Ridgeview Baptist Church, a growing upstate congregation “planted” by Taylors First Baptist Church in 2003, held a constitution service June 4 to commemorate the conclusion of a three-year period of financial support, incubation and nurturing.
Ridgeview Church pastor Tommy Hargrove baptizes Jennifer Pruitt during an Easter Sunday worship service. Ridge-view Church, after a three-year nurturing period, recently was constituted as an “independent body of believers” in full cooperation with North Greenville Baptist Association and the South Carolina Baptist Convention.The service, which was held at Taylors First Baptist, marked the official emergence of Ridgeview Church as “an independent body of believers who choose to be” a cooperating church in North Greenville Baptist Association, the South Carolina Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention.
The service also signaled the completion of Ridgeview’s partnership with the new work department of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.
The church designates 8 percent of offerings to the Cooperative Program and 2 percent to North Greenville Association. Also, the congregation has chosen to designate 1 percent of offerings toward helping plant a church in Augusta, Maine. A mission trip there is planned.
Ridgeview pastor Tommy Hargrove led the church’s first service on Jan. 11, 2004, in the Mountain View Elementary School. Hargrove said the church’s mission statement then still defines its purpose: “Seeking to be a bridge of God’s love to all people so they many experience his purpose for their lives.”
Located in a fast-growing section of Greenville County, in the Lake Robinson area near highways 290 and 101, the church continues to hold worship services at Mountain View Elementary School. Hargrove said the church “has been blessed with a wide array of people, from young families to seasoned citizens.”
The church holds children’s Sunday school in the school gymnasium and adult Bible study in homes, a practice that Hargrove credits with helping the church “truly become a family.”
“We have grown closer to one another and the Lord through our home groups and through church fellowships,” he said. Also, church members have demonstrated a commitment to community outreach through a variety of programs and special events, he said.
While there someday may be a need for a permanent facility for members to worship, “Ridgeview Church has sought to place her resources in people, not buildings or land,” said Hargrove. “The church will always continue to meet needs and serve its community with the love of Christ.”