CHURCH HISTORY

The Late Dr. Richard Allen Copeland and Dr. Ruthel Copeland founded New Life Temple in August of 1984.  On October 15, 1985, the church was granted a Certificate Of Incorporation by the State of South Carolina and was chartered under the name of New Life Temple.

In 1985 the church also began to purchase a new facility on the North Road (Highway 78) in Orangeburg in order to facilitate its expanding ministry; however, because of the distance from Orangeburg and the lack of adequate transportation for the members without automobiles, and several other reasons, it was decided to vacate the facility and move our ministry back into the City of Orangeburg.

The Lord opened up a door almost immediately at 127 Russell Street.  In 1986 we once again began our ministry in the City of Orangeburg.  In the next few years our church came through many hard times, suffered many setbacks and endured many difficulties; however, God also blessed us with many wonderful, exciting and anointed experiences.  Many were saved, healed, delivered, trained and anointed through our ministry.  We experienced great spiritual victories and saw great spiritual and natural growth as we built a thriving ministry for our Lord.

In 1992 the Lord blessed us with our facility at 140 George Patton Street here in Orangeburg where we continued to expand, build and perfect our ministry that God has laid in our charge.  As we work together to build a temple to the glory of our God, we believe that the greatness of our ministry has only begun to come to light.  We were believing God for great, and wonderful things and we continually pray that we will be found faithful to that which God has committed to us. Our ministry continued to develop until we were forced to move because of a decline in membership which resulted in financial distress.

In October of 1997 we moved our ministry to 1510 Cannon Bridge Road. We believed at that time that it was God's will for us; to be in the Cordova area to continue our anointed ministry. Our membership had diminished; however, we had a greater determination and a new commitment to continue doing the will of the Lord here in Orangeburg. We were excited about what the Lord was doing.

After leaving the Cannon Bridge Road location we began worshipping at Russell Street for several years before moving to 1492 Executive Court. While on Executive Court our ministry was newly incorporated under the name “New Life Temple Outreach Ministries” with a new staff and new constitution. We quickly matured and developed into a multi-faceted ministry.

We all agreed it was time to become stable in one location, we were tired of moving. The Lord blessed us with the property located at 205 Murray Street here in Orangeburg. We are in the process of purchasing the building and property where we are presently worshipping. We sincerely believe God intends for this to be the permanent location for our ministry. With the help of God and the faithful support of our dedicated members we will soon purchase and own the deed to this property. Our vision is to build an additional building on this property as a sanctuary and educational building…

Since its beginning, more than 25 ministers have been licensed through our church, several of which are now pastoring churches of their own.  We have ordained more than fifteen deacons and have licensed more than twelve evangelist and ten missionaries.  The ministry of many musicians, choir directors, singers, church workers, church leaders and others was birthed, developed and perfected through our ministry.

In June 2019, Bishop Copeland transitioned to glory after serving as senior pastor from 1985 – 2019 (33 years). Dr. Ruthel Copeland then picked up the mantle and served as Overseer from 2019-2022 (3 years). In 2023, the mantle of the ministry was then shifted to their daughter. Elder Richelle A. Melvin (Copeland) answered the call for the Lord. Pastor Chelle was installed as the senior pastor of New Life Temple RAC Outreach Ministries August 2022.

In 2020, the ministry established and incorporated the RAC Memorial Life & Legacy Scholarship Foundation in honor of the Founding Pastor Dr. Richard Allen Copeland. This 501(c)(3) non-profit is committed to serving the community needs and educational scholarships for youth.

We give all praise and honor to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the great ministry that He has anointed us with.  We know that through our continued consecration and commitment to His service and the carrying out of His will, that God will bless us to see the fulfillment of the vision that God has given to us here at New Life Temple R.A.C Outreach Ministries, Incorporated.