Providence Baptist Church to Break Ground on New Sanctuary

The steep, concrete staircase leading into the little white chapel on the corner in Cliffwood delivers you through two old, white wooden doors that open into rows of pews resting on a worn, red carpet.

Bibles, books of hymns and tambourines decorate the wooden pews, resting idly on a hot Tuesday afternoon. The pews form an aisle that leads to an altar surrounded with a keyboard, a set of drums and plenty of flowers. A home air conditioning unit cut into the wall is cranked high, humming as it works to cool the cozy worship area.

The congregants of the Providence Baptist Church began worshiping together in October of 1927 in the basement of a nearby home. As the congregation grew, they constructed a modest building on Kennedy Avenue, where their church stands today. A fire later ripped through an adjacent house, damaging the church, explained the now Rev. Amelda Lee, and the congregation again came together to repair, rebuild and expand.

A closer look at the history-filled community church reveals that it is also filled to the brim with boxes. Boxes of clothing donations, food donations, youth ministry items and so on and so forth are tucked under pews, on shelves and anywhere they will both blend in and be out of the way. The monthly food pantry operates out of the cramped basement and over the years the property became more susceptible to flood damage. Which is why, Rev. Lee says, the church purchased a plot of land just down the street in 1987. However, plans to build a new church were put on hold several times over the last 26 years.

“We had different leadership and not everybody has the same vision. We had to raise money for it too,” she said. “This season the Lord has seen fit to allow us to go forth and build,” she said.

On Sunday, July 14, the Providence Baptist Church will hold a groundbreaking for their new, much larger church just around the corner on a property attached to an undeveloped paper street known as Pauls Place. The paper street was acquired from the township in 2011 and are incorporated into the plans for the church. 

“We’ll have the space to do ministry that we just don’t have now. We have an active teaching ministry, a hope ministry, a very active food pantry and emergency food supply,” Rev. Lee said.

Paul Giammona, an architect from Brick City Reconstruction in Newark hired by the church, explained at a zoning board meeting last year that the building was designed to emulate the church's symbol, which is a dove. When a person enters the building, they will be in a hallway. To the left is the sanctuary and to the right is a fellowship hall. Construction is expected to take about six months.

The little white church that symbolizes the congregation’s 86 years of faith and service, however, isn’t going anywhere.

“I’m hoping with this building we will be able to get some grant money to bring the food pantry here,” she said.

Rev. Lee also hopes to see the church begin offering more services to the community, including expanding their hope ministry, creating a substance abuse awareness program, offering health education and even one day a day care for local children.

“We want to be more effective in reaching out to the needs of the Cliffwood community,” she said. “The Lord has blessed us real good.”