Central Presbyterian Church stands at 201 Washington Street SW in downtown Atlanta, directly across the street from the Georgia State Capitol at the corner of Washington Street and Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive. Founded in 1858 by 39 members who broke away from Atlanta's first Presbyterian congregation, this is the church that has spent more than a century and a half refusing to move as the city grew around it. It is known for two things above all: a traditional, hour-long Reformed worship service at 11 a.m. Sunday, and a long record of ministry to downtown Atlanta's hungry, unhoused and overlooked neighbors.
One Hour at Eleven: Central's Traditional Reformed Worship
Central's regular Sunday gathering is a traditional, hour-long service in the sanctuary at 11 a.m. Rooted in the Reformed tradition, it draws on a wide variety of music from the Chancel Choir, the organ and guest instrumentalists, and presents the Word of God through dramatic and interpretive scripture readings and sermons. The liturgical arts displayed in the sanctuary are part of the worship rather than decoration around it.
Communion is observed on the first Sunday of each month. The nursery is open during the service, and all children are welcome to join their parents in the sanctuary, so a first Sunday can look like a whole family's Sunday rather than an hour alone.
For those who cannot be in the building, the service is carried on the church's livestream, the YouTube channel and the Facebook page, and members who prefer to listen by phone may dial in to hear the broadcast. The morning service is rebroadcast at 6 p.m. Every Sunday morning service is kept in a digital archive for later viewing, and the weekly message is also offered as a podcast for the commute or a walk. Learning for all ages begins at 9:45 a.m., so a Sunday can start with an hour of classes and end with worship.
Finding the Door: Washington Street, the Capitol and the Parking Garage
The church sits in the heart of historic downtown Atlanta, convenient to anyone walking, driving or taking public transit, and within walking distance of the Five Points and Georgia State MARTA stations and Underground Atlanta. The front door faces the city square from the corner of Washington Street and Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive.
General parking is available on Sundays, and for other evening and weekend events sponsored by Central, in the Department of Public Safety Garage at 180 Shirley C. Franklin Boulevard. Drivers who continue on Washington Street to the second traffic light at Trinity Avenue, turn right on Trinity, go one block to Central Avenue, turn right again, go one block and cross Mitchell Street will find the Department of Public Safety Building on the right in the next block, just before the Catholic Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Passengers can be dropped at the curb in front of the church. On-street parking is also available on Sundays on Mitchell Street and around the state capitol building. Parking is not available for non-Central groups meeting at the church during the business day.
Central's buildings are handicap accessible, and a greeter or usher will help. The elevator at the entrance to Rand Chapel gives access to the sanctuary and Tull Fellowship Hall, the elevator in the main hallway of the Oglesby Building reaches all floors including the sanctuary from the second floor, and the Campbell-Eagan entrance elevator reaches every floor of that building, including the nursery and gym. A southern entrance ramp on Washington Street is ADA compliant and opens onto Tull Fellowship Hall, the Oglesby Building and the Campbell-Eagan Building, while a second ADA-compliant ramp leads from the alley at Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive to the Campbell-Eagan entrance. Accessible parking spaces are marked on Washington Street directly in front of the church entrance, and a wheelchair and curb ramp are kept in the narthex of Rand Chapel. Central's first-visit information gathers these parking, accessibility and arrival details in one place.
The Church That Stayed: A History Rooted Downtown
Central's story begins in 1858, when 39 members left Atlanta Presbyterian Church, the city's first Presbyterian congregation. The Flint River Presbytery split the congregation, leaving the members who stayed at the original Marietta Street church as First Presbyterian and naming the new congregation Central. Without a building of its own, Central held services in the common room of Atlanta City Hall, on the ground where the Georgia State Capitol now stands, and held its first service in its new sanctuary on Washington Street facing the city square on March 4, 1860.
Before the Capitol
The Civil War shattered Central's prosperous start. Its first pastor, J. L. Rogers, was a staunch secessionist, and many of the church's men served in the Confederate army. Rogers' successor, Robert Q. Mallard, left shortly after arriving to serve with the Confederates and later became a prisoner of war. During Sherman's occupation and burning of the city, the church's facilities were commandeered and the Sunday School building was turned into a slaughterhouse to provide meat for the Union army. Little is known of Central's activities in this period because church records were destroyed when the home of Clerk of Session Moses Cole burned. After Sherman's departure, the block occupied by Central, along with neighboring Second Baptist, St. Philip's Episcopal and Trinity Methodist, was spared only by a plea from Father Thomas O'Reilly of the Immaculate Conception.
A Period of Healing
In the aftermath of the war, Atlanta's religious community became consumed with policing individual morality. Heeding an 1877 congregational letter from the Atlanta Presbytery, Pastor J. T. Leftwich, in office since 1870, worked with the Session to pursue members suspected of card playing, theater going and dancing, summoning them to trial in what one account called a "reign of terror." One case involved deacon Frank E. Block, threatened with excommunication for allowing dancing at his teenage daughter's Christmas party. After years of appeals, a General Assembly ruling instructed the Session to reinstate him, and an outraged Leftwich resigned in protest. The congregation promptly accepted his resignation against the wishes of the elected elders, and the trial years left the church deeply demoralized and short of leadership.
Emphasis on Social Justice
Healing arrived with Givens Brown Strickler, who tried to leave after six months but was held by a Presbytery that refused to release him, and who stayed 13 years. His leadership inspired a new sense of purpose, the Session officially apologized to members hurt by the earlier trials, and Central began turning outward, launching outreach programs, a dozen mission schools and five new churches. Strickler left in 1896 to become a professor at Union Theological Seminary. The era's defining figure was Atlanta industrialist John J. Eagan, who had already improved and expanded the Sunday School, and whose interest in economic and social justice was sharpened by a weeklong visit in 1900 from Josiah Strong, founder of the Social Gospel movement. With fellow elders, Eagan drove Central's outreach and its public stand for racial equality, fair wages and fair treatment for workers. In 1907 the Brotherhood Sunday School class led Presbyterian men from across Atlanta to establish the Atlanta Union Mission, providing food and shelter to homeless men. In 1912 the Young Women's Bible Class led the way to safe, affordable housing for young single women arriving for factory work, at a time when low wages often pushed women toward prostitution. From 1913 to 1916 Central stood with trade unions seeking safe and fair conditions in Atlanta's industrial and service sectors, and when workers struck the Fulton Cotton and Bag Mill in 1914, the church opened its Sunday School building for meetings while elders John Eagan and Marion Jackson spoke at a rally in support of the workers held at the Opera House. In 1922, at Eagan's urging, Sunday School classes organized the Baby Clinic, later the Health Care Center and now Mercy Health Care Services, to provide affordable pediatric care to Atlanta's poor.
The Church That Stayed
As Atlanta entered the 1930s, residents were moving to the northern suburbs, and Central faced increasing pressure to relocate. Dr. Stuart R. Oglesby, who shepherded Central for 28 years from 1930 to 1958, proved to be the stabilizing force that kept the congregation downtown and thriving. Known for an extraordinary schedule of pastoral visits on top of preaching and administration, Oglesby considered it his duty to visit every member and nearly everyone connected with the congregation. At the end of his ministry his records showed 39,920 pastoral calls, many to people he could not expect to see in the pews the following Sunday. One man, Paul, later wrote to Oglesby's widow that he had been found sick on the street in front of the church, and that Oglesby had tracked him down in Brushy Mountain State Prison in Tennessee and written to him constantly, a kindness that changed the course of his life. Oglesby also encouraged partnerships and ecumenical efforts on the city's problems, and membership swelled past 1,650 during the 1940s.
Seismic Changes of the '60s
Entering its second century, Central expanded. In 1962 it purchased the empty Second Baptist church building, vacant since that congregation moved in the 1930s, along with several adjacent properties, built a parking lot on the ground of today's Georgia Educational Plaza and underground parking deck, and erected the Campbell-Eagan Building and the Oglesby Building, which replaced the old 1906 Sunday School building. Under new pastor Fred Rogers Stair, Central launched the Family Plan, an organized effort to develop smaller neighborhood groups that support members spread across the city, an idea that lives on in today's Central Neighbors. Four months after the arrival of minister Randolph Taylor in 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis. Central opened its doors to shelter and daily meals for thousands of mourners who came to the city for King's funeral, and its leaders decided that building bridges between predominantly white institutions and predominantly African-American churches and civil rights organizations should be a key focus. A plaque honoring Dr. King was unveiled in the church courtyard, and Central supported the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's vigil during Holy Week to call attention to the needs of the poor and oppressed.
New Faces and Expanding Ministries
The 1970s brought protests against the Vietnam War, the emergence of Students for a Democratic Society, the counterculture, women's liberation and the gay rights movement, and Central did not sit on the sidelines and attempt neutrality. The church took stands on many of these issues, sometimes alienating long-term members, and often gained new members despite losing some who felt it had moved too far in a liberal direction. The newcomers were typically younger and, in the words of the church historian John Robert Smith, "decidedly less wealthy" than the average member of earlier years. In 1977, under the Rev. P. C. "Buddy" Enniss, the church established the Central Preschool, now Our House, to provide quality, affordable childcare for downtown residents and workers. In 1980 the death of a homeless man within sight of the church spire prompted Central to partner with the neighboring Catholic Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to open a winter night shelter with beds and an evening meal. A weekly medical and foot-care clinic joined the shelter in the mid-1980s, and in 1984 the church opened a food pantry supplying food and basic necessities to poor families. In 1996, under the Rev. Dr. Theodore J. "Ted" Wardlaw, Central opened its own Outreach Center, where counselors help clients obtain documents for work, medical referrals, shelter placements, and food and utility assistance. In 2000 Central partnered with Decatur Cooperative Ministry to offer temporary housing to families leaving homeless shelters, and in 2001 it established the Enniss Lectures, an annual series on theological issues in an urban context. After 9/11 the church opened Rand Chapel for individual prayer and began weekday lunch-hour services during Advent and Holy Week. In 2007 the Outreach Center added public advocacy and was renamed the Central Outreach and Advocacy Center. Wardlaw later left to assume the presidency of Austin Theological Seminary, the Rev. Gary Charles was called to serve for many years, and the Rev. Jessica Patchett also served at Central. In 2023 the church called the Rev. Shannon J. Kershner as senior pastor and head of staff, and she came from Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago. Central is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and two books chronicle its story, "The Church That Stayed" and "On our Way Rejoicing."
Bearing and Following the Word into the World
Central describes itself with the motto "Bearing and Following the Word into the World" and calls itself a community of disciples of Jesus Christ who come together in central Atlanta to worship, serve and be nurtured by God. Its mission statement imagines the church as a wellspring: people arrive with their thirst and emptiness and discover that their cup is filled by the living Word, which sends them to be with those in need and to call forth God's justice in a chaotic world. Central lives out the ongoing story of "the Church that Stayed," joining generations of members and others who share a vision to proclaim the Gospel, and it is a member of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
That conviction has a named framework. Committed as a Matthew 25 Congregation, Central focuses its mission programs on three promises: building congregation vitality, dismantling structural racism and eradicating systemic poverty. The commitment grew out of Matthew 25:31-46, which calls all of us to engage actively with the world around us, and out of the 222nd and 223rd General Assemblies of 2016 and 2018, which exhorted the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to act boldly and compassionately to serve people who are hungry, oppressed, imprisoned or poor. The church names three areas of city mission work: fighting racism and inequality, ending homelessness and supporting LGBTQIA initiatives, and it maintains anti-racism resources for study and conversation.
Breakfast and Beds: Ministry to Neighbors Experiencing Homelessness
The most visible of Central's ministries happens before and after worship. Each Sunday morning, volunteers offer a light breakfast and coffee to neighbors experiencing homelessness; they prepare, serve and provide hospitality. On weekday mornings in the Stair Courtyard, the Church of the Common Ground serves coffee and snacks to the guests of the Central Outreach and Advocacy Center.
That center began in a closet. In 1980 a young woman named "Mary" knew she needed help. She had a place to live, but her minimum wage job did not cover her utilities and food, and her family was hungry, so she walked into Central Presbyterian and spoke with the Rev. Joanna Adams, who listened and arranged for her to pick up groceries for her family. From that beginning the Outreach Center grew into a program serving dozens of people in need each weekday. Central eventually realized that the needs of people experiencing and at risk of homelessness downtown were too large for the church's own staff, so in 1997 the center hired staff and eventually became an independent nonprofit. Today the Central Outreach and Advocacy Center operates from the lower level of Central Presbyterian Church under the Rev. Kimberly J. Parker, and it helps people obtain identification and other documents, medical referrals, shelter placements, and food and utility assistance, treating everyone who comes through its doors with the respect, kindness and humility that Mary was met with.
Central also hosts the winter nights of the Bashor Men's Homeless Shelter, formerly the Central Night Shelter, which began in 1980 as an ecumenical project concerned about the growing problem of homelessness in Atlanta. It serves 90 to 100 homeless men in downtown Atlanta from November 1 through March 31, open seven nights a week, providing a hot meal, a bagged lunch and breakfast, showers, access to medical and foot care, and recreational activities such as yoga, basketball and art. It is an all-volunteer organization with no paid staff. Central hosts overnight guests in its facilities, coordinates meals and fellowship events and supports the shelter financially.
Two more partners work close to the church. Our House leases part of the Campbell-Eagan Building and provides a pathway to stability and independence for families experiencing homelessness through access to health care, early childhood education, housing and employment. Its early childhood education program, which operates at Central, gives children experiencing homelessness a rich learning environment with individualized lesson plans and a focus on pre-literacy skills, confidence, resiliency and school readiness. A block and a half away, Hope House is a 70-bed residential facility offering quality housing and structured support to adult men who have experienced homelessness and are in recovery from substance addiction; it is a ministry of Caring Works, which also provides permanent and temporary supportive housing, mental health care, addiction treatment and employment assistance.
Partners in the City and Around the World
Central in the City works to identify ways the congregation can engage the new growth near the church and ways it can advocate on homelessness, affordable housing and the displacement of people experiencing poverty. Members take part in downtown neighborhood organizations including the Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association, the Capitol Hill Neighborhood Development Corporation and Central Atlanta Progress. The Capitol Hill organization emerged in the late 1980s from discussions among the leadership of the three churches in the Capitol Hill area, Central, the Catholic Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and Trinity United Methodist Church.
Other local partners extend that work. The Georgia Justice Project advocates for and provides legal representation to marginalized and economically vulnerable people in metro Atlanta and has been instrumental in drafting much of Georgia's recent criminal justice reform legislation. Georgians for Alternatives for the Death Penalty supports incarcerated people and their families, holds vigils at the state Capitol whenever an execution is scheduled and offers educational events. New Hope House, near Jackson, Georgia, offers ongoing support to death row prisoners and their families and works to abolish the death penalty, and Central members can correspond with prisoners, prepare meals for families and help maintain the facilities. Presbyterians for a Better Georgia educates members about public policy advocacy and presses for state policies supporting vulnerable neighbors, with health care for all citizens and increased support for people experiencing homelessness as current legislative priorities. Emmaus House works to improve the economic and social well-being of the Peoplestown neighborhood and surrounding areas, and Central provides meals for residents and periodically restocks its food pantry. Central members also march in the annual Atlanta Pride Parade and support initiatives that affirm LGBTQIA siblings in the city and in the congregation. The Pollard and Covenant grants fund relationships with local nonprofits through financial contributions and in-person service opportunities.
Central's partnerships also reach beyond Atlanta. Atlanta Ministry with International Students has welcomed students and scholars to the region since 1978, and Central supports it by hosting fellowship events, especially the Christmas party, by pairing families and households with international students, and financially. Villa International offers short-term residence to people of all faiths from all parts of the world and has hosted more than 26,000 guests from 179 countries since opening in 1972, with Central hosting gatherings and pairing local families with international residents. Memorial Drive Ministries, a church-based nonprofit in what it describes as the most diverse square mile in North America, nurtures diverse worshipping communities and social services on its campus, and Central supports new church developments there through service and contributions.
Mission work reaches Haiti, the U.S.-Mexico border and the Middle East. La Gonave Haiti Partners is a faith-based development initiative co-led by the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti, an ecumenical group of churches in the United States and ten local communities on the island of La Gonave, with nearly 30 years of work on healthcare, education, economic opportunity, sanitation and clean water. The partnership is distinguished by its emphasis on empowerment and mutuality, with Haitian and American partners making decisions together, and Central supports it with financial contributions, annual mission trips and opportunities for learning. Frontera de Cristo, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission partnership in Douglas, Arizona and Agua Prieta, Sonora, builds relationships and understanding across borders, offering shelter, resources, education, emotional support and medical care to migrants and community members on both sides of the border. Churches for Middle East Peace, a coalition of 30 national church communions and organizations, encourages policies promoting just, lasting and comprehensive resolutions to Middle East conflicts, and Central supports it through contributions and mission and learning trips to Israel and Palestine. Through the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, Central also joins Joining Hands for Justice, committed since 2000 to educating Presbyterians and the wider Atlanta community about the conditions of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.
Choir, Organ and Liturgical Arts
Music is a major part of Central's life and worship. The Chancel Choir, the adult choir, rehearses weekly on Wednesday evenings from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. and sings each Sunday morning, with about eight weeks of summer recess. Beyond Sunday repertoire, the choir prepares major choral works for worship and for other moments in the life of the church. The music sung in worship is intentionally diverse, spanning classical music, spirituals and gospels, global music and other standard church music. The choir is open to college-age students and adults, and its mission is to lead worship with musical, liturgical and theological integrity that undergirds the spoken ministry of the Word.
Children and youth sing too. The Bethlehem Choir includes boys and girls from pre-kindergarten through first grade and rehearses at 9 a.m. on Sunday mornings, learning music fundamentals, vocal techniques and worship readiness skills and singing in worship several times during the church year. The Nazareth Choir, for second through fifth grades, also rehearses at 9 a.m. on Sundays. The Jerusalem Choir for middle and high school students in grades six through twelve sings in worship about once a month from September through May and takes occasional choir trips or combined music and mission trips; it rehearses on Sunday afternoons before the evening youth group. The Youth Handbell Choir, open to students in grades six through twelve with no experience needed, rehearses on Sunday mornings from 9:00 to 9:40 a.m. The Geneva Handbell Choir is an advanced ensemble of dedicated adults and high school and college students that meets on Wednesday evenings from 5:30 to 7:25 p.m. from August through May and plays in worship monthly. It rings on six octaves of Schulmerich handbells and seven octaves of Malmark Choirchimes.
The arts extend beyond music. Dramatic and interpretive arts are part of worship, and visual arts appear in the worship spaces in forms including paper-lace cut banners and peace crane origami models. The Tull Hall Art Gallery hosts rotating exhibits throughout the year, showing work by leading artists such as Ned Bustard, He Qi, Timothy Botts and Christina Saj, as well as Central members including the Atlanta artist and illustrator Norm Kohn. Thom Dixon serves as director of music and worship, and Don Papenbrock as organist.
Children, Youth and the Sunday Formation Hour
Sunday mornings are busy with all ages. Sunday School classes begin at 9:45 a.m., with adults meeting in Tull Hall, youth on the third floor of the Campbell-Eagan Building and children on the second floor of the Oglesby Building, where a greeter helps visitors find their way. The nursery, on the second floor of the Oglesby Building, is open during worship, and children are welcome in the sanctuary with their families. The children and youth ministry, led by the Rev. Susan Landrum, offers activities and events across the week as well as on Sunday mornings, and the church publishes a full year of children and youth activities for families to follow.
The youth group gathers on Sunday evenings from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Youth Suite on the lower level, and the choir schedule places children's and youth rehearsals alongside the Sunday school hour so that young people can take part in music and formation on the same morning they come to worship.
Groups for Every Season of Life
Central's member groups offer regular fellowship across the year. Thirsty Thursdays with Central meets monthly at 7 p.m. at Manuel's Tavern, 602 North Highland Avenue NE. It began for young professionals, is open to all ages, welcomes guests and requires no RSVP. The Rebekah Circle, Central's Presbyterian Women's Circle, is a local life group focused on nurturing the faith and spiritual growth of women in the church and helping women develop church leadership skills; it meets the second Monday of each month from September through June. Central Women, a fellowship group for women of all ages, meets the third Thursday of every month from September through May with speakers, mission projects and reflection on varied topics. Central Men invites men of all ages to fellowship and conversation on the third Monday of each month at 7 p.m. at varying locations, and for breakfast on the first Sunday of the month at 8 a.m. The Bookworms meet monthly at a home to discuss the books they are reading, a combination of fellowship and conversation that suits people who like their groups informal.
Learning continues through adult education, with most Sundays offering classes that reflect on scripture, books or current events, and Central's annual rhythm includes a congregational lunch and Rally Day, an all-church retreat and the Enniss Lectures, the series founded in 2001 to bring a guest speaker and panel discussion on theological issues in an urban context. Central also hosts weddings, memorial services and baptisms, with baptisms taking place during Sunday morning worship.
Care for One Another: The Diaconate
Central's diaconate rests on a simple statement of faith: that all people are created in the image of a loving and compassionate God and are therefore called to love and serve one another with compassion and care. The pastoral staff and the diaconate care for the congregation in tangible ways, seen and unseen, through Parish Care Teams and a Visitation Ministry that reaches people at home, in the hospital, in long-term care facilities and in hospice care. The diaconate's Central Care Teams each pair two to four deacons with a particular parish, coordinating meal trains and other care needs, scheduling care visits and in-home communion, assisting with funerals and memorial services, and helping plan Maundy Thursday worship services for people who cannot travel to the church.
Peg Richards and Linda Massengill are the current leaders of the diaconate, which works alongside a Session elected by the congregation. Together the two bodies of leadership guide Central's worship, teaching and service in the building at Washington Street and the ministries that reach far beyond it.
Giving, Rentals and Staying Connected
Central's financial life is supported in several ways. Members and visitors can give through online giving, by scanning a QR code with a phone camera, by texting "cpcatlanta" to 73256 to receive a link for giving and saving a payment method, or through PayPal. Members also make an annual pledge that supports the mission and ministry together, and they can track their contributions through Realm, the church's member platform. A Planned Giving Committee offers guidance on charitable gifts, including gifts of securities, which can be applied to the annual pledge or directed to other ministries, and gifts made through a will, whether a specific dollar amount, a percentage of an estate, a security or item, or a testamentary trust. Memorial and tribute gifts are also welcomed, with the church acknowledging the thoughtfulness to the family or extending greetings to the person being honored.
The building itself is a ministry and a resource. Central rents its spaces for daily, weekly or longer-term use, from small groups to major motion picture productions, and it offers premium live-streaming services with four cameras and integrated software for slides. Beyond the historic sanctuary, the rooms and spaces of the Campbell-Eagan, Oglesby and Rand Chapel buildings can host concerts, recitals, meetings, lectures, films and nonprofit organization gatherings. The church also rebroadcasts its Sunday morning worship at 6 p.m. for those who cannot make the 11 a.m. hour.
Central stays in touch with its congregation and neighbors through Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, a weekly email update with news and ways to get connected, and several magazines a year that highlight church life, letters from the pastors and updates on events and activities, available in print and online.
The People Who Lead Central
The Rev. Shannon Johnson Kershner became senior pastor and head of staff in 2023, arriving from Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago. She has become nationally known for her preaching, her leadership, her willingness to take on complex social issues and her dedication to outreach and engagement with the community. The Rev. Kate Culver serves as associate pastor, and the Rev. Susan Landrum as associate pastor for Christian formation and congregational life, leading the children and youth ministry and working with young adults and member groups. The Rev. Dr. Theodore J. Wardlaw, who led Central from 1996 until his call to the presidency of Austin Theological Seminary, serves as pastor emeritus. Thom Dixon directs music and worship, Don Papenbrock is organist, and the Rev. Kimberly J. Parker directs the Central Outreach and Advocacy Center, where Sonja Hodges serves as direct service advocate. The pulpit has also welcomed the Rev. Jessica Patchett, the Rev. Gary Charles and many other guest preachers over the years.
Central Presbyterian Church has kept its address at 201 Washington Street SW for more than a century and a half, through a Civil War, a great migration out of the downtown and decades of change to the shape of the city around it. Its worship is deliberately traditional, an hour of choir, organ, spoken word and liturgical art rooted in the Reformed tradition, and its work is deliberately outward, a breakfast served to people on the sidewalk, a bed for a cold night, a pantry, a legal advocate, a welcome to international students and a church that names its mission as building community, dismantling structural racism and eradicating systemic poverty. That is the church that stayed: a congregation of disciples who come to a wellspring, have their cup filled by the living Word and go out to be with those in need.