Ebenezer Baptist Church

Ebenezer Baptist Church is situated in the Sweet Auburn district of Atlanta, a neighborhood that has been called the cradle of the civil rights movement. Ebenezer was a spiritual center of civil rights activism, most notably as the home church of Martin Luther King Jr. Drawing inspiration from this legacy, Ebenezer has remained committed to nonviolence and the fight for social justice. The church derives its name, Ebenezer, from a Hebrew word meaning “stone of help” (1 Samuel 7:12).

Ebenezer was organized in 1886 by a former slave, John A. Parker, who became the church's first pastor. Ebenezer's initial home was a small, boxlike structure on Airline Street in Atlanta's historically diverse Fourth Ward. When Alfred Daniel Williams became Ebenezer's minister in 1894, the church's membership swelled rapidly. Ebenezer decided to build a larger sanctuary on McGruder Street in 1895 and relocated twice more before putting down roots on Auburn Avenue in 1914. During his tenure at Ebenezer, Williams was a strong advocate in the struggle for racial equality in Atlanta; for instance, his labors helped secure the bond that funded the construction of Booker [Page 324]T. Washington High School, which in 1924 became the first public secondary school for Blacks in the state of Georgia.

Martin Luther King Sr. assumed Ebenezer's pastorate after A. D. Williams died in 1931. King had married Williams' daughter, Alberta, in 1926 and had served as assistant pastor at Ebenezer since 1927. As part of his ministry of social justice, King took part in the efficacious campaign to equalize teachers' salaries in Atlanta and led repeated efforts to register African Americans to vote. In 1960, King enlisted his eldest son, Martin Luther King Jr., to be copastor of Ebenezer, and his presence instilled the church with a more ecumenical and international orientation. The funeral services for the famous civil rights leader following his assassination on April 4, 1968, brought worldwide attention to Ebenezer. Alfred Daniel Williams King Sr., the younger brother of the deceased, was appointed as the new copastor of the church but died suddenly in 1969. Otis Moss Jr. served briefly as Ebenezer's third copastor during 1971. On June 30, 1974, tragedy struck again when Alberta Williams King, the organist, and Edward Boykin, the deacon, were shot and killed during Sunday service by Marcus Chennault, a young man from Ohio. Shortly after, in 1975, the elder King retired after 44 years of service at Ebenezer.

Joseph L. Roberts Jr. was selected as Ebenezer's fourth full-time minister and oversaw the construction of the church's Horizon Sanctuary in 1997, a new, larger facility located across the street from the old property. The original building, which is now called the Heritage Sanctuary, still attracts many visitors as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site. On Roberts's retirement in 2005, Raphael Gamaliel Warnock took up the pastorate of Ebenezer.