A new congregation moves into an old Charlottesville church

Charlottesville’s Point Church is seeking to service more than the souls of Sunday worshippers at its newly acquired downtown real estate.

In a $1.3 million deal last May, the nondenominational Christian church purchased the historic 140-year-old temple on Ridge Street just off the Downtown Mall that once served as the home of the historically Black Mount Zion Baptist Church. Months later, the Point Church is just weeks away from reopening the doors of the renovated building to its congregation but also all who are poor, weary or burdened in life.

“Our primary interest in that property is tied to our mission in terms of local outreach,” Adam Coleman, the church’s pastor, told The Daily Progress. “Seventy-six percent of Charlottesville’s poverty is within 2 miles of the Ridge Street campu