By Malik Russell

Growing up in North Philadelphia, church was both family and community for Dr. Roscoe D. Cooper Jr.

Life, love, community and support are interchangeable and reflective not only within the walls of a church but in the hearts of the congregation, expressed in the way they value and treat each other.

It represents an ideal that has served him well and that he, in turn, has tried to express to others.

Last Sunday, more than 300 family members, friends and church members gathered to thank and celebrate Dr. Cooper and his 70 years of life, 50 years in the ministry and 24 years as the founding pastor of the Metropolitan African American Baptist Church in South Side.

Despite hovering storm clouds, the celebrants enjoyed the Jazz on the Lawn birthday-ministerial anniversary event outdoors until early evening rain forced them to move the music and dancing inside.

“It was a wonderful celebration,” Dr. Cooper said Tuesday.

His actual birthday was May 23.

Dr. Cooper said that as the son of a pastor, he knew early on where his path lay. Yet, it was not a journey without struggle, he said, reminiscing about his days in college at Cheney State University in Pennsylvania, where he had second thoughts about the obstacles facing him and his resolve to overcome them.

He later went on to earn a master’s degree in divinity from Andover Newton Theological School in Massachusetts and a doctor of divinity degree at Virginia Union University.

His accolades also include being elected as the general secretary of the 8 million-member National Baptist Convention USA in 1994 and serving as an officer of the Richmond area chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

He said the support given to him as a high school student by church members allowed him to stay on course. He said he thought about quitting, “but I thought if I did, I wouldn’t just let myself down, but all these people who had invested in me, were praying for me, who wanted to see me make something of myself.”

When he graduated from high school, members of the church pooled their resources to help him and other students heading to college.

“We had a little party and people would come down and put money in your hand and tell you, ‘When you go up to that college, you make something of yourself.’ ”

This, he said, moved him because they were poor and working-class people willing to invest in him “to have a better life than they did,” he said.

The experience would impact his entire life and philosophy as a minister. More importantly, it helped him to guide others through life and spirituality, he said.

“I think I’m a good preacher, but I really wanted to be a pastor,” Dr. Cooper said.

The idea of community supporting community and reaching out to those most in need is what he hopes defines his ministry. It is also a key reason why 24 years ago he left Fifth Street Baptist Church after 19 years in the pulpit to open Metropolitan African American Baptist Church. Not only did he want to create a church family connected to their historical cultural origins, but also one that accepts, values and cherishes human beings regardless of their station in life. It’s this idea of love and acceptance that he hopes others remember him by.

“I would say that our church is a church that offers acceptance, help and hope,” he said of the church at 5263 Warwick Road. The church has about 300 members.

Many gathered to show him the difference he has made in their lives and the hope he has placed in their hearts.

As Dr. Cooper said, love and acceptance are things we all can provide to each other. The simple act of doing so means we are doing God’s work.

A good part of this, he said, is helping people to “trust God and to recognize that God works with people through people.”