About us
Our story
From a small mission in 1996 to an elder-led, confessional Baptist church today.
Where we came from
Providence Baptist Church began with a group of members coming out of First Baptist Church of Perryville in 1996. On May 15 of that year, they organized as Perryville Southern Baptist Mission under the sponsorship of First Baptist Church of Bigelow, Arkansas. On July 10, 1996, the mission voted to become its own church, originally known as Perryville Second Baptist Church. Our current building was built in the summer of 1997.
Bro. James G. Haggard was our first pastor. From 1996 to 2015 the church had nine pastors, each serving under a single-pastor model with a plurality of deacons. In 2016, Bro. Allen S. Nelson IV began his ministry here as the church’s tenth pastor.
A season of reformation
Through the mid-2010s the church slowly began seeking to be healthier — first in its membership practices, and later in its worship and evangelism. Those changes were hampered by 2020, and the state of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation, and the church’s own slow progress came to a head in a sermon preached on July 24, 2022, from Jeremiah 6: A Church at the Crossroads.
From July 2022 onward, the church experienced more significant biblical reformation. In March 2023 we adopted the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith as our official confession, and the following month we moved to a plurality of elders, installing Bro. Jacob Robinson as an elder. Members grew more focused and zealous toward evangelism, prayer, biblical homes, and worship.
As a reflection of these changes, in the summer of 2023 the church voted to change its name from Perryville Second Baptist Church to Providence Baptist Church. The seed planted in 1996 has borne the fruit today of a solid, biblical Baptist church.
What is a Reformed Baptist church?
Labels can be confusing, but if we get to define it (and we do!), our church is what is known as a “Reformed Baptist Church.” In short:
- We believe in the five solas of the Reformation. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in the finished work of Christ alone, to the glory of God alone — all derived from our ultimate authority, Scripture alone. The Scriptures are the infallible, inerrant, God-breathed, necessary, sufficient, clear, and authoritative Word of the living God.
- We are confessional. We don’t believe the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession is inerrant, but we unapologetically hold it as a helpful summary of what God teaches in His Word.
- We believe the Bible’s teaching on election. Before the foundation of the world God chose a people for salvation (Eph. 1:3–14; Matt. 1:21) — and so it is our great honor and duty to proclaim the gospel to all people, offering a real pardon from our gracious King (2 Cor. 5:20). Salvation from beginning to end belongs to the Lord (Jonah 2:9).
You can read more about what a Reformed Baptist is at Founders Ministries.
Our mission
Providence Baptist Church exists to exalt our King! We pursue this through street preaching and door-to-door visitation in Perryville, passing out gospel tracts, and seeking to make Christ known in Central Arkansas. We partner with like-minded churches in Mexico to help train pastors and further the gospel, and with like-minded churches in Arkansas and beyond for fellowship, conferences, and evangelism.