This post is part of a series on all the churches on Kecoughtan Road in Hampton, Virginia. It will then extend westward following US-60 to downtown Newport News. Click here for the post on the first six churches. All photos were taken while pedaling to the churches on a Schwinn Corvette II and feature Winter the Bear somewhere in the photo.

First Calvary Baptist Church

One block west of our last stop (Emmanuel Grace Baptist Church) is a classic post-World War II building with laminated wood arches. It is now the home of First Calvary Baptist Church. This church’s faith statement explains that “the Masoretic Text of the Old Testament and the Received Text of the New Testament (Textus Receptus) are those texts of the original languages we accept and use.” These are the Hebrew and Greek texts from which the King James Version of the Bible was translated. (Most more recent translations employ other more ancient texts.) Thus, this is what is sometimes called a “King James only” congregation. The congregation’s lovely brick-and-wood modern traditional sanctuary was erected as the home of Colonial Place Church of Christ. This was the church of one of my friends so I attended vacation Bible school and other events here and first heard the pledge to the Christian Flag.

Gates of Praise Church

Just across Alleghany Road from First Calvary Baptist Church is Gates of Praise Church. Its building was erected in 1957 under the leadership of Rabbi Allan Mirvis as the home of B’nai Israel, an Orthodox Jewish congregation founded in Hampton in 1904. After B’nai Israel closed in 2010 its members joined Rodef Sholom. (For much more on B’nai Israel and other local Jewish communities see this fine essay.) Gates of Praise was founded by its current pastor, Bishop Carl W. Miller, in 1992. After worshiping in several locations in Gloucester County and in Hampton, the church moved into the former B’nai Israel building in April 2012.

Through the United States, neighborhood change has led to probably thousands of former synagogue buildings becoming churches. How the remembrance of a Jewish presence is sustained while the new owners faith is recognized is always an issue. On the exterior of this elegant modernist building there are two signs it was a synagogue: the cornerstone lists the year of construction in both the common and Hebrew calendars. More noticeably above the cornerstone sits the synagogue’s stone seven-branch lamp. Somewhat arrestingly, however, a cross is now affixed to the bricks above the lamp clearly signaling that the building is no longer a synagogue but a Christian church. Gates of Praise’s Facebook page shows that much of the synagogue’s original decoration is still present inside the building.

Initially Gates of Praise was part of the Way of the Cross Church of Christ denomination. In 2018 it joined City Church International Fellowship. Both groups practice baptism in the name of Jesus following the example recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. (Most Christians baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as stated in the Gospel according to Matthew.)

Emmanuel Chapel Church of Chirst (Holiness)

On block from Gates of Praise is Emmanuel Chapel Church of Christ (Holiness). This is the first of the church buildings we’ve encounter on Kecoughtan Road that I remember being built. Its building faces Hampton Roads Avenue. According to its diocesan website, the pastor is Dr. Elder Chris Morant.

The Church of Chirst (Holiness) is an African American Holiness denomination founded in Jackson, Mississippi. The early history of worship in its mother church is well documented in Longing for Jesus: Worship at a Black Holiness Church in Mississippi, 1895-1913 by Lester Ruth, one of the several excellent documentary histories of Christian worship published by Eerdmans in its Church at Worship series. I’ve enjoyed teaching this book and others in the series at Samford University.

Zion Community Church

I believe the newest congregation to move onto Kecoughtan Road is Zion Community Church. As detailed in this earlier post it purchased the former First Church of Christ in 2022, The Christian Science congregation from Newport News erected this colonial revival building for itself in 1950. Its spire is well placed both as a landmark on Kecoughtan and as the terminus of Raleigh Avenue.

Zion Community Church is an eleven-site church led by Ben Fitzgerald, III. The pastor of the Kecoughtan Road site is Al Chandler, Jr. After moving into the church, Zion Community Church placed its own tablet over the original cornerstone. Unusually, the church chose to inscribe the year in Roman numerals. It also used the term “planted” for the establishment of the church. In recent decades this has become a very common term for founding churches. In fact many people now speak of a new church (or church site) started by an existing church simply as “a plant.” But this is not a term I have previously seen on a church sign or cornerstone.

Just west of Zion Community Church, Kecoughtan Road crosses a branch of Indian River Creek and enters a stretch where it is lined with lots of commercial properties. Thus while this post has only featured four sites, we are at a natural breaking point between posts. Thanks for reading! Please share your thoughts, corrections, etc. To be continued . . .

References

“Newport News/Hampton, Virginia.” Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities. https://www.isjl.org/virginia-newport-news-encyclopedia.html