Our Mission is to worship God through Jesus Christ, his Living Word. Learn about, teach and share the gift of forgiveness with others through love. And glorify God while attending to the needs of the community.

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20

Seventeen members of the only United Lutheran congregation in Atlanta, Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, decided that a second Lutheran congregation was needed to meet the needs of the growing Metropolitan Community. The date was January 17, 1932. The following Sunday the congregation was formally organized with 19 members. Worship was held in an Episcopal Church on Boulevard Drive in the Kirkwood Section of Atlanta. The congregation was legally incorporated on May 13, 1932; admitted to the Georgia-Alabama Synod, ELCA, in March 1933, and purchased property at 1969 Boulevard Drive. All this was done under the leadership of a dedicated layman, Charles H. Stieglitz.

In 1935, two lots were purchased on Howard Street. The first floor of the house on the property served as worship space until a small chapel was completed in 1936 on the vacant lot. Membership on November 1 was 83. In 1941, a parsonage was purchased on Whitefoord Avenue.

The mortgage on the Howard Street property was burned in August 1946. That very month the congregation voted to move to Decatur. The Howard Street property was sold in December 1946, and the congregation worshipped at the Clairemont Elementary School on Erie Avenue in Decatur. Groundbreaking for our present chapel was not held until August 15, 1949, due to the opposition of nearby residents, who apparently worried that the small group of "strange" Lutherans would operate a filling station in order to subsidize their church. At that time Decatur's zoning laws made no distinction between businesses and churches. The mortgage was burned in September 1957, which made the construction of the education building a possibility. This was dedicated in 1959. In 1979, the office area connecting the chapel and education building was completed.

Messiah Church has had an interesting and meaningful history. The Synod's convention has been hosted twice by Messiah. Besides the numerous persons who served their year of internship training here, we have nurtured several persons who are now in the ordained ministry of the church. Our record of community involvement and caring is noteworthy. Our future is positive and challenging.

The Rev. James A. Rikard (1933-1935)
The Rev. George F. Hart (1935-1940)
The Rev. J. Milton Frick (1940-1944)
The Rev. Dermon A. Sox (1944-1954)
The Rev. Cecil W. Carpenter (1954-1978)
The Rev. George W. Fisher (1978-1980)
The Rev. Haco W. Von Hacke (1982- )