The Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, a native of Richmond who began his ministry at Rising Mount Zion Baptist Church and St. James Baptist Church, explores the Black Church’s role in sustaining communities through adversity i n hi s new book, “ N e v e r Lost: The Black Church as God’s Ark of the Covenant.”

Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson 

Drawing on decades of pastoral experience, Richardson traces how the Black Church has served as a source of resilience and communal strength through social and economic challenges. Using the biblical image of the Ark of the Covenant, he presents the church as a presence that travels with people through crisis rather than abandoning them. 

Bishop Adam Jefferson Richardson Jr., senior bishop (retired) of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, described the book as “a source of inspiration and a contemporary witness to the power of God working through God’s Church.” 

Richardson earned his bachelor’s degree from Virginia Union University and later served as chairman of the university’s board of trustees. He is senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, New York, where he has served for more than 50 years.