Our history
On the first Sunday of March, 1958, nine families gathered in a rented storefront on Atlanta's Westside to pray. Reverend Elijah T. Coleman stood on a bread crate because the pulpit had not arrived. He preached from Psalm 133, the families wept, and a church was born.
Five years later we marched, singing, from that storefront to a brick sanctuary the congregation had built with Friday-night fish fries and Sunday-morning sacrifice. The choir led in white robes. A hundred and forty people filled a room meant for ninety, and nobody wanted to sit down.
We have buried our dead from this sanctuary and baptized their grandchildren in it. We have been a polling place, a shelter, a school and a refuge. Through every change in the neighborhood, Greater Covenant Temple has stayed on its corner, with its door open and its altar ready.
We did not stay in the neighborhood. The neighborhood is where God put us.
Reverend Elijah T. Coleman, founding pastor
Heritage
1958
March 2
Reverend Elijah T. Coleman preaches the first sermon from Psalm 133 on a bread crate. Offering that day: eleven dollars and a hymnal.
1963
October 20
One hundred and forty members process, singing, from the storefront to the new brick sanctuary, carrying the pulpit Bible and the communion table.
1971
November 21
The Mothers Board and the Deacon Ministry deliver forty-two baskets to Westside families. The baskets have gone out every year since.
1979
June 10
Twenty-six voices sing in their first set of navy and gold robes. Their recording, Ever Faithful, is played in kitchens across the city.
1988
September 4
A new wing opens with a Sunday dinner for six hundred. The kitchen has not been cold since.
1996
February 18
The congregation calls its seventh pastor and begins a bus ministry that carries more than a hundred seniors and children to church each week.
2008
October 12
Installed as co-pastors before a full house and the largest procession in the church's history. Altar prayer stretches past two o'clock.
2014
November 16
On the church's fifty-sixth anniversary the final mortgage payment is made. The note burns in a silver bowl at the altar while the choir sings.
2021
March 7
Worship goes live every Sunday and Wednesday. Members in Atlanta, Detroit and Accra pray together in real time.
Our pastors
Shepherding Covenant since 2008
Called to the pulpit at nineteen and installed as our ninth pastor in 2008, Pastor Whitfield teaches the Word line by line and prays like he expects an answer. He holds a Master of Divinity and a standing appointment with every hospital bed in Fulton County.
Leading beside her husband since 2008
A teacher, a counselor and the heart of our Women's Day for over twenty years, Pastor Denise leads the Mothers Board, the Nurses Guild and the prayer line. If you are hurting, she has already been praying for you.
Articles of faith
We hold the faith once delivered to the saints. These are the articles we stand on, each with the Scripture that holds it up.
The Bible is the inspired, infallible Word of God and the final authority for faith and life.
2 Timothy 3:16
There is one God, eternally existing as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, worthy of all worship.
Matthew 28:19
We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, and not by our works.
Ephesians 2:8 to 9
The promise of the Spirit is for every believer today, with the evidence of speaking in other tongues and power to witness.
Acts 2:4
We baptize believers in water by immersion and gather at the Lord's Table, remembering His body and blood until He comes.
1 Corinthians 11:26
God still heals. We anoint with oil, lay hands on the sick and believe that the prayer of faith shall save the sick.
James 5:14 to 15
The church is the body of Christ, called to worship together, serve one another and carry the gospel to every neighbor.
Hebrews 10:25
Jesus is coming again in power and glory, and we live ready, watching and working until He appears.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 to 17
Our charge
To lift up Jesus Christ, build up the household of faith, and reach out to every neighbor within the sound of our bells.
Church officers and staff