Story Church Atlanta, located in Midtown, will become part of Christian Cultural Center, a predominately Black evangelical megachurch based in Brooklyn with more than 37,000 members nationwide.
The Rev. Sam Collier, lead pastor of Story Church, said he will continue to pastor the church, which has about 400 members in person and a weekly online viewership of between 1,500 and 2,000. It will now be known as Christian Cultural Center Atlanta and will be housed in the same West Midtown rental space.
The church is looking to buy a location somewhere in metro Atlanta, but an exact location has not been determined, Collier said.
“It was the healthiest decision,” said Collier, 36. “It was a God decision. It was a Kingdom decision. We both had something that the other needed. We needed the right covering, the right family to be part of.”
Collier said he had been thinking about joining with a larger church for a while and knew of the work of Rev. A.R. Bernard, the founding and now senior pastor of Christian Cultural Center. A mutual friend introduced the two men.
Bernard told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Thursday that the church chose to expand into Atlanta because over the years, “several hundred” members of Christian Cultural Center had moved to Atlanta and continued to ask when they were going to start a church there.
Georgia was also appealing because of its established film industry and reputation as a “mecca” for African Americans, he said. Bernard said he hopes to use Georgia’s film infrastructure to expand his media company, ARB Media, which makes films and documentaries.
Christian Cultural Center will assume any assets and liabilities of Story Church, according to Bernard.
Collier launched Story Church Atlanta in 2022 after he broke from the prominent Hillsong Church. Collier cited multiple scandals involving the global megachurch, which is based in Australia and has dozens of churches in 27 nations. It is known for its global conferences and also has a record label.
At the same time, Christian Cultural Center, which has two locations in New York and one in Orlando, was looking to expand and metro Atlanta was perfect, according to Bernard. Bernard cofounded the nondenominational church with his wife Karen in New York in 1978. It now has locations in Brooklyn, Long Island and Orlando, Fla.
After his divorce was announced in 2023, Collier said he was looking for a fresh start personally and in his ministry. The chance to merge with one of New York’s largest megachurches provided that.
“We’ve had an eye on Atlanta for the last 10 years,” said Bernard, who said there are many churches and pastors doing good work in Atlanta already. “We have very, very good friends in Atlanta and (Bishop) Dale Bronner is one of them.” Bronner works with of Word of Faith Family Worship Cathedral. “We were looking for the right fit and we will come alongside incredible ministries there that are doing great work,” he added.
Christian Cultural Center has had a major impact in New York. Bernard said the church distributed food to more than 150,000 people and to other food pantries. It recently broke ground a $1.2 billion urban village that will include commercial businesses, a 24-hour child care center, a trade school , arts center, and affordable housing on land already owned by the church.
Bernard said the New York project could serve as a model in other cities like Atlanta, which have a big need for affordable housing, and could be scaled up or down.
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