Mercy Community Church Atlanta

Mercy Community Church

SABBATH and REORGANIZATION JUNE!

To make time for staff vacations, house-cleaning, and reorganization, we are taking a break from our regular schedule of services for the month of June, restarting with a new schedule Sunday, July 7th!

Who We Are

Mercy Community Church is a grassroots, ecumenical, open and affirming congregation that meets in the basement of a big church on a busy street in the heart of Atlanta, GA. We believe that God desires life, health, dignity, and sanctuary for us all. Whether you are in housing or not, whether you live in our neighborhood or come from far away, whether you love the church or have ever felt left out, we want to welcome you to come see us anytime as we work to build one another up in beloved community. We are open multiple days of the week for prayer, worship, study, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the sharing of food, clothing, and hospitality.

Come see us sometime–our doors are open and you are welcome here!

 

Worship Space and Office

Behind Druid Hills Presbyterian Church
1026 Ponce De Leon Ave NE
Atlanta, GA
(We meet in a basement and patio space at the bottom of their parking lot)

Mailing Address
PO Box 8676
Atlanta, GA 31106

 

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At Mercy, We Value

Community

We are a church community–a group of human beings that gathers, fellowships, and cares about one another. Important though they are, we are not a service organization or a day shelter, but a group of human beings invested in building community and mutual relationships with one another. We believe that essential to being a human is having healthy, life-giving community.

Worship

Whether its community led music, taking time for reflection and prayer, or our discussion-based study of scripture, as a community of Jesus Christ we believe its important to ground ourselves in worship.  Whether its a Sunday service, evening Bible Study, or our daily hour of prayer our worship is inclusive, lively, and community led. 

 

Hospitality

We believe that hospitality is an essential Christian practice and we strive to create it for one another in a variety of ways. From hot breakfasts and coffee, shared lunches, and pastoral care, to a community clothing closet, winter shelter, and connections to various resources, we strive to create home and hospitality for one another.

 

We are only able to do this work, together, because of donations.

Our community’s need for physical items changes constantly – please take a look at the Amazon Wishlist for an up to date listing. And thank you in advance!

Pastor Chad


Chad is pastor and founder of Mercy Community Church, a grassroots community of worship and action—a group of people who believe Jesus wants the hungry fed, strangers welcomed, and every child of God housed.

Originally from North Carolina, in the fall of 1986, he made the move to Atlanta to attend Emory University.  Following graduation,  Chad enrolled in Candler School of Theology, graduating with a Masters of Divinity in 1993. That same year, Chad was ordained and began to serve as an associate pastor at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Atlanta.

Chad and his wife Camille began Mercy Community Church in August, 2005.  A small circle of friends gathered for simple worship, sensing a call to begin an intentional community in a congregational form with an unmistakable preferential option for the poor at the heart of its worship and life.  Today Mercy makes it home on the campus of Druid Hills Presbyterian Church, serving meals, sharing clothes, talking about the Bible, welcoming strangers, and trying to build a diverse and faithful community with over a hundred people a day, five days a week.

Chad is an Associate of the Missionaries of the Poor, a Catholic religious order that embodies a daily commitment to the spirituality of Matthew 25.  He and Camille and their two sons, Matthew and Levi, live in Scottdale, Georgia

Contact Chad at chad@mercyatl.org.

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Pastor Brittany


Brittany grew up in Jacksonville, Arkansas.  She first learned about God and what it means to be a church community that loves and cares for one another from First Presbyterian Church, Jacksonville, AR.  Brittany graduated from Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky. After teaching abroad and working for a travel company, Brittany began her studies at Columbia Theological Seminary, taking steps to answer a call to ministry that she had felt since her childhood.  Upon moving to Atlanta, Brittany’s passion for being present with those on the margins led her to volunteer at Peachtree and Pine’s Taskforce for the Homeless and to become a pastoral intern with Mercy Church.  After completing her MDiv at Columbia, Brittany began a PhD program at Emory University, but left to answer God’s call on her life to full-time ministry as a pastor to our community.  Brittany was jointly ordained by the PC(USA) and Mercy Community Church in 2018.  Outside of Mercy, what gives Brittany life and joy is spending time with her husband Cooper and daughter Emi, traveling via plane, train, and foot, playing Dungeons and Dragons, and nerding out over Karl Barth.

Contact Brittany at brittany@mercyatl.org.

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Pastor Holly


Holly grew up in Ocala, Florida where she was nurtured by her faith community and encouraged to find ways to be a leader in the community.  Holly graduated from the University of North Florida with a degree in Psychology.  After a period of discernment, she was called to a church community in Lady Lake, Florida where she served as the Youth Director for over six years.  She began her seminary career in 2014 at Columbia Theological Seminary where she earned her Masters of Divinity and Master of Arts in Practical Theological (Pastoral Care).  During her time in seminary, Holly began attending Mercy Community Church where she fell in love with the community.  Upon graduation, Holly served for two years as a Chaplain Resident at Grady Memorial Hospital and specialized in pastoral care through the lens of behavioral health.

In her free time, Holly loves to exercise, travel, spend time with her family, read, and organize.

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Pastor Lattimore


In May of 2020 Mercy Community Church ordained Pastor Maurice Lattimore to ministry in his own organization, Feet on the Streets Ministries. Before and throughout the pandemic Pastor Lattimore has worked alongside the other Mercy pastors to care for our community through his Empowerment and Recovery groups, pastoral care, and by connecting people to invaluable resources. He continues to serve and support the Mercy community while also pastoring his own community and creatively and compassionately supporting those experiencing homelessness across the city with showers, community, empowerment, and the love of Christ. Mercy is thankful for Pastor Lattimore’s partnership with Mercy as well as his own faithful work—here is Pastor Lattimore’s story:

My name is Maurice Lattimore and I'm a 62 year Black man and native of Atlanta Georgia, I'm the oldest of five siblings and the last one standing, and I'm the one that did it all wrong. I was raised in the projects during some very racist and discriminating times. With the bias that developed in me during those times I quickly got off to a bad start. I was 12 years old when I did my first piece of real drug, and from that point the next 35 years of my life were like a rollercoaster of drugs, incarceration, and eventually homelessness. What a vicious cycle! A change of events did come about in 2004 in Phoenix Arizona in a jail cell--I found Christ, Amen! The best and freest years of my life until then were lived in that prison. This is what accepting Christ as my personal Lord and Savior did for me. Today I am in the life of my daughter and my grandchildren, and God saw fit to give me a wife. At the ministry that God has entrusted me with, Feet on the Streets Ministries, as well as here at Mercy Church, today I get and give service to a community of brothers and sisters whose lives I can identify with on a personal level. Glory be to God the father and our Lord and savior Jesus Christ forever and ever Amen!  

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Pastor Tracey


Tracey grew up in the Chicagoland area with a small but close-knit family. Her mother was Catholic, her father Lutheran and she was brought up in a household that always acknowledged God. She attended Northern Illinois University and graduated with a B.S. in Family and Social Services in 1997. Before she earned her college degree, she also attended the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago and graduated with a baking a pastry certificate. Throughout the past 20 years Tracey lived in a variety of places including Michigan, Seattle, India, and Brazil. She has called Atlanta home since 2016 where she lives with her daughters, Riley, and Shayla. 

Tracey chose to care for her young family on a full-time basis until 2019 when she began her studies at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA. She graduated with a Master of Divinity in 2022 and was ordained as a pastor by Mercy Community Church that same year. Tracey’s call to seminary was rooted in a deep desire to lead and live through her faith in God. She attended seminary with a hope of learning what that could mean while also knowing her path was not clear. As she served as an intern at Mercy Community Church for two years throughout her seminary studies, she began to discern that pastoring this community was a call she wanted to accept. Tracey loves to engage with the community through artistic expression, pastoral care and cooking delicious meals. She is honored to be a member of the Mercy community. 

When she’s not with the Mercy crew, Tracey loves to dabble in all things creative, hang out with her fabulous teenage daughters, spend time with her pets, and run a few miles while contemplating the meaning of life.

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