Started by freed slaves, historic Black church in Norcross, GA, continues to prosper
Sheals has been the pastor of Hopewell for nearly 40 years but the church itself dates back more than 150 years. Sheals said he drew his vision for the church on the back of a legal pad.
By Zac Summers
Click here for updates on this story
NORCROSS, Georgia (WANF) — A historic Black church in Gwinnett County that struggled to stay afloat in its early years is thriving more than a century after it was first organized by freed slaves.
Located twenty miles northeast of Atlanta, Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Norcross has a rich history and is flourishing well beyond what its founding members could have ever dreamed.
Sheals has been the pastor of Hopewell for nearly 4e years but the church itself dates back more than 150 years.
“The church is older than the city of Norcross,” Sheals said.
Hopewell was founded in 1865 by freed slaves. – the same year the civil war ended and the 13th amendment, abolishing slavery, was passed.
“The church served back in the day and even today, was a place for worship, for activities, a place for community meetings, political rallies because we couldn’t go to auditoriums and other places,” Sheals said.
The early church was destroyed in a fire in 1920. By the late 1940s, Hopewell outgrew its white framed building at the corner of West Peachtree and Hunter Streets, making way for a new structure made of stone mountain granite. The church continued to grow under the leadership of Pastor Sheals, who dedicated the current church building in 1993.
Sheals said God gave him the vision.
“The Lord says to write the vision and make a plan,” he added. “I drew the vision for the City of Hope on the back of a legal pad with a pencil.”
Once a small, framed church on two acres, Hopewell now has nearly a dozen buildings on thirty-plus acres. Many of those acres used to house a junkyard.
“So, God moved the junkyard and made it a churchyard,” Sheals said. “[He] took out the trash and gave us treasure, took out junk and gave us joy but also, the community blossomed and built around us.”
The sprawling campus includes a school, community center, mall, and daycare, among other services. Its membership is more than 8,000 – far more than the 250 who attended the church around its founding.
“Hopewell is a place of refuge, salvation, hope, of love,” Sheals said. “We don’t just hope you do well, we provide all the ingredients to make you do well.
Aside from God, Pastor Sheals said the one constant has been the people.
“The people are the church, faithful disciples,” he added.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
