Brooklyn Bible Chapel sits on Jack Street in the Brooklyn neighborhood, the southernmost corner of Baltimore, where for more than a century the same congregation has gathered to remember Christ, study Scripture, and support missionaries around the world. The chapel describes itself as an assembly of believers in Baltimore that meets in a simple manner modeled after the early church. Its motto, taken from Acts 2:42, sets the rhythm: They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
A Sunday Built Around the Word and the Table
The weekly schedule follows the four marks of the chapel's motto, with two main Sunday gatherings and additional meetings during the week. At 9:30 AM the congregation holds its Remembrance Meeting, a quiet communion service in which believers recall the death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and promised return of Jesus Christ. All who trust in Christ as their Savior are welcomed to share in the breaking of bread, which the chapel observes each first day of the week as a New Testament ordinance.
At 11 AM the Family Bible Hour begins in the main sanctuary, combining music and Bible teaching. Children and youth move to the ground level for Sunday School classes described as age-appropriate and taught by born-again, consistent-living teachers. Nursery care is provided for infants and toddlers up to age three. Teaching at the Family Bible Hour is expository and centered on the text, with recent messages from Greg Whitehair, Doug Massey, Jerry Young, Scott Wunderlich, Timothy Young, Reuben Adejo, and Mike Bryan. Titles such as Spiritual Unity in a Carnal World, The LORD Our Shepherd, Jesus As King, The Prayer of David, For Such a Time as This, and It is Time to Pray reflect a wide range of Old and New Testament passages.
A third gathering, the Sunday Evening Service, meets at 6 PM except during the summer months. This is a more informal, interactive Bible study that works through a book of the Bible or a topic and is followed by a time of prayer. On alternate Wednesday evenings at 7 PM, a similar midweek Bible study and prayer meeting brings the wider congregation together for the study of the Word.
From Masonville to Jack Street
The congregation's roots reach back more than a hundred years into a vanished Baltimore neighborhood. In 1918 a small Bible study that had begun in the Leishear family home in Masonville grew under the leadership of a man named Dr. Davis. Masonville was a railroad hamlet whose population peaked at a few hundred residents around the turn of the century. In 1922 a Sunday school class was started, and a few years later the group rented and then purchased a home in the village for its meetings. Children from Curtis Bay and Brooklyn soon walked in to join. In 1927 Stan and Margarite Loizeaux joined the work, followed in the years after by the Grays, Tates, Voshells, and Warfields, and by 1933 the growing group purchased an additional house next to the meeting place. In 1943, with attendance over 360 and meetings running in at least three separate locations, the work took the name Masonville Gospel Hall.
By the early 1950s the Curtis Bay Terminal had expanded across the entire footprint of Masonville, and the community was absorbed. The congregation relocated to the corner of Jack and Sixth Streets in Brooklyn, Maryland, and took the name Brooklyn Gospel Chapel. A small building served the group at first; an upstairs area and a sanctuary were added in 1960, and in 1973 the name was changed to Brooklyn Bible Chapel. A side extension and additional parking were built in 1998 to provide more Sunday School classrooms and offices. The chapel continues to mark the work as one sustained by grace, with many of the same family names that began the meetings a century ago still part of the story.
What Brooklyn Bible Chapel Believes
The chapel's statement of faith is built around what it calls the old-fashioned, soul-saving Gospel, defined from 1 Corinthians 15:3-4: Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, He was buried, and He rose again the third day according to the scriptures. It holds that the true heart reception of this message alone delivers from sin and brings the believing sinner into eternal life, the forgiveness of sins, and peace with God.
Two ordinances are observed as Christ-appointed for the church age: baptism by immersion for true believers upon their confession of faith, and the breaking of bread each first day of the week in remembrance of the Lord. The Lord's Supper is open to all who are born again, clean in life, and sound in doctrine. The chapel teaches that baptism follows salvation, publicly proclaiming union with Christ in His death and resurrection.
The chapel holds to the priesthood of all believers, with members free to engage in worship as the Spirit leads, while reserving public teaching and leadership roles to men. Christian women do not exercise authority or leadership in the mixed assembly through preaching, praying, or teaching, but the chapel recognizes a wide sphere of usefulness for women among other women and with children. Government of the assembly is by Elders, spiritual men well known and approved, with Deacons handling the practical affairs of the church. The chapel also teaches the regular and systematic setting aside of the Lord's portion through freewill giving, both collectively and individually.
The Great Commission is taken as binding on every Christian. The chapel places particular weight on teaching children the Word of Life, and parents are welcomed to bring their children to Sunday School where, in the chapel's own words, nothing but the Truth is taught.
A Missionary Program with Worldwide Reach
Few things distinguish Brooklyn Bible Chapel more than its missionary program. In a letter by Elder Al Gray, the program is described as one that aims to support at least one missionary in every country of the world, with a target ratio of roughly 75 percent foreign to 25 percent United States ministries. The funding mechanism is simple: the first offering of each month at the Family Bible Hour is designated for missions.
The program was set in motion after Gray and other Elders recognized that open congregational business meetings were producing indecision and disagreement. They studied the New Testament office of Deacon, recognized the men already serving in that role, and gave them responsibility for the practical affairs of the chapel. With Deacons and Elders conducting business together, the Elders proposed the missionary program, which the Deacons accepted with enthusiasm.
The numerical change was striking. In 1975 total missionary giving was $2,080 on a chapel income of $16,400. After the first-month-offering designation was instituted in mid-1976, giving rose 230 percent in six months. By 1996 the chapel was giving $78,000 a year to missionaries on an income of $148,500, while attendance had grown only from about 130 to 160. The chapel has commended its own brothers and sisters to Russia, China, and India, and supports a long roster of workers around the world.
The current list includes families and individuals in Quebec, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Dublin, Nigeria (Ayangba and Dekina), Peru, Tanzania, Burundi, Hungary, South Carolina, Colorado, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Maryland, among other locations. Several retired missionaries continue to be supported, as are workers with Youth for Christ in Maryland. The chapel also supports twelve additional missionary works in India, plus a number of organizations: the Baltimore Rescue Mission, Beachmont Christian Camp, Christian Missions in Many Lands, Emmaus Bible College, Four Orphans Thru IN Network in Zambia, and Military Evangelism.
Messages, Teaching, and Getting Connected
Audio and video recordings of recent Family Bible Hour messages are posted on YouTube, allowing anyone to follow along whether or not they can attend in person. Recordings are organized by date and speaker, with download options for the audio.
For those planning a visit, Brooklyn Bible Chapel is located at 502 Jack Street in the Brooklyn neighborhood of south Baltimore, with phone (410) 355-5579 and email admin@brooklynbiblechapel.org. A Facebook page keeps the wider community informed. The meetings are conducted in English in a simple, unprogrammed style, and dress is informal. Parking is available on the property.