A Brief History
In January of 2008 4 churches in Paulding County, GA came together for prayer. These churches were each from a different denomination and represented a wide array of ethnic and cultural diversity. From those prayer gatherings came the desire to serve the community in such a way that it would be a catalyst to ongoing engagement by individual churches.
As the movement spread among Pastors in the community 8 churches came together to serve Paulding County on one weekend through an event that was dubbed, ‘Community Makeover’. The idea was that churches would come together to do their own service projects in unity and would work to transform (Make-over) the community with the love of Jesus Christ.
In the Summer of 2008 more than 200 projects were accomplished by more than 2500 volunteers. The non-profit was formed shortly thereafter to provide a way for these churches to collaborate to raise funds and continue to do projects together throughout the community.
The name Engage Atlanta came from the belief that God was beginning a movement on the western part of the city that could ultimately impact the entire Metro community. This name would create an umbrella that can unify churches together throughout the region without elevating any one church.
The Community Makeover continued in the Summer of 2009 with 35 churches joining together. More than 8,000 people joined in for the closing worship celebration on Community Makeover weekend.
These churches and others came together in the fall of 2009 to serve Metro Atlanta families impacted by the flooding that happened in September of that year. More than 12oo volunteers served 425 families from late September through November that year in partnership with Samaritan’s Purse. Local Businesses and Media trusted Engage Atlanta with the resources to serve families in our own backyard.
In the early spring of 2010, Engage Atlanta partnered with Samaritan’s Purse to accomplish home rebuilds for 15 families across NW Atlanta. More than $60,000 was raised by Engage Atlanta for flood relief and spent on families in the Metro area. Samaritan’s Purse matched those gifts and helped us accomplish more than we could have ever done on our own.
In 2010 80 churches served together alongside several non-profits including, Habitat For Humanity, A Fresh Hope, Warehouse of Hope, and Breakfree Ministry, involving more than 7,000 volunteers accomplishing more than 700 projects, including serving at over 70 area schools.
In the three summers that the Community Makeover has occurred more than 1,000 projects have been completed, utilizing more than 12,000 volunteers, and tens of thousands of volunteer hours.
We believe that the Community Makeover will continue to be a catalyst event to bring churches together to serve their community in ways we could have never accomplished on our own.
Vision
Currently, the Engage Atlanta Board is working to develop a strategy to plant Engage Atlanta Community Centers throughout the Metro Atlanta community. These centers would be places that focus on building up individuals in the community through mentoring, job training, and providing assistance related to the needs of the individual community.
Some of these ‘Centers’ will include mobile units that churches can use to enhance their own local missions efforts and reach out to individuals throughout the community with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Even now, the Engage Board is investigating potential locations by listening to the advice of community leaders including Pastors, Government leaders, Businesses, and employees in the Childrens and Family Services system of Georgia.