On a stretch of Veterans Memorial Highway in Douglasville, Georgia, a Baptist congregation with roots in the Reconstruction era still gathers around the same plot of land it has occupied since 1882. Beulah Baptist Church, known around town simply as Beulah Church, was started on March 6, 1869, when 11 charter members and the Reverend W. A. Lane organized a fellowship in Cobb County. Within thirteen years membership had grown to 66, and a wood-frame sanctuary was built on what remains the church's present campus. Today the congregation numbers more than 1,400, and the buildings have grown to fill several acres, but the mission is still the one the founders carried.
A Heritage Anchored in Douglasville
Beulah describes itself with the phrase "one big family," and the website's history page treats the early years of the church with the same care it gives current programming. The 1869 founding date makes Beulah one of the older continuous Baptist congregations in western Douglas County, and the relocation to the current Veterans Memorial Highway site in 1882 is presented as a decisive turning point. Members see that wooden building as the seed of everything that has followed - the larger sanctuary, the children's center with its second-floor preschool wing and third-floor elementary wing, the student center, the worship center, the offices, and the Beulah Coffee bar.
The doctrinal identity is openly stated. Beulah Church acknowledges the Baptist Faith and Message, the confession of the Southern Baptist Convention, and the church's beliefs page quotes Mark 12:28-31: love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Three convictions run through every page of the site. The Bible is the true and inerrant word of God. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the only way to salvation. The church is called to spread the good news and to love neighbors as itself. Those three statements are treated less as abstract theology and more as the operating instructions for everything Beulah does week to week.
Sunday Mornings on Campus
Sunday is built around three rhythms. On-campus Community Groups gather at 9:15 AM, the worship service begins at 10:30 AM, and Children's ministry programming for nursery through sixth grade runs during both hours.
Visitors arriving for the 10:30 AM service are met at the door by the First Impressions team, a volunteer corps whose members post at the Atrium doors of the Worship Center and at the Office entrance of the Education building. They greet, hand out sanitizer, help with seating, and sanitize doors, bathrooms, and the atrium between services. The worship service itself runs about an hour and includes dynamic worship led by a multi-generational band, video and storytelling elements that highlight changed lives, and a God-centered message from one of the pastors. Each service closes with a "Call to Prayer" that the congregation is encouraged to carry through the week. Offering boxes are positioned at the back doors of the Worship Center for those who feel led to give. Doors to the Worship Center open no later than 30 minutes before the service begins.
The church is intentionally relaxed about dress. Members show up in everything from jeans and t-shirts to business suits, and the What to Expect page invites first-time guests to come in whatever feels comfortable. Visitors who want a low-key visit are welcome to slip in and remain anonymous; visitors who want a more hands-on welcome can stop at the welcome desk, where a first-time gift is available with information about the church.
Iglesia Beulah: A Bilingual Church Within the Church
Beulah is bilingual in practice, not just on paper. Iglesia Beulah is the church's full Spanish-language ministry, led by Hispanic Minister Josias Ortiz Gonzalez, with its own Sunday worship service at 10:30 AM, a youth service at 6:30 PM on Sundays, and a prayer gathering at 6:30 PM on Wednesdays. The Spanish-language ministries mirror the English side, including preschool, children's, youth, adults, worship, technology, and arts teams.
The mission statement reads, "Con la ayuda del Espíritu Santo, llenar la necesidad espiritual, mental y física de cada persona." The church wants every believer immersed in the Word of God, enjoying intimate fellowship with the triune God, and impacting the community for God's glory: guiding, teaching, and equipping faithful followers of Jesus Christ. Hispanic families in Douglasville who are looking for a Spanish-language service find a complete ministry rather than a translated add-on.
Children: Preschool Through Sixth Grade
Children's ministry at Beulah is split between two floors of the Children's building and is designed to walk with families from the nursery years through the elementary years.
BeulahPreschool serves children from nursery through pre-kindergarten on the second floor. Check-in opens at 8:45 AM, and the 9:15 and 10:30 hours are both staffed. During the first hour, children move through an activity, a Bible story, a memory verse, and a craft, followed by a classroom snack. During the second hour, the two-, three-, and four-year-olds rotate every twenty minutes through a Bible story movie, a related craft, and free play in the playroom. A memory verse is taught each month. Pickup is on the second floor where the child was dropped off, after the main worship service has ended.
BeulahKids, for elementary-age children, takes over the third floor of the same building. Children begin their Sunday in a Large Group setting with worship and an interactive Bible study, then break into Small Groups for application-focused discussion and activities that change week to week. Both the preschool and children's programs are staffed with adults and high school students who have been trained and background-checked. The Preschool and Children's Director, Jenn Frazier, oversees both ministries.
BeulahStudents: Sixth Through Twelfth Grade
Student ministry at Beulah is built around three words - Strength, Depth, and Living - and meets in two weekly slots. On Sundays at 9:15 AM, students gather in the Student Center for small groups led by trained adult leaders, working through relevant Bible studies and discussion. On Wednesdays at 6:00 PM, the group moves to the Student Gathering for a more relational night designed to be easy for students to invite friends to.
During the school year and through holidays, BeulahStudents meets on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. The goal of the ministry is to lead any and all sixth through twelfth-grade students into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Strength is about developing the habit of studying and applying God's Word. Depth is about pursuing authentic Christian community. Living is about finding a place in God's redemptive story and taking the hope of the Gospel into homes, schools, and the world.
Groups: Community and D-Groups
Small group life at Beulah runs on two tracks. Community Groups are the larger gatherings, varied in makeup, and include men's, women's, and couples' groups that meet both on campus and off. They are designed to help people meet others and grow in the Word together. A number of these Community Groups meet on Sunday mornings at 9:15 AM on the Beulah campus, fitting naturally into the hour before the worship service.
D-Groups (Discipleship Groups) are smaller, averaging three to five people, and are gender-specific. The purpose of a D-Group is more focused: memorize and apply Scripture, develop deep accountable relationships, and walk through life with a handful of others committed to the same goals. D-Groups meet on their own terms throughout the week, and both kinds of groups feed directly into the Discipleship Pathway that frames the church's overall approach.
The Discipleship Pathway
The Discipleship Pathway is Beulah's four-step roadmap for what membership looks like in practice. Members are encouraged to encounter God through dynamic worship and teaching on Sundays; to experience community through weekly small group gatherings; to equip disciples through a yearly D-Group of three to five men or women; and to engage the world through missions, evangelism, and service. Each of the four steps points back to a different area of church life, and the pathway is presented as a continuous cycle rather than a graduation. A member who has completed all four is expected to keep moving through them, taking on new D-Group members and finding new mission opportunities.
Creative Arts and Worship
BeulahWorship is the band and vocal team that leads Sunday worship. The team is made up of believers who see their music as a vehicle for changed lives, with Christ as the sole focus. BeulahCreative is a community of artists, including social media, photography, videography, graphic design, creative elements, set design, event decor, web design, and service structure, that works alongside BeulahMedia and BeulahWorship to support the church's ministry through the arts. The Creative Arts community is open to seasoned artists and to those just beginning to explore a particular gift. BeulahMedia handles the broadcast side of the ministry, and the Worship service is livestreamed every Sunday at 10:30 AM on the church's Facebook page and on the Watch page of the website.
Missions and the Coffee Bar
Missions at Beulah aims both upward and outward. Locally, the church partners with schools to distribute food, and globally it trains leaders in places far beyond Douglasville. The Matthew 28:19 commission - "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" - sits at the top of the Missions page, and the language of "from distributing food in our local schools to training leaders in the farthest corners of the globe" is offered as a way of describing what that looks like in practice.
Beulah Coffee is the church's small on-campus café. Complimentary coffee is provided to the congregation each Sunday, and a range of hand-crafted specialty brews is available for purchase. Every dollar raised at the coffee bar goes toward the church's building note, so a latte on Sunday morning is also a contribution to the mortgage.
Leadership and Governance
Beulah is elder-led. The church's Lead Pastor, Steven Greene, oversees the staff and preaching team, and the elder team also includes Joseph York and Connections Pastor Terry Pearman. The ministry staff rounds out with Worship Leader Josh Alvarado, Hispanic Minister Josias Ortiz Gonzalez, Preschool and Children's Director Jenn Frazier, and Pastoral Assistant Donna Kendall. Documents on the website cover leadership terminology, church membership, church meetings, the office of elder, the office of deacon, and church oversight, and they are available as downloadable PDFs for anyone who wants to see how the church is structured. Worship services are streamed every Sunday at 10:30 AM on Facebook and through the Watch page on the church's website, so members who are out of town, under the weather, or simply want to revisit a message can do so at any time. Online giving is handled through a secure Church Center portal, with one-time and recurring options available, while in-person givers can use the boxes at the rear of the Worship Center or drop a contribution at the church office during business hours.