Pulaski Heights Baptist Church

In Eugene Petersen’s unique paraphrase of the New Testament, he provides a compelling interpretation of John 1:14: “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.”

The same can be said of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church. Even prior to its incorporation into the city of Little Rock, the fledgling Pulaski Heights neighborhood was rapidly growing into a thriving community. The year was 1912 and the automobile was a rare luxury, so the primary mode of transportation was by foot. Baptists have a long history of nomadic pilgrimage, never deterred by sore feet or harsh weather; so the long hikes to downtown churches never slowed us down.

But the presence of a neighborhood Baptist church was conspicuous by its absence. At the Spirit’s behest, four Baptist women developed a prayer group and Bible study, and after a considerable period of discernment and growth, a nascent congregation was dreamed into existence. Indeed, their dream became flesh and moved into the neighborhood.

After nearly four decades of gathering in an auditorium, members of PHBC entered the new sanctuary at Kavanaugh and Cedar, where our church building remains to this day. Our location and large facility have always been tremendous assets, enabling us to “seek the welfare of the neighborhood” as the prophet Jeremiah would say.    

If you ask the locals about our church, some of them might use adjectives like “funky” or “weird.” After all, we have a long legacy of thinking outside the box and transgressing the boundaries of conventional Baptist life. The seeds of that legacy were planted in the beginning, as it was rather odd in the early 20th century for women to lead the charge in founding a Baptist church. We were chartered at the apex of the Progressive Era, so perhaps we were simply a product of the times. 

But the DNA of our church says otherwise. Rather than allowing the conventions of our time to dictate our decisions, we have always been a church that prays, listens, and acts accordingly—even if our actions run against the grain of established customs. Some might call us “progressive,” but we would rather say that our endeavors—whether it’s affirming women in ministry or seeking racial justice or confronting poverty—emerge from the process of discernment. Like the apostles and elders who convened at the Jerusalem Council and admitted Gentiles into the life of God’s people (a radically transgressive decision!), our actions are undergirded by the promptings of Jesus Christ, such that we can echo the words that concluded this momentous event: “It seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (Acts 15:28).

Our sincere conviction is that Jesus Christ is the author of our story, and it is our joy and delight to participate in this cosmic drama—even as it unfolds at the corner of Kavanaugh and Cedar.