Ramona Southern Baptist Church celebrates 40th anniversary

Ramona Southern Baptist Church, a ministry started 46 years ago with meetings in Odd Fellows Hall at 10th and B streets, recently celebrated its 40th anniversary as a congregation.

A collage of church beginnings notes that the first Bible study took place on Aug. 22, 1968, and by April 1970 two acres were purchased at 838 Hanson Lane to build the church.

The congregation received church status in 1974, and by March 1976, congregants dedicated the first phase of the church building.

The congregation on Nov. 16 held a combined celebration: Ramona Southern Baptist Church’s 40th anniversary and its 2014 Thanksgiving potluck.

“On Aug. 22, 1968, Carl G. Gentry of Poway, after being licensed to preach by the First Baptist Church of Poway, organized a Bible study in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Brogden, which resulted in the establishment of the Ramona Southern Baptist Mission, under the sponsorship of Poway First Baptist,” said the Ramona congregation’s senior pastor, Rafael da Silva. “A small group numbering 12 was initially present, and Carl Gentry was called as the mission’s first pastor. In 1974, the group transitioned into a church status and moved into its current location in 1976.”

The church has a family atmosphere with fellowship events such as quarterly potlucks, men’s and women’s breakfasts and church-wide holiday meals on July 4, Thanksgiving and Christmas, said da Silva.

Its weekly schedule includes Sunday School for all ages at 9:30 a.m. and worship service at 10:45 a.m. On Tuesday mornings from 9:30 to 11, a women’s Bible study, with childcare provided, is held.

On Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30, an adult Bible study and a children’s program called Adventure Bay for pre-kindergartners through sixth-graders are held.

Da Silva was born in Brazil and raised in Southern California.

“I pray God continues to bless your church family,” Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, wrote. “I’m honored to be serving alongside you in ministry for the global glory of God.”