RSS 2.0Second Providence Baptist Church
While walking past the Second Providence Baptist Church, I noticed this sign referring to Youth Resources Numbers. The sign includes many numbers that are not associated with religious life. The sign includes a variety of emergency hotlines, a number for a cocaine hotline, a poison hotline, and a STD hotline. Why would such a sign be posted outside of a church? Perhaps the sign is posted because the church is known as a safe place. The church embodies a protected environment for people. The Second Providence Baptist Church may be trying to help not only members of the church, but also members of the community when in crisis. The church is not only a place to come for religious help, but also a place where people can come to for assistance in secular problems. The posting of the numbers and naming it “Youth Resources Numbers” suggests that youth of the surrounding community may come in contact with the situations and substances listed. The youth are likely to need an escape route to a nontoxic environment and the church is lending out its hands to all. The sign is also comforting because it suggests that the church is welcoming to all, even people who are in a bad place in life and may need help. The church’s mission statement encompasses its comforting theology and further uncovers the church’s serving nature.
Second Providence Baptist Church Mission Statement
“At Second Providence we are a people who are seeking first the Kingdom and Righteousness of God. We are committed to the strengthening of our faith in God through His one and only Son Jesus the Christ. We are committed to the strengthening of family. In all of creation, before God created a church He created the family, which is the essential building block of human civilization. God’s creation of Adam and Eve illustrates the importance of the marriage covenant establishing one man and one woman to create and nurture family. We are committed to the strengthening of our local and global community. Our local community and society as a whole can only be saved and transformed through the building of healthy families. Thus God’s vision of “Faith, Family, and Community” is the guide to which God will usher in restoration. Second Providence is firmly committed to the Biblical institution of marriage and the nurturing of strong Christian families. Society has become weakened because the family has become weak. No politician, social program, or secular intervention can repair what God has created. It is only through faith in Jesus Christ working in all of our lives that transformation will occur. Second Providence is a place of God’s jurisdiction, nurture, and protection. Second Providence has established ministries such as Kingdom Couples, Men on Fire, and Boys II Men to help aid in this restoration process. The family is welcome at Second Providence.”