Southgate Baptist Church sits on South Center Boulevard on the south side of Springfield, Ohio, where it has occupied the same 2111 address since 1974. What began in 1969 as a prayer meeting of four households meeting in homes with a state missionary has grown into a congregation of hundreds, with ministries that reach from nursery classrooms to mission fields on multiple continents. The church's motto, "One vision. All peoples." captures its aim to make Christ-followers of every background.
Sunday Morning at Southgate
Worship is held each Sunday at 9:30 a.m., with the same service also streamed online for those joining from home. About an hour and a half later, the doors reopen at 11:00 a.m. for Equip-U, an adult Bible study that runs in tandem with graded Sunday school classes for children. Hundreds gather each week for the corporate service, and visitors are welcomed by a mix of ages, backgrounds, and life experiences. People wear what they like. A simple sign-in process at the children's welcome area makes it straightforward for families to check kids in and head into the auditorium.
Southgate Kids
Southgate Kids Ministry exists to help children follow Jesus from nursery through fifth grade, and the programming reflects that. Birth through Pre-K children have their own classes for the entire worship service, while Kindergarten through third grade begin in the auditorium with their parents and are dismissed partway through to a program called Journey. After the service, kids in Kindergarten through fifth grade gather for Sunday school classes organized by grade, where they learn memory verses, hear a Bible lesson, play games, and build friendships.
Lesson materials are drawn from the New City Catechism for the Journey program during the school year, with Brite curriculum used for Pre-K and elementary Sunday school. Younger children work through Puggles, a curriculum built around four simple truths: God Made Everything, God is Great, God Loves Us, and We Give Thanks. Summer months bring a different rhythm, with Southgate sending groups to Scioto Hills Christian Camp for New Frontier (entering 2nd through 6th grade) and Alpha (entering 6th through 9th grade) during week three of the camp season.
Student Ministries
Student Ministries gathers sixth through twelfth graders for two weekly touchpoints. Wednesday nights from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. bring the larger youth group together for icebreaker games, sports, worship songs, teaching from God's Word, and small group discussion. Sunday mornings at 11:00 a.m. open the door to D-Groups, gender-specific discipleship small groups led by adult youth leaders. Throughout the year, special events like cookouts, laser tag nights, a Fall Retreat, and a Winter Event give students more chances to build friendships rooted in Christ.
High school students who want a more intensive week can apply for the Seekers program at Scioto Hills, a student leadership track that partners with New Frontier campers for chapel leadership, service projects, team Bible study, and bonding experiences. Applications are due in early February each year.
Community Groups
Southgate wants every person connected to a small group of Christ-followers, and its Community Groups meet that need. Groups of various shapes and sizes gather throughout Clark County and the surrounding area. A typical evening includes time to catch up, a discussion of the previous Sunday's sermon, and prayer, with some groups sharing a meal around the discussion. Interested newcomers can submit a form on the church's site to be matched with a group that fits.
Women's Ministry
The women's ministry encourages and equips women of all ages to know Jesus deeply, connect with one another, and live out their faith. Three Bible study options run concurrently in the fall, each meeting on a different day of the week to fit varied schedules. Past studies have walked through 1 Samuel (Thursday evenings), "10 Women of the Bible" by Max Lucado (Tuesday mornings), and "Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt" through the letters of John (Wednesday evenings). An overnight Women's Retreat is held each year at a state park lodge, with teaching sessions and extended time for conversation and reflection.
Men's Ministry
Men's Ministry exists to encourage and equip men of all ages to know Jesus deeply, build meaningful relationships, and grow as men of character who live out their faith. Bible studies are held throughout the week, including a Wednesday evening study on "Disciplines of a Godly Man" by Kent Hughes, a Monday morning study through Revelation, and additional studies planned for the fall season.
Senior Saints
The Senior Saints Ministry gathers older adults for fellowship, prayer, and shared experiences at every season of life. Periodic events like Hymns & Pies afternoons and Southgate Cinema movie matinees fill the Fellowship Hall, with a hymn sing, Scripture reading, and pie on one afternoon and a movie screening paired with a food pantry donation drive on another.
Special Friends
Special Friends Ministries serves families who have a child or adult with special needs. The ministry works to make Southgate a place where every member of the family can experience life in Christ, whether that means providing a personal aide during programming or including a loved one in the Special Friends Class on Sunday morning. Families are encouraged to fill out a needs request form so the team can prepare to support them well.
What We Believe
Southgate Baptist Church is an independent autonomous church subject only to Jesus Christ as the Head of the Church. Governance follows a biblical pattern vested in a pastor-elder team that leads, deacons who serve, and a congregation that builds the church. Pastor-elders and deacons are nominated, vetted, and affirmed from among godly men in the body.
The doctrinal statement affirms that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the inspired, inerrant, and final authority in all matters to which they speak. Southgate believes in one God eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each fully and equally God. The church confesses that Jesus Christ is God's eternal Son, fully God and fully man, who lived a sinless life, died in the place of sinners, physically rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven, and who will return bodily to establish His kingdom. The Holy Spirit is affirmed in His role of salvation, spiritual growth, and distributing spiritual gifts for the building up of the church.
Salvation is received by grace alone through faith alone, in response to the finished work of Christ. The church observes two ordinances: believer's baptism and the Lord's Supper. Southgate looks for the visible and personal return of Jesus Christ, the bodily resurrection of the saved and lost, and eternal existence for all people in either heaven or hell.
Making and Multiplying: International and Community Missions
Southgate has supported mission work around the world since its earliest years. Today the church partners with twenty-six individuals, families, and agencies on six continents. Missionaries are sent and supported through organizations including ABWE, WorldVenture, Tri-M, Grace Global, L.E.A.D., Operation Mobilization, SEND, Acts 29, Inner City Impact, Capitol Ministries, Wittenberg Campus Outreach, CRU, Child Development International, and Missions Door. Southgate serves as the sending church for several of these families. Mission work extends to Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North America, and South America, along with partnerships that include the Kosovo Leadership Academy and Via Christus.
In the Springfield area and beyond, Southgate also partners with community ministries. Local collaboration includes Her Story and Safe Harbor House, Kid's Hope, the Pregnancy Resource Center of Clark County, and Springfield City Youth Mission. Additional partnerships extend to the College of Biblical Studies and Shepherds College.
A History on the South Side
The story of Southgate Baptist Church began in the fall of 1969, when four families gathered with State Missionary Rev. Earl Umbaugh to pray about planting a congregation on the south side of Springfield. On April 5, 1970, the church held its first Sunday school and worship service in the Perrin Woods elementary school cafeteria, drawing fifty-nine people. Speakers from Cedarville College filled the pulpit until May 31 of that year, when Joe Stowell III, fresh from Dallas Theological Seminary, became Southgate's first pastor. In 1971, Pastor Stowell and 110 charter members adopted the church's Constitution, Articles of Faith, and Church Covenant, formally becoming Southgate Baptist Church of Springfield, Ohio.
Attendance reached two hundred within a year, and the church purchased a three-acre building site at 2111 South Center Boulevard for $27,000. Ground was broken in 1973 for Phase 1 of the building: a four-hundred-seat sanctuary, ten classrooms, nurseries, a library, fellowship hall, and offices. The first Sunday in the new building, February 3, 1974, drew 468 people.
Pastor Stowell left in 1976 to pastor in Kokomo, Indiana, and went on to serve as president of Moody Bible Institute and Cornerstone University. Murray Murdoch served as interim until John R. Greening was called as the second pastor in 1978. A Phase 2 expansion followed in 1983, adding a new entrance, classrooms, nurseries, and a second-floor fellowship hall with kitchen, plus balcony seating. By 1984, average worship attendance had reached about 900, and the church added a second Sunday school hour and a second morning service. In 1990, the church launched Phase 3, expanding to a 1,200-seat sanctuary with a new entrance and offices. The first service in the new auditorium, held April 18, 1993, drew 1,263 people.
Pastor Greening left in 1991 to pastor in Richland, Washington, and later became the national representative of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches. James Vogel was called as the third pastor in 1992 and guided the church through Phase 3. Eric Mounts served as the fourth pastor from 1995 to 2011, and Bobby Hile served as the fifth senior pastor from 2012 to 2020. April 5, 2020, marked fifty years of God's faithfulness.
On February 5, 2023, the church installed Jeremy Willetts as its sixth senior pastor. The Willetts family - Jeremy, his wife Kelly, and their children Jackson, Bria, Piper, and Ruby - now lead Southgate into its sixth decade of ministry on the south side of Springfield.
Getting Connected
Giving is available online through the Church Center platform, by texting any dollar amount to 84321, or by check or cash in the giving receptacle in the Welcome Center. The Church Center app, available on iOS and Android, gives members a single place to give, register for events, and connect with their community group. Visitors who want a head start can fill out a "let us know you're coming" form before their first Sunday.