First Baptist Church, Richmond

First Baptist Church is an historic Baptist Church in Richmond. Lott Carey and Collin Teague were associated with this church. Established downtown in 1780, it is currently located on the corner of Monument Avenue and The Boulevard. Current Senior Minister is the Rev. Dr. Jim Somerville, former pastor of the First Baptist Church of Washington, D.C.

First Baptist Church offers two traditional Sunday services, the one at 11:00 am being broadcast live on a local ABC television station. Most aspects of the church reflect traditional Baptist churches including Sunday school prior to worship and evening bible studies throughout the week. The music during worship is several hymns, an offertory song and a choral anthem. Other music that may be added is children or youth choir, English handbells or various soloists on instruments. Wednesdays offer a meal and activities for everyone. The Youth Group takes up the whole third floor and is 8th to 12th graders. There are usually a minimum 50 people a Sunday.

Not only was it the first church of any denomination to be organized in Richmond, the first Baptist church organized in a Virginia city, and the first church in Virginia to organize a missionary society for women, but it also was the first in the city to organize a Sunday school for children, the first in America to send her own members as foreign missionaries to the continent of Africa, and the first in the Southern Baptist Convention to have a church library.