New Birth Missionary Baptist Church is one of metro Atlanta's best-known Black megachurches, combining contemporary worship, culturally engaged preaching and large-scale community ministry from its Stonecrest campus. There are churches that tell you about Atlanta's past. New Birth helps tell you about the Black church in Atlanta right now.

The scale is part of the experience. This is a major church campus serving South DeKalb with worship that feels contemporary, media-aware and culturally connected. Under Senior Pastor Dr. Jamal Harrison Bryant, New Birth has also developed a reputation for engaging issues outside the sanctuary. Community work associated with the church includes major food-distribution efforts, employment initiatives and health-access programming. New Birth Missionary Baptist Church

That matters because the Black church has never just been about what happens between opening prayer and benediction. In Atlanta especially, our churches have historically functioned as community institutions. New Birth represents the modern megachurch version of that tradition. And for travelers who already follow Jamal Bryant's preaching online or through social media, being in Atlanta gives you the opportunity to stop watching through a screen and actually experience a New Birth Sunday.