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New Birth Missionary Baptist Church returning to in-person worship
Most of the church pastor's three years of services have been virtual. They got creative with their services, including hitting to road for iconic backdrops.
STONECREST, Ga. - New Birth pastor Dr. Jamal Bryant celebrated his third anniversary as lead pastor. For two of those three years he has delivered sermons virtually thanks to COVID. Since March 2020, New Birth’s sanctuary in Stonecrest has been empty.
"We thought it was going to be six weeks, thought maybe a month. ‘Okay everybody we’ll see you Memorial Day weekend,’" says Dr. Bryant, recalling when the country went into lockdown.
"Then it was Fourth of July, Labor Day weekend. Then it was ‘oh this is here!’… The difficult part was [determining] when do we open?! We knew we had to shut down. We shut down immediately."
So like the rest of the world, New Birth went virtual – and really flexed their creativity to make the Sunday morning online experience an impactful one.
"We did church from Air BNB’s. We did church from the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma (Alabama). We did church from museums. Wherever it is where you were mobile, you were able to worship. So it took the sanctity of the stained-glass windows and released it to the street corner," he said.
Last year many churches resumed in-person worship, but not New Birth. It wasn’t a move they were ready to make or could make with COVID disproportionately affecting the black community and their church family.
"Last year in 2021… 135 funerals. Just for 2021. To the extent we have a full-time person who just does funerals. You do 135 that’s averaging out to two funerals a week," said Bryant.
With case rates improving in DeKalb County and statewide, New Birth is reopening its doors to fellowship in-person setting a date for Easter weekend.
"It’s going to be the sanctified Essence Festival. Come with everything but a cooler. We are coming in for a family reunion. We’re able to hug each other again. To be able to worship to be able to see each other. It’s not just church, it's family. It’s community."
New Birth did a lot of outreach in the community during COVID. The church has fed more than 850,000 people during the pandemic, so families wouldn’t go hungry.
Also in three years, Bryant says they have been able to cut their 30 million dollar debt in half thanks to the generosity with giving in the church.
New Birth plans to officially reopen on Good Friday, April 15 with special guests Bishop T.D. Jakes and award-winning gospel artist John P. Kee at 7:30 p.m.
The church’s reopening activities, called ‘The Return’, will culminate on Resurrection Sunday, April 17, with gospel artist VaShawn Mitchell and Bryant speaking before his congregation in-person beginning at 9:30 a.m.
All planned events will take place at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church located at 6400 Woodrow Road in Stonecrest.