Central Baptist Church is on Raleigh LaGrange Road in Memphis, where it is known for conservative, traditional worship and a shared life across English and Spanish congregations. Its motto is Where Christ is Central. Originating downtown in 1865, the church now gathers on a campus shaped by an auditorium at the top of a hill, a middle building, and Central Baptist School.
From Downtown Memphis to Raleigh LaGrange
Central Baptist Church began in downtown Memphis in 1865 and went on to start several seed churches and missions in the area. It purchased its Raleigh LaGrange Road property in 1973. That same year, it started Central Baptist School, which remains on the campus. The auditorium was completed in 1986. On the campus, the main worship services take place in the auditorium, while the middle building serves Spanish ministry, youth, and children's classes.
English and Spanish Congregations at One Address
Adult Sunday school meets in the main auditorium at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays, followed by worship at 10:30 a.m. A second worship service is at 6 p.m. Iglesia Bautista Central, the church's Spanish-speaking congregation, holds Sunday school at 9:30 a.m. and worship at 10:45 a.m. in the middle building cafeteria. Its Wednesday prayer service is at 7 p.m. Throughout the year, the English and Spanish congregations join for bilingual services, baptismals, and fellowships. Pastor Timoteo Green leads Iglesia Bautista Central.
Parking at the Hilltop Auditorium
Visitors may park anywhere on the property. For the main services and adult Sunday school, the front double doors of the auditorium are the entrance; the auditorium sits up the hill. Spanish worship, youth, and children's Sunday school are reached through the southwest double doors of the middle building. A greeter welcomes people at the entrance, and each guest is offered a bulletin. Signing in is optional, with a gift available for those who choose to do so, and guests are not required to provide personal information.
Services generally last about an hour. They begin with congregational singing of traditional hymns and praises, followed by announcements and musical specials before a message preached from the Word of God in the King James Version. Visitors may be acknowledged during announcements, but they are not asked to stand or speak. The church does not ask guests for money. Open communion is held quarterly, and those who participate are asked to profess faith like that held by the church.
Central Baptist Church also livestreams worship on YouTube.
Children, Teens, and Four Adult Classes
Sunday and Wednesday Programs for Children
Children under 3 can join the nursery to the right of the auditorium lobby during services. Children ages 3 to 5 have their own children's church in the middle building during the regular service. Their Sunday school begins at 9:30 a.m., followed by children's church at 10:30 a.m. Elementary children may be dismissed during the morning service and join a separate children's church led by a team. Children of any age may remain with their parents in the auditorium for every service.
On Wednesday during the school year, Master Clubs gathers elementary children ages 4 to 12 at 6:50 p.m. in the gym. The youth meet at 7 p.m. on the second floor of the middle building, with their own opportunities for outreach, summer camps, and social activities.
Adult Gatherings
Four adult Sunday school classes gather at 9:30 a.m.: College and Career, Married Couples, Adults, and Ladies. The Primetimers meet twice each month, with a fellowship breakfast on the second Saturday and a potluck fellowship on the fourth Friday. Adults also take part in the choir, instrumental ensemble, nursery and children's ministries, event preparation, food preparation, grounds work, and door-to-door visitation.
Hymns, Gospel Songs, Choir, and Orchestra
Music at Central Baptist Church includes traditional hymns and gospel songs. An adult choir sings on Sundays, and an orchestra accompanies the piano. Teens also take part in the music ministry, while vocal and instrumental specials supplement the regular Sunday music. The choir loft has room for additional singers, and adults can also play in the church's instrumental ensemble.
Scripture, Christ, Salvation, and Marriage
Central Baptist Church affirms the plenary, verbal divine inspiration of the 39 Old Testament and 27 New Testament books, their inerrancy and infallibility, and their authority as the supreme and final Word of God in faith and life. It preaches and teaches from the Authorized King James Version for English-speaking peoples. Its beliefs center on the triune God, the eternal deity and sinless humanity of Jesus Christ, the virgin birth, Christ's substitutionary and expiatory death, his bodily resurrection, and his return in power and great glory.
The church also teaches a personal, pretribulation, premillennial, and imminent return of Christ; salvation through regeneration by the Spirit and Word, by grace through faith in Christ's shed blood rather than by works; and the Holy Spirit's sealing and baptism of believers when they believe in Jesus, followed by his continuing ministry to preserve and guide them. Marriage is defined as God's joining of one man and one woman in an exclusive union, with sexual union limited to that marriage.
Visitation, Missionary Support, and the School
Community outreach includes door-to-door visitation every Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. Central Baptist Church also supports missionaries in prayer and finances. Within the church, adults coordinate events, prepare food, maintain the grounds, visit neighborhoods, teach children, sing, and play instruments.
Central Baptist School began in 1973 and remains on the church's Raleigh LaGrange Road campus. Central Baptist School is a Christian school with a preschool director and K4 teacher among its staff. Central Baptist Church continues to gather for conservative, traditional worship while supporting Sunday school, music, children, youth, adults, neighborhood visitation, and missionaries.