Scripture, read out loud
We read the Bible in the service, in course, and we let the hard parts stay hard.
About us
A congregation older than most of the oaks out front
The church is a neighborhood church downtown — not a landmark you tour, but a room people still use on Sunday morning.
The eleven o’clock gathering, on an ordinary Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Who we are
The same corner, a lot of different decades
The church was gathered by a handful of Savannah families who wanted a church within walking distance of their own front doors. They built on Oglethorpe Avenue because that is where they already lived, and the congregation has never really stopped being a walking-distance church.
Over the years the neighborhood has changed around us more than we have changed inside. What has held is a plain pattern: read the scripture, sing the hymn, pray for the city, and then go do something useful about it before next Sunday.
We are led by elders and deacons the congregation elects, and the doors are open to anyone — including people who arrive with more questions than answers, which is most of us.
The church was gathered by a handful of Savannah families who wanted a church within walking distance of their own front doors. They built on Oglethorpe Avenue because that is where they already lived, and the congregation has never really stopped being a walking-distance church.
Over the years the neighborhood has changed around us more than we have changed inside. What has held is a plain pattern: read the scripture, sing the hymn, pray for the city, and then go do something useful about it before next Sunday.
We are led by elders and deacons the congregation elects, and the doors are open to anyone — including people who arrive with more questions than answers, which is most of us.
“A church within walking distance of your own front door.”
From the founding minutes
What holds
Nearly a centuryof worship on the same downtown corner
Lay-ledelders and deacons elected by the congregation
Doors unlockedthe side chapel is open for prayer on weekday mornings
Close to homeour serving work stays inside Chatham County
How we got here
Four moments worth keeping
1927
A congregation on Oglethorpe Avenue
Thirty-odd families sign the founding roll and meet in a rented hall two blocks east.
1954
The sanctuary and the arched windows
The current building goes up, with the tall arched windows the congregation still calls “the grove.”
1989
The pantry starts in a closet
A Saturday grocery handout begins in a supply closet and never stops.
Today
Still a walking-distance church
Two Sunday gatherings, a Wednesday table, and a set of neighbors we are glad to know.
What we believe
Plainly, and without a pamphlet
The table is open
Communion is served at the 8:30 gathering and the first Sunday of every month at 11:00. You do not have to be a member to come forward.
Prayer for the city
Every Sunday we pray for Savannah by name — its schools, its hospitals, and the people who run them.
Work that shows
We would rather be known on Habersham Street for the pantry than known online for our opinions.
Room for doubt
The church stands in the Reformed tradition, and nobody here will ask you to sign anything to sit down.
Who leads
Four people you can actually reach
Rev. Adaeze Whitfield
Preaches most Sundays. Keeps office hours at the coffee shop on Bull Street.
Marcus Delaney
Hospital visits, funerals, and the benevolence fund.
Ruth Ann Castellaw
Runs the choir, the organ, and the Thursday rehearsal that follows.
Elena Ruiz
Grove Kids, the check-in desk, and the tutoring room.
Meet us before you commit to anything
Come to a service, walk through the pantry on a Saturday, or ask a pastor a question over coffee. There is no next step you are required to take.