A Church That Defines 'The Give'

A church isn’t defined by a steeple, but its people. And it’s not about where or how long it’s been in the community, but what it does for the community.

The Village Church of East Atlanta defines what a church is all about.

The Presbyterian church was founded in September 2010 and holds services in the Brownwood Park Recreation Center. Pastor Matt Armstrong was previously at All Souls Fellowship in Decatur, but always had the mission of starting a new congregation. 

“Our philosophy was to plant neighborhood churches,” said Armstrong, who lives in East Lake. 

“A lot of people were suggesting East Atlanta Village as a good neighborhood. I got to know the neighborhood and just fell in love with it—the feel, the culture, the atmosphere.

"What drew me to it the most was that people choose to live here and they love it," he continued. "That’s the type of church we wanted to plant—one where the people love their neighborhood.”

An average of 50-60 folks attend the Sunday service and most (if not all) are from the community.

“If you drive an hour to church, it’s hard to find the neighbors,” Armstrong said.

“We want to be a community of people who know one another and care for each other. The people that call Village Church their home may not have known each other a year ago and now they do. It’s slow, but we’re seeing the mission come to life.”

Giving back to the community is another main mission. The church gives away 10 percent of its internal tithes to worthy community organizations.

“People tithe 10 percent of their income to the church and we’re doing that with the ‘missional giving’—part of our mission is to be a blessing to the community,” said Armstrong.

Every quarter, Village Church makes a donation. and have been recipients (recently, the church gave nearly $4,000 to Neighbor in Need).

“The reason we chose those two is because The Bible often pushes people to favor widows and orphans, to help the elderly and help the kids,” Armstrong said.

The church is also closely tied with the Kids Club because they both meet at Brownwood Park Rec Center. Although one day, Village Church may outgrow the space—right now, with all the families, nursery space is getting tight.

Village Church also provides an intimidation-free atmosphere for folks to worship.

“We didn’t want to come into town and draw attention to ourselves and preach ‘Let us save you!’” Armstrong said.

"Early on, we decided we wanted to push our members to serve the community and connect the gospel. And for folks to love people who are different from themselves.”

For more information, visit VillageChurchOfEastAtlanta.org.  Worship services are Sundays at 10am.