Mission Yearbook: Church Partnerships reimagine church homes

‘Presbyterianism is global,’ says executive presbyter.

In 2024, there were 36 new worshiping communities meeting within the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta. Over two-thirds of these are considered primarily immigrant congregations. Most of these immigrant churches worship in the buildings of other established PC(USA) congregations, creating opportunities for relationship-building and collaboration among new and established congregations and among immigrants and longer-term citizens and residents of Atlanta.

“It’s kind of a symbiotic relationship that develops,” said the Rev. George Tatro, pastor of Johns Creek Presbyterian Church, which has partnered with Casa Brasil, a Portuguese-speaking new worshiping community led by the Rev. Rafael Viana.

“It’s not about the Johns Creek Church or Casa Brasil; it’s about the church of Christ in different languages, different cultures,” said Viana.

Casa Brasil recently moved its services from Saturday evenings to Sundays at 10 a.m. in Johns Creek’s fellowship hall. The change in worship service accommodates the growing number of young families attending Casa Brasil and also allows the worshiping communities to interact with the members of Johns Creek Presbyterian Church, who also worship on Sunday mornings.

Along with worshiping at the same time on Sundays, Tatro invited Viana to share office space with him during the week in hopes that the congregations would see them both as pastors of the church of Jesus Christ flourishing in the congregations that meet at the Johns Creek property. Partnering with others in ministry is essential to Tatro’s vision of ministry. Before accepting the call to Johns Creek, Tatro served as a pastor of Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church in Clarkston, Georgia, a popular resettlement destination for global refugees. During his tenure, Memorial Drive Presbyterian hosted three congregations that served immigrants originating from Africa, India and Burma, as well as rented space to several nonprofits that served refugee families and school children.

The Rev. Rafael Viana

One of those congregations was Shalom International Ministry, led by the Rev. Gad Mpoyo. Mpoyo has served as pastor to this growing congregation of immigrants from the African diaspora for over 13 years. As the associate for the Eastern and Southern regions for the PC(USA)’s 1001 New Worshiping Communities, he also supports mid councils, new leaders and established churches as they navigate partnerships and growth related to church start-ups. Mpoyo described the “huge impact” of new worshiping communities, established churches and presbyteries working together and called the bringing together of a rich tradition with new ideas “beautiful.” As new worshiping leaders have joined groups like the presbytery’s Committee on Ministry, Mpoyo noted important shifts in understanding the ways God is doing a new thing: “There is learning that is happening on both sides. And I think that has been having a really huge impact in the presbytery.”

Mpoyo’s congregation of Shalom still meets at the site of Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church, although the original congregation that opened its doors to his immigrant new worshiping community no longer worships there. In 2021, the Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church congregation pastored by Tatro engrafted into a neighboring congregation in Stone Mountain, Georgia.

However, the vital ministry to refugees and new immigrants continued at the Clarkston location through the groundwork that the congregation laid. With the help of other congregations across Atlanta and the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit called Memorial Drive Ministries was formed prior to the church’s closure. Memorial Drive Ministries continues to be dedicated to maintaining the property and its partnerships with other nonprofits that serve refugees and immigrants in the neighborhood.

When Tatro left Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church and accepted the call to Johns Creek Presbyterian Church, the Johns Creek congregation had already developed strong bonds with Viana’s congregation of Casa Brasil, even joining their youth ministries. Viana and Tatro warned established churches against the temptation to see partnerships as a “landlord-tenant arrangement.”

“That's a real temptation for the host church,” said Tatro, who described the mindset: “Well, you know, we're providing this space, and we're providing all these things. What are they giving?” Tatro’s answer is, “They're giving us the opportunity to be the church.” The partnership between new worshiping communities and established churches sharing space works best, according to Viana, when it is approached with a “mi casa, su casa” attitude.

Beth Waltemath, Communications Strategist, Interim Unified Agency Click here to read original PNS story)

Let us join in prayer for:

• Sharon Dunne Gillies, Managing Editor, Presbyterian Women 
• Magdy Girgis, Middle Eastern Intercultural Ministries, Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries, Interim Unified Agency 

Let us pray:

Gracious God, thank you that you have given us enough to share. Remind us always to be grateful for your blessings. Move us out of our comfort zones to reach out to those who have not known your abundance. In Jesus’ name. Amen.