Hope on Hope Street — Providence Presbyterian Church

Members of the congregation. Photo courtesy of Providence Presbyterian Church.How exciting it is to be connected to Providence Presbyterian Church! Why? Things are happening there — more people are coming, more activities and programs are taking place and God seems to be in our midst — guiding us to care for each other and to care for the community. The diversity we have in the congregation is exciting — ethnic, intergenerational, sexual orientation. We have a large group of people who are immigrants from Ghana — they have formed a choir that sings once a month — to the glory of God and the joy of everyone. 

When I joined this congregation about 10 years ago, it was very small, 30 to 40 people in attendance on Sunday morning. About 10 years earlier, two small congregations had merged, and it took awhile for the merger to really work. One of the reasons I joined was because of its diversity, with a few people from other ethnic groups, a variety of occupations and an openness theologically. At that time, most of the members were older — there was only one young family with a child; several children were picked up by a couple of members to come to Sunday School. 

However, things began to change — we began getting some younger couples, some babies were born; we purged the rolls of people who had been inactive for a long time; new people who joined were very active. Session members took as an example what the chair of the Nurture Committee had done — added members to the committee who were not on session. By doing this on all committees, new leaders were nurtured and developed, so that we had a good pool of people from which to gain new elders and deacons. 

The church kept adding new people, younger, older and from other ethnicities and countries — from Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Korea, China, Japan, Liberia and Kenya. College students began coming and taking part in our activities.  There are several retired ministers who worship with us regularly, three of whom are Presbyterian and two are from the United Church of Christ (UCC). In addition, we have a UCC minister who is a specialized minister (without a parish) who has asked to be considered as part of our congregation. 

Part of this was due to the focus the long-time pastor, Joe Miller, had with the church on worship, relationships (fellowship) and mission. Part was due to his recognition that we were a redeveloping church and such a church needed the skills of more than one pastor. Under his guidance, we developed and implemented a plan to call a part time co-pastor, Christine Foster. Her skills in communicating with new people, community involvement and pastoral care contributed a great deal. When the first pastor retired, she went to half-time and we called a half-time interim, Jim Keller, with long-time participation in immigration issues and who speaks Spanish. 

The Presbyterian Nurture Committee was multicultural. We were looking for a part-time co-pastor, a most difficult task. We called a young man, David Watermulder, just out of seminary who had been in the Peace Corps in Cape Verde and spoke Portuguese. He was also fluent in Spanish and spent a summer during seminary as a youth pastor in Ghana, where he learned some Twi. Within one year, we were able to call him on a full-time basis!

We now have 112 members with another membership class about to begin. However, we have many more than that attending our services; recently there have been around 140 to 150 people at the worship service.  We have a coffee hour after each service, and people who are there for the first time receive a small loaf of bread to welcome them. Our Web site has been most helpful — people are drawn to our church because it is multicultural and not just those with an ethnic background. One new member said that she and her husband looked at the Web pages of several churches, but ours was different and very appealing to them.

We have encouraged and fostered those who wish to undertake programs or projects or who have musical talents. We have a blended worship service with both traditional and contemporary music.  Our new college age group has a choir that sings periodically. We have some younger people who play guitar and drums and lead us in singing more contemporary songs. In addition to the traditional choir and the Ghana choir, one Ghanaian with a beautiful voice often sings, unaccompanied, for the call to worship or the offertory.

New programs include a 20s and 30s age group that meets monthly; English Learners Fellowship (ELF) where people from other countries, including a number of graduate students, meet once a week to study the Bible and get help in becoming more proficient in English; a program to assist a refugee family in becoming acclimated to this country where several people meet with them weekly to help tutor the children and whatever else they need help with.

Part of our offering each Sunday is nonperishable food items that are contributed to the Camp Street Ministries, located four blocks from the church, and several people go there once a month to help in their food bank. Tuesday Nights Together (TNT) are held during Lent and again during the Fall, where we share a simple meal and then divide into 4 or so groups for further study. A new program is Home Groups where church members are divided into six groups with diversity in each group. They will meet once a month in people’s homes for Bible study and to get to know each other better. This program is being headed by a candidate for ministry who is interning with us this year. Ongoing programs include the Transformation Generation (teenagers) who have various activities, Bible study and retreats, often with youth from other churches. We also support Presbyterian Promise and have a booth at the annual Providence Gay Pride Day.

We have new and continuing relationships with fellowships and congregations made up of immigrants.  Our first experience was with a Brazilian fellowship, some of our members were on the presbytery committee that was working with them to become a congregation, which they now are. Our youth have had retreats with their youth, we have had their pastor preach at our church and have had some of their members come talk to us about being an immigrant in this country. A new relationship has been forged with a Kenyan fellowship in Springfield, Massachusetts, that is seeking to become a congregation.  Last summer their pastor preached at our church and his whole congregation came, after which we had a light lunch for all. Recently a group from our church visited them in their church for their worship service. Our new pastor is also working with a new Brazilian fellowship on Cape Cod. We are also now considering a partnership with a church in Ghana with ties to our members.

For some time our congregation has given the most money per capita to the mission of the church through presbyteries, synods and General Assembly. Mission has been one of the foci, and we continue to live this out in our community and world-wide.  One of the Advent projects we have had for several years is an alternative giving program, where people can donate to various mission projects as a gift of honor to family and friends. These projects include some local, some international — such as the Heifer Project— and General Assembly mission, such as Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.  One of our members is now in mission work in Egypt. 

At the session’s retreat last January, the following vision statement was adopted:  “Our vision for the year ahead as a church is to deepen our faith in Jesus Christ and what it means to be a disciple, to honor our diversity and let it permeate everything we do together, to extend warm welcome and hospitality to visitors and new people, and to reach out in mission to our community, our city, and our world.”  In all that we do and have done during the year, we have followed that vision. And so excitement abounds and the belief that God is working in our midst.

MISSION STATEMENT:  Called together by the Holy Spirit, Providence Presbyterian Church is a welcoming and inclusive community of faith committed to Jesus Christ and the word of God as proclaimed in the Bible. Through worship, education and fellowship, we strive to use our myriad gifts and resources to share God’s message of love, while enriching the spiritual growth of each individual and serving the needs of our diverse community and the world.

Providence Presbyterian Church
500 Hope St.
Providence, RI 02906