New Jersey church pledges $1 million to Gulf Coast relief

Fountain Baptist Church in Summit, N.J., favors exuberance in worship, its members prodding their spirited pastor with approving nods and liberal supplies of amens. The fervor of spirit at this suburban 108-year-old black church, nearly 2,000 members strong, is matched by a charitable heart — and pocketbook — that would set angels singing.

The church, which started as a humble meeting place for a handful of gardeners and domestic workers, has turned heads with the powerhouse sums it now gives to charitable causes around the world.

The latest example is a $1 million pledge slated for hurricane recovery in the Gulf Coast, an amount considered quite generous for a major corporation or association, let alone a single church.

According to The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University in Indianapolis, which has monitored charitable gifts of over $1 million since 2000, it would be only the second time an American church has made a donation of such size.

Oriental Mission Church in Los Angeles gave $3 million in 2001 to help victims of an earthquake in El Salvador. Fountain Baptist pledged the $1 million to the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention and on May 28, turned over its first installment — $300,000 — to the Washington-based organization, which will handle the money.

Fountain Baptist has tentatively slotted $400,000 of the donations for job and life-skills training for 200 families in Louisiana and Mississippi; $300,000 to help dozens of pastors whose churches were decimated by the storm through physical damage, deaths of members or relocations; $200,000 for housing and community-building projects; and $100,000 for general and administrative costs.

The vast majority of the money is expected to come directly from church members. Besides the $300,000 initial installment, the church already has another $500,000 in pledges, putting it four-fifths of the way there, said the pastor, J. Michael Sanders.

With about 1,900 members, the church will meet its goal if each member gives, on average, a little more than $500.