There's a place for you here ...

Park Road Baptist Church is a diverse community of individuals committed to supporting one another as we travel our own paths to truth, spiritual growth, and discovery of real meaning in our lives.

Park Road welcomes you no matter where you are in your faith journey or other churches you have attended.  Do you have doubts?  Questions about faith? Questions about organized religion?   Or have you been a follower of Jesus for some time?  We invite you come with us as we seek to experience God and to follow Jesus in ways that are relevant to our individual lives.

We’d love to have you join us on a Sunday morning so we can meet in person and perhaps travel this path together.  

Grace and peace to you.

Russ and Amy Jacks Dean

Park Road Baptist Church was founded in Charlotte, NC in 1950 to minister to the growing neighborhood on Park Road. Since the 1960's, Park Road Baptist has challenged its members to be at the forefront of social issues in our community.  We have been a historic leader among Charlotte churches in promoting social justice and the equality of all persons. 

Our congregation actively supported the Civil Rights Movement, opened the first interracial church Child Development Center in the city, was one of the first Baptist congregations in North Carolina to recognize the ordination of women, has championed the cause of recognizing same sex marriage, and we work everyday with those suffering the effects of the growing economic inequalities in our country. 

Any person, regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender identity or non-gender identity, socio-economic status, or theological belief, who seeks to live in Christian community will find welcome here.

Today, Park Road is a vital congregation of almost 500 members, averaging about 160 in worship each Sunday morning. Our campus is used every day not only for our own activities, but also by our various campus partners.

Community is important to our congregation. Our commitment to one another is based on the trust, mutual respect, and honesty that are essential to our vision of Church. Within a community based on such commitments, there is room for great diversity. Any person, regardless of race, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, or theological belief, who seeks to live in Christian community will find welcome here.

One of the hallmarks of this congregation is its commitment to open theological discourse, with members of the larger Christian community as well as with those representing other faith traditions. We are open to seeking truth wherever it might take us, even if this means beyond the scope of traditionally formulated doctrines. 

Members of this congregation represent a broad theological spectrum, ranging from the very liberal to the traditionally conservative.

Park Road claims a heritage of “free and faithful Baptists” with great pride, emphasizing historic Baptist principles such as the autonomy (freedom) of the local church, the freedom of scriptural interpretation, the freedom of believers to minister to themselves and to one another, and the separation of church and state.

Park Road is an open, affirming, and accepting community. Park Road expressly welcomes all people, into full membership, participation, and leadership including communion, baptisms, ordinations, weddings, and funerals. We are a welcoming and affirming community of faith committed to creating a safe space for LGBTQIA+ members, while encouraging all to live as their authentic selves.

Because of our longstanding commitment to the ordination of women into all forms of Christian service, and due to the increasingly conservative movement of the Southern Baptist Convention, Park Road withdrew all formal support for the SBC in 2007.   

In 2003, Park Road decided to adopt multiple affiliations that better represented the diversity of thought, inclusive nature, progressive theology of our church.  Our current denominational affiliations are Alliance of Baptists,  United Baptist Association, and Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America.