Mercy Community Church

We’ve been dreaming, praying, and discerning as we plan for what’s next for this vibrantly growing and ever-adapting community. Check out our big plans! We’re going to need your help! #mercyatl #mercyfoodtruck #homeofourown #willyoujoinus #willyouhelpus

Hey friends! We’re low on eggs, sausages, sugar, grits, and coffee creamer (all our breakfast essentials). Hot breakfasts are important for these colder mornings! Got any you can share with these chilly but grateful pastors? #mercyatl #mercycommunitychurch #thisischurch #canyousharewithus #hotbreakfastsforcoldmornings

Through story-telling, song, and worship, today we remembered our beloved saints who have gone before us. Blessed All Saints Day, community. We trust that God’s love is more powerful than death. #mercyatl #mercycommunitychurch #allsaintsday #cloudofwitnesses #thisischurch

‘All God’s Children Deserve a Home’ is a brand new original composition by Chad Hyatt, one of the pastors of our community. A little bit folk, a little bit rock, a little bit country, it’s a whole lot of gospel. It proclaims a simple but overlooked truth: everyone of us has a right to housing. Pastor Chad says, ‘It’s the kind of song with a theme that you would think, perhaps, that we would have written a long time ago. But it is the kind of song I couldn’t have writtenI don...’t thinkbefore now. You see, my experience isn’t homelessness. I have experienced homelessness through the experiences of my sisters and brothers who live on the streetthrough their stories, through engaging in their lives and being present, becoming part of a community with folks who live and make their way on the streets of our city... The only way we can love our neighbors is face-to-face.’ Let’s heed the call to live into the kind of community that the gospel of neighborly love envisions for all of us. As the song says, it’s not too late. We’re celebrating 15 years of worship and work, hospitality and community on the streets of Atlanta. If you would like to know more, check us out at mercyatl.org. We’ll be sharing songs that have shaped our community over the last fifteen yearsand some new ones we’re writing, tooas a way of giving thanks for God’s abundant goodness to this mustard seed community. #allgodschildrendeserveahome #housingforall #loveyourneighbor #talkingaboutarevolution #thisischurch #celebrating15yearsofmercy #mercyatl #mercycommunitychurch #mercychurch

This Sunday we will be celebrating All Saints Day by remembering, honoring, and celebrating the lives of the six beloved community members we have lost this yearFrederick Baker, Bobby Lee, Curtis Kidd, David Swank, José Lopez, and Harvey Simms. We also celebrate and remember the precious lives of all those saints who have gone before usalways beloved and always with us. Join us this Sunday outdoors on the lawn of St John’s Lutheran at 10am for songs, story-telling, and worship (following breakfast). Please wear a mask. #mercyatl #mercycommunitychurch #thisischurch #allsaintsday #cloudofwitnesses

Prejudice against people experiencing homelessness is a real thing. As a church community committed to sheltering and showing hospitality to one another we are no strangers to the thinly veiled prejudices of those who just want us to go anywhere else but where they can see us. The truth is we too deserve a safe place to be. We are beloved children of God and we deserve well-being and safety tooduring the crisis of this pandemic and always. Here is an interesting article foll...owing a shelter in New York and the unsettling responses of its wealthy neighbors. We hope you’ll check it out! We can all learn to be better neighbors to one another. https://www.nytimes.com///nyregion/nyc-homeless-hotel.html

A lot of our community members were out in the terrible rain and wind last night. Thank God everyone is okay and we have a lot of clean, dry clothes and blankets to share today. We’re still hosting our clothing closet twice a week and always need men’s pants, socks, and underwear. We’re also stocking up on warm winter items including gloves, hats, coats, and sleeping bags. Message us for more donation information. #mercyatl #weshowupforeachother #mercycommunitychurch #thisiscommunity #cantstopwontstop

Pastor Brittany Fiscus-van Rossum shares our community conversation from this past Sunday around Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 22.34-40. Set in the closing chapters of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is confronting the powers that beand offering the way of love as an alternative politics that takes seriously the needs of our poorest neighbors. Pastor Brittany says, ‘Think about how you would want to be loved. Think about what you would want for yourself. Do you want housing? Do you wan...t access to healthcare? Do you want enough food to eat? Do you want the medicine that you need? Do you want not only just to live to get by, but to experience joy and thrive? Do you want to have community? Do you want to create art? Do you want to have people in your life who love and support you? Well, then you have to want that for your neighbor, too. We have to want these things for each other, and we have to live a life that works for us all to have the things that we need to thrive.’ Our community has always studied Scripture as a conversationincluding our Sunday morning ‘preaching.’ Using a modified version of Lectio Divina, a prayerful way of engaging the words of Scripture, our community talks about what moves us from the text we’re studying. It could be questions or inspirational insights, but we have found that this way of sharing the Word of God as a community nurtures a deeper and more honest engagement with Scripture and allows the liberating message of the Bible to shape the ways we live as a community together. MERCY CONVERSATIONS is one way we’re attempting to include you in our conversations with the hope of drawing us all together as a community following in the radical and merciful ways of Jesus. Enjoy! #wantingourneighborstothrive #loveyourneighborasyourself #mercyatl #thisischurch #celebrating15yearsofmercy #talkingaboutarevolution #lectiodivina #matthew22 #biblestudy

Big news! It’s almost that time again and Jerome is busily writing his reflection for this year’s Advent devotionals! Every year our community puts together an Advent + Christmas devotional including passages, prayers, art, and reflections chosen, written, and created by our community members and pastoral team. We send out and share hundreds of these devotionals with friends near and far. This is always a big project for our community, but we love the opportunity to create s...omething beautiful together and share our voices, theological insight, and creativity! Don’t miss out on what Jerome and others have to say this year! We’ll be posting devotionals online and mailing hard copies for free the beginning of November. Message us to be added to our mailing list! #mercycommunitychurch #mercyatl #thisischurch #communityproject #weareartistsandtheologians #goodnews #advent

‘Bear One Another’s Burdens,’ is a new original composition by Chad Hyatt, one of the pastors in our community. It is a jubilant reminder that the law of Christ is loveand love is as practical as helping one another in our common struggles. Pastor Chad says, ‘[Love is] the reality that we all need help sometimes, and so we help each other... We’ve been talking on this channel in recent weeks about God’s alternative politics. Well, that’s just my language for the kingdom of... Godthe preaching and the practice of Jesus, the way that he modeled God’s love in this world. And y’all, that’s our model. We’re called to take up that mantle. We’re called to take up that cross. And follow in the ways of Jesus to create communitieshowever small, however struggling, however imperfect, however messywhere we help one another. That’s the call of God. That’s the vocation of being a Christian. That’s what this song is about.’ We’re celebrating 15 years of worship and work, hospitality and community on the streets of Atlanta. If you would like to know more, check us out at mercyatl.org. We’ll be sharing songs that have shaped our community over the last fifteen yearsand some new ones we’re writing, tooas a way of giving thanks for God’s abundant goodness to this mustard seed community. #bearoneanothersburden #carrythisheavyburden #originalsong #newmusic #talkingaboutarevolution #thisischurch #celebrating15yearsofmercy #mercyatl #mercycommunitychurch #mercychurch

‘Bear One Another’s Burdens’ is an original composition by Chad Hyatt, one of our pastors. An upbeat and joyful call for justice and mutual love, this catchy tune reminds us that love is as simple as lending a helping handbecause we will all have our struggles. We’re celebrating 15 years of worship and work, hospitality and community on the streets of Atlanta. If you would like to know more, check us out at mercyatl.org. We’ll be sharing songs that have shaped our community over the last fifteen yearsand some new ones we’re writing, tooas a way of giving thanks for God’s abundant goodness to this mustard seed community. #bearoneanothersburden #carrythisheavyburden #originalsong #newmusic #talkingaboutarevolution #thisischurch #celebrating15yearsofmercy #mercyatl #mercycommunitychurch #mercychurch

Anyone making a grocery run this week? Pastor Brittany would like you to know that we’re all out of eggs for this coming week and using about 90 eggs a day! If you’ve got some to share we would greatly appreciate it! #mercyatl #mercychurchatl #thisischurch #eggsplease #sharingiscaring #alternativeeconomics

We had another busy and beautiful week here at Mercy Church! Did you know we’re still hosting our clothing closet twice a week and sharing with more people than ever?! As this pandemic goes on, we believe it’s essential to keep one another safe and wellits the reason we’re doing everything out of doors. But even if we’re not in a building, we’ll still always show up for one another. We’re thankful for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who continues to show us new and adapting ways to be church and care for God’s people. #thisischurch #mercyatl #mercycommunitychurch #cantstopwontstop #holyspirit

Pastor Holly Reimer recaps our community conversation from this past Sunday as we took a look at 1 Thessalonians 1.1-10. Already in this greeting, in perhaps the first of his letters and maybe the earliest writing in the New Testament, Paul sets a tone of encouragement for a suffering community. Pastor Holly says, ‘So many times when we think about faith, when we think about faithfulness in terms of spirituality and theology, we have thus closed-minded view of it being someth...ing that we have to check off. In order to be faithful, we have a list of tasks to accomplish. Paul is not talking about requirements and rituals. Rather, it is a faith that is demonstrated in works, not words. It’s not about what Paul says or what he accomplished when he was with them. It’s about the community and who they see Paul to be, most transparently... When we really care about one another, people know. People know when you really care about them or when you are bluffing or want something from them.’ Our community has always studied Scripture as a conversationincluding our Sunday morning preaching. Using a modified version of Lectio Divina, a prayerful way of engaging the words of Scripture, our community talks about what moves us from the text we’re studying. It could be questions or inspirational insights, but we have found that this way of sharing the Word of God as a community nurtures a deeper and more honest engagement with Scripture and allows the liberating message of the Bible to shape the ways we live as a community together. MERCY CONVERSATIONS is one way we’re attempting to include you in our conversations with the hope of drawing us all together as a community following in the radical and merciful ways of Jesus. Enjoy! And don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more! #transformingcommunity #thisischurch #celebrating15yearsofmercy #talkingaboutarevolution #lectiodivina #firstthessalonians #biblestudy