for the World’s Offering of Letters, walk in the CROP Walk, and collect offerings for a variety of missions endeavors. We have joined the struggle for the dignity and rights of gay and lesbian persons in our community, and have become ever more deeply engaged in efforts to bring peace with justice to Israel and Palestine. We participate in interfaith dialogue, and have sent mission teams to Biloxi, Mississippi, to assist in Habitat’s recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and to Israel and the Palestinian territories to learn firsthand about peacemaking efforts in the Holy Land.

Through the years, in addition to activism, Ravensworth has emphasized spirituality and has encouraged the inquisitive and critical study of Scripture. We have also been blessed with splendid preaching. Those traditions continue. Our current pastor, Dr. Steve Hyde, besides being an outstanding preacher, is committed to fostering spiritual growth and helping church members deepen their prayer lives through contemplation, silence, and other spiritual practices. All of our Sunday School classes and Bible studies are spiritually challenging and respectful of each person’s intelligence and autonomy. And worship is warm, uplifting, and stirring, and draws forth the best from everyone in the community.

We celebrated our fiftieth anniversary in March 2009, and as we begin the second fifty years of our life together, we at Ravensworth Baptist Church are confident that God is at work among us, and that our best days are ahead.

Read the complete history of RBC from 1959 to 2004