Audubon Park Baptist Church was started with the purpose of serving the patients and families of the Kennedy Hospital at Park and Getwell in Memphis, TN. Kennedy was a veteran’s hospital that opened during World War II. In 1944, new patients were coming in daily and the surrounding community was growing rapidly. A group of sixteen people started meeting in the neighborhood with hopes of forming a church. The first prayer meeting was held on April 14th, 1944, in a house on Loeb Street. In May they held a Vacation Bible School, and in June they met for their first worship service outside. The following October 1st, the church officially organized as Kennedy Memorial Baptist Church with 37 charter members. They met in a newly purchased home on the corner of Park and Watson.
Committed to believing the Bible as the Word of God and dedicating themselves to serving the community, the church experienced steady growth in the early years. That growth continued into the ‘90s. The church voted to change its name to Audubon Park Baptist Church in 1969. In 1985, Park Avenue Baptist Church merged with APBC, adding over 250 members. Church membership began to decline in the late ‘90s and early 2000s as the neighborhood changed and many members moved away.
A decade later, God graciously began doing a work of revitalization in the life of APBC. Over the last few years, God has raised up a congregation united in the gospel and eager to make Christ known in East Memphis and beyond. Our prayer is that God will "do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21)