Community Church on Cascade Avenue in Southwest Atlanta is known for Sunday worship at 10 AM and for joining faith with practical service. Founded in 1966, the congregation organizes life around four aims: know God, find family, become better, and make an impact. Its Sunday gathering takes place at 850 Cascade Ave SW, while the adjoining Vicars Community Center at 838 Cascade Avenue houses children's ministry, a food pantry, and a resilience hub designed to serve Southwest Atlanta during emergencies.
A Legacy Built on Cascade Avenue
Community Church began in January 1966 when Dr. Rudolph Smith, affectionately known as Rabbi, and his wife, Lady Edna Smith, held the first organizational meeting in a family home. The first worship service followed on February 27 in the chapel of Alphonso Dawson Mortuary, with gatherings scheduled twice each month. A need for more regular services moved the congregation into weekly meetings, first in another home and then at Hines Funeral Home by October 2.
On May 17, 1970, the church moved to its present Cascade Avenue location. Dr. Rudolph Smith took full-time pastoral responsibility in September 1973, and on January 25, 1976, the congregation burned the $60,000 mortgage on the property. A building campaign launched in 1978, work began in 1979, and the new sanctuary was dedicated in 1980. Its mortgage was paid in full on October 22, 1986. The church's commitment to outreach appeared early: a food pantry began in 1983, and the neighboring Salvation Army Thrift Store was purchased in 1985. That building became VICARS, Volunteers in Community and Related Services, dedicated in 1989.
Michael A. Smith became pastor-elect in February 1998 and succeeded his father with an installation on October 11. His ministry brought changes in worship celebration, organization, and technology, and the congregation acquired four additional properties, including the Rudolph Smith Ministry Center. The 2007 through 2016 period brought greater emphasis on neighborhood outreach, including summer Friday work with Remerge, formerly Church on the Street, and community block parties. Rev. Felecia Pearson Smith served as the congregation's first executive pastor, developed operating policy, directed outreach to women, and reshaped the food pantry into Community Marketplace, where families could make their own food choices. Pastor Michael continued the emphasis on Christian education and administration while strengthening the legacy of service established by his father.
Dr. Kevin W. Earley became senior pastor on October 1, 2020. Taking office during the COVID-19 pandemic, he strengthened the church's virtual ministry and its emphasis on helping the congregation pastor the surrounding community. The leadership history is varied, but the recurring emphasis has remained the same: build lives through Christ and put faith into action through service.
Sunday Worship: One Room, Several Kinds of Connection
At 10 AM, friendly greeters welcome people at the door, and the church suggests arriving about ten minutes early. Dress is casual: some worshippers choose dressier clothes, others wear business casual, and jeans with a T-shirt are equally at home. The service combines engaging worship, fellowship, and relevant teaching based on God's Word. Music is described as passion-filled, energetic, and expressive, with worship understood as a response to God for who he is and what he has done. A typical service ends between 11:15 and 11:30 AM, and a Hospitality Team remains throughout the building to help visitors.
Families can attend in person or watch the service live on YouTube. A replay is available by 1 PM through the same channel. Children check in through age-specific ministries: WeeCare is on the lower level of the main church building, while Community Kids is at Vicars across the parking lot. Families receive matching check-in and pick-up codes, so a parent or guardian knows exactly where to collect a child after worship.
The weekend services are intended for people who are new to faith, have questions, or have followed Jesus for many years. The emphasis is on knowing God and growing closer to him, with fellowship and practical teaching woven into the gathering.
Four Directions: Know God, Find Family, Become Better, Make an Impact
Those four phrases map the church's formation pathway. The Discovery Track is a free course offered once a month to help people learn more about themselves and Community Church. Its three stages are Discover You, Discover the Church, and Discover Us. Participants explore identity and purpose, the work God is doing through the church, and the vision and mission that shape its response to people who are hurting. The course also helps a person match personality, gifts, and passions to a service Crew.
Connect Groups are small discipleship groups that meet across Atlanta on weekly or biweekly schedules. Each group chooses its own format, but gatherings generally include conversation, prayer, and about an hour and a half together. Their purpose is practical: people are invited to be known, form healthy relationships, and grow in understanding of God's will. Community Church welcomes regular attenders, occasional visitors, and people who do not yet belong to a local church. Childcare may not be available at every group, so that detail varies by gathering.
The Community Church Crew turns personal gifts into service. Sample teams include Nursery, Children's Ministry, Youth Ministry, Food Pantry, Greeters, Property and Finance, Creative Tech, and Social Media Ministry. People can bring abilities such as music, hospitality, administration, photography, event planning, or working with children. Discovery Track is presented as the best place to begin because it helps newcomers understand the church before choosing where to serve. Volunteers also help with food distribution, community programs, and the practical work that keeps worship and ministry running.
The vision is to become a multigenerational, cutting-edge congregation known for pastoring the community, enriching the neighborhood, and authentically representing Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. The mission is equally concrete: help people know God, find family, become better, make an impact, and mentor others to do the same.
WeeCare, Community Kids, and The Park
WeeCare serves babies and preschoolers from six months through four years old on the lower level of the main church building. Nursery teams provide personal care, keep age-appropriate toys clean, and spend time caring for and praying for each baby. Preschool children move into a more active experience through stories, crafts, songs, and Biblical truths, while also forming relationships with other children and their teachers. The goal is to help a child's church experience grow from personal care toward active participation in the life of faith.
Community Kids serves kindergarten through sixth grade at Vicars Community Center. Its rhythm combines energetic games, dynamic worship, Biblical teaching, Scripture memory, and time developing friendships. The ministry teaches children that the Bible describes who God is and how to have a relationship with him. It also seeks to help each child identify in God, understand personal purpose and destiny, and nurture spiritual gifts from infancy toward maturity, working alongside parents in that process.
The check-in process is intentionally detailed. Families provide parent or guardian names, a child's name and birthdate, address, phone number, and instructions about allergies or special needs. Parent and child receive matching coded stickers for pick-up. Community Kids volunteers pass background checks, the ministry maintains a safety team, and security tags plus a parent paging system support safe collection and communication. Clean rooms, attentive teams, and age-appropriate teaching are treated as part of the children's experience of God rather than as add-ons.
The Park is the student ministry for sixth through twelfth graders. It meets Friday at 7 PM at Vicars or the youth pastor's home, creating room for fun, conversation about life and Jesus, and the occasional outing. Junior and senior high students are separated into groups for the developmental questions they face. The Park teaches them to understand and receive God's love, live from their identity in Christ, and navigate real-life choices through the power of the Holy Spirit. Its stated goal is for teenagers to discover the fullness of their individual purpose and destiny.
Community Marketplace: Free Groceries and Shared Work
Community Marketplace, the church's food pantry, addresses food insecurity for individuals and families who have difficulty purchasing groceries. It is open Wednesdays from 10 AM to 1 PM at Vicars Community Center, 838 Cascade Avenue SW. Guests receive free groceries and make their own food choices. Community Marketplace's format allows households to select their food, a change implemented under Rev. Felecia Pearson Smith.
The pantry serves hundreds of Atlanta families each week and depends on volunteers to sort, pack, and distribute food. Those volunteers can also receive documentation for required high school or court-ordered community service hours. The pantry's weekly rhythm depends on people preparing and distributing food. It was one of the church's earliest outreach expressions, beginning in 1983, and it remains a direct expression of the church's call to serve Atlanta while also carrying its missions concern beyond the city.
Community Church describes itself as missions-minded, beginning in Atlanta and reaching toward the world. Its goal is the restoration of individuals and families and the transformation of the city and world through the love of God. That outward emphasis is also visible in giving. The church accepts contributions online, through Zelle and Givelify, in offering envelopes at services by cash, check, or credit card, and by mail. Online giving is presented as one convenient way to support local and global ministry, while giving itself is tied to the church's belief that God is a giver.
Vicars Community Center: A Resilience Hub for Southwest Atlanta
Vicars began as an outreach building and has developed into a community center with an emergency role. Solar power and battery storage allow the facility to operate as a resilience hub during power outages and weather-related emergencies. The system includes at least three days of backup power for critical needs. Vicars is designed as a safe, trusted gathering place where neighbors can access reliable power for essential devices, refrigerate medications securely, receive emergency information, and stay cool or warm during the day as conditions require. It is not designed for overnight stays.
The resilience-hub work also addresses isolation. Neighbors can gather to learn, collaborate, and create connections before severe weather arrives, while the community's approach encourages people to check on neighbors they know live alone during extreme heat. The church recognizes that Black residents, people of color, immigrants, Indigenous people, and lower-income neighbors often experience environmental hazards first and most severely. The Vicars project is intended to reduce that uneven burden while supplying year-round programming for residents.
That year-round programming includes meals, blood drives, health screenings, job fairs, and conferences. The resilience project grew through work with community-centered clean energy organization Groundswell, a donated battery from Georgia-based Stryten Energy, and support from General Motors Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, SunCatch Energy, WDC Solar, and the City of Atlanta. Their collaboration turned a former thrift-store property into an independently owned resilience hub and a place where practical help and church ministry meet.
Vicars is also available for meetings, repasts, birthday parties, and other events. Its main room holds up to 150 people in theater style or about 120 in banquet style, with a commercial kitchen and outside caterers welcome. The center has hosted corporate and nonprofit groups, including Atlanta's NPU-S, Concerned Black Clergy, Georgia Tech, and the Girl Scouts of the USA. Alcoholic beverages, illegal drugs, and smoking are not permitted. This combination of hospitality, neighborhood resources, and emergency readiness makes Vicars both a ministry center and a significant part of Community Church's local presence.
Bible, Holiness, and the Kingdom
Community Church's beliefs are explicitly Christian and especially strong in Scripture, holiness, unity, and the Kingdom of God. Its governing summary is: "The Bible is our rule of faith and Christ alone is Lord." Jesus is affirmed as Lord, Son of God, Son of Man, mediator, ruler, and sovereign. The church confesses one God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, co-equal and co-eternal. It believes the Holy Spirit transforms and sanctifies believers, convicts sin, and empowers service.
- Scripture and salvation. The Old and New Testaments are supernaturally inspired and are the final measure of faith, conduct, and practice. Salvation is God's free gift, received through faith in Jesus and his finished work, not self-improvement or good works. Christ physically rose from the dead, and believers and unbelievers will be raised and judged at the end of the age.
- Holiness and spiritual gifts. The Spirit convicts of sin, enables believers to overcome sin, and sanctifies them for service. Every believer has a spiritual gift, given not on the basis of merit, longevity, or gender but for building up the church and demonstrating the power of the Gospel.
- Unity and the Kingdom. All believers belong to God's family, whether or not they share denominational ties. The Kingdom is life as God intends, and the church holds that personal sin requires evangelism while social sin requires social action. Meeting physical and spiritual needs is therefore essential Kingdom work.
- The church and the future. The church is God's primary instrument for discipleship and establishing the Kingdom through prayer, fellowship, ministry of the Word, and service. Community Church expects Jesus to return physically and visibly, with the time unknown, followed by final judgment and all things being made right in a new heaven and new earth.
Taken together, these beliefs explain why personal relationship with God and service to people are inseparable. The church's stated aim is not simply better behavior or institutional activity but a transformation that lets individuals and communities live as God intends.
Pastor Kevin Earley and a Multigenerational Mission
Dr. Kevin Wesley Earley is a Chicago native and an ordained minister of the Church of God. He became Community Church's senior pastor in October 2020 after seventeen years at Metropolitan Church of God in Detroit. He holds a management degree from Illinois State University, a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Anderson University, and wrote Every-Member Ministry. His earlier service included leading the National Inspirational Youth Convention and serving as commander chaplain for the Detroit Police Department. He also served on boards for Anderson University, the Detroit branch of the NAACP, and the Urban League of Detroit and Southeast Michigan. He is chaplain for Concerned Black Clergy of Metropolitan Atlanta, vice president of Cascade Area Neighborhood Organization, and a member of the Berean Fellowship led by Bishop Timothy J. Clarke.
That mixture of church, youth, education, public service, and neighborhood work reflects Community Church's own emphasis on a multigenerational witness. The congregation's story has moved from a chapel gathering to a free-standing sanctuary, from a food pantry to a choice-based marketplace, and from a thrift-store building to a solar-powered resilience hub. Through it all, the central pattern has stayed recognizable: know God, form caring community, grow people, and place spiritual conviction into service for Atlanta and beyond. Community Church remains a congregation that joins worship, discipleship, family ministry, and practical care in service to Atlanta and beyond.