National Baptist Memorial Church 

Has a New Temporary Worship Location

 

    Join us for worship at:

 
Columbia Heights Educational Campus

Please enter on Irving Street NW

3101 16th Street NW, Washington, NDC
 

 

 

 
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Rev. Dr. Lisa Banks- Williams

  Is the Pastor of National Baptist Memorial Church in Washington, D.C. She is a member of the Interim Ministry Network and American Baptist Churches USA (ABC-USA). She serves on the Board of Directors of the D.C. Baptist Convention as Chair of the Enlistment Committee, and is also a member of the Coaching, Mental Health, and Equipping Leaders Ministries.

She is married to Deacon Grant S. Williams, Jr., a retired professional photographer and business owner. "Being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ." Her life scripture is —Philippians 1:6 Rev. Dr. Banks-Williams strives to be a faithful servant of the Lord. She loves to study, teach, and preach God’s Word.

Rev. Dr. Banks-Williams provides clinical and pastoral care to individuals, couples, and families. As the Program Coordinator for Student Services at Wesley Theological Seminary, she offers coaching and counseling to students, as well as consultation to faculty and administration.

She is currently an Assistant Professor at the Georgetown University School of Nursing, and has previously held faculty positions in nursing at the University of the District of Columbia, Johns Hopkins University, and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. She also serves as a mentor to both graduate and undergraduate nursing students.

Rev. Dr. Banks-Williams spent over twenty years serving veterans and their families affected by PTSD and other war-related psychiatric injuries at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the D.C. Veterans Administration Medical Center. She has co-authored and published several articles in the areas of trauma care and complementary and alternative medicine. She recently retired after thirty-five years as a board-certified Advanced Practice Nurse.

 

 


  Mission Statement 

A BEACON OF HOPE AT THE CROSSROADS OF LIFE


Vision

To be a house of hope, help and healing for the body of Christ

 


National Baptist Memorial Church seeks to be a beacon of hope by emanating the love of Christ in our worship, fellowship, and service with each other and our neighbors here at home and abroad.  We welcome all who come and desire to know the Lord Jesus Christ.  If you are at a crossroads in your life, we would love to offer a safe place to enter into a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
 



Our Beginning


Baptists in the neighborhood were called to an organizational meeting at the Post Office hall on Sunday, January 7, 1906, at 2:30 p.m., and a notice of this meeting was read from area Baptist pulpits on two Sundays, December 17 and 24, 1905. The response was overwhelming, and an unexpectedly large number showed up for the meeting, filling the little hall to its capacity. The next day’s newspaper cited 57 adult attendees and about 100 children, who had come to receive instruction.

An informal song service was held featuring the Pastor of Temple Baptist Church, who was also the Moderator of an organization that became the D.C. Baptist Convention, pastors of three other areas Baptist Churches, and the Dean of George Washington University.

Once the program ended, the children were sent home, as the school was not prepared to hold classes that day, and the adults then got down to business, electing five officers for the new Sunday school, including Percy S. Foster as superintendent. Afternoon classes started the following Sunday, January 14, 1906, and were held until March 25, when the class schedule switched to 9:30 in the morning.
Over time, the bible school resulted in the formation of what is now the National Baptist Memorial Church, which continues to shine as a beacon of hope at the crossroads of life.
Six men met on Friday, December 15, 1905, at a downtown music store to discuss the feasibility of starting a Baptist Bible School in either Mount Pleasant or Columbia Heights to fill a void created by the closing of a nearby Sunday school that had been operated by members of Metropolitan Baptist Church. The men decided to rent a hall over the Post Office at 1413 Park Road for three months.