On Sunday (Jan. 5), the First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C., hosted an evening service of prayer and reflection celebrating the life of former President Jimmy Carter. The church was Carter’s primary place of worship throughout his presidency and later paralleled his denominational journey from the Southern Baptist Convention to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Carter and his family joined the church on the first Sunday of his presidency in 1977 and attended services at First Baptist more than 70 times, according to the National Archives. His daughter Amy was even baptized there when she was nine years old. Carter also taught Sunday School to the church’s “Couples Class” from the Sanctuary balcony at least 14 times.
The Carter Family seen departing a worship service at the First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C. (Credit: Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum/Cropped)
The memorial service included scriptures and songs that called back to Carter’s pre-inaugural service at First Baptist, such as readings from Isaiah 43:16-21 and Romans 12:9-21 as well as renditions of “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past” and Carter’s favorite hymn, “Amazing Grace.” The service also featured the President’s own voice in the form of a recording from his final Sunday School lesson taught on Jan. 4, 1981, just 16 days before his final day as president.
“The portion that we will listen to tonight … will be a scene in which Jesus intentionally seeks out people who are very different from those whom the disciples are accustomed to associating with — as we have come to know, this was a prevailing theme of his life,” said Rev. Julie Pennington-Russell, senior minister of First Baptist.
“President and Mrs. Carter embodied the spirit of Christ, whether in the spotlight of national and global affairs or down in Plains, enjoying casserole from paper plates with lifelong friends who knew them best,” she added. “It’s a privilege tonight to contemplate such living.”
Carter’s lesson focused on the ninth chapter of Luke, particularly a section where Jesus sought to visit a Samaritan village. He highlighted how the Samaritans and Jews shared a mutual hatred and distrust, which was only reaffirmed by the disciples when they were turned away from the village.
“What did his disciples want to do? Anybody remember?” Carter asked on the recording. “They want to bring down fire from heaven and strike those Samaritans dead. It just proved how filthy low-down bums they were. ‘This shows, Jesus, that you were wrong. You would try to be nice to these low-down people and see how they reacted to your trust in them?’”
“And what did Jesus do? What’d he say? He said, ‘You can’t bring down fire and destroy these people. You got to love them. And if they don’t want us in that village, let’s go to another village,’” Carter added. “This is a part of Jesus’s life where he demonstrates vividly with personal events, facing human challenges and human temptations, how God wants us to act: with humility, service, love, forgiveness, understanding, tolerance, compassion, obedience, courage.”
“If we just act like Jesus, we’ll be good Christians. And if we try hard, God will understand when we fail,” Carter concluded.
On Jan. 7–9 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., First Baptist is also hosting listening sessions where those gathered can hear the original audio recordings of President Carter’s various Sunday School lessons from 1977 to 1981.
For more on Jimmy Carter and the First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C., check out this recent episode of our Dangerous Dogma podcast:
