In February we noted that Johnson Ferry Baptist Church made the first steps toward building a new worship center with initial permitting.
On Tuesday church officials announced that the estimated $55 million project have a formal groundbreaking ceremony on Oct. 7.
They also updated some renderings about what the new building will look like from the outside, as well as indoors.
On Tuesday, Johnson Ferry senior pastor Clay Smith said in a release from the church that the project is “about creating space for people to encounter Jesus, find community, and be equipped to live on mission. We believe God has given Johnson Ferry an incredible opportunity to invest in the next generation, and this groundbreaking is an exciting step forward.”
The new worship center, which will seat 2,500, is the centerpiece of Johnson Ferry’s $84 million Forward Vision project launched last year to set a longer-term plan for the faith community, which opened in the early 1980s.
Johnson Ferry also plans to plant another church in metro Atlanta and expand its missions and has been raising funds through a member pledge drive and seeking other funding “to be financed responsibly.”
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The worship center will front Johnson Ferry Road between the existing sanctuary and chapel and the church’s large parking lot and athletic fields.
The building will have a family dropoff area, additional children’s space, a large concourse for gatherings and connections to the rest of the church campus.
As East Cobb News first reported in May 2025, Johnson Ferry Baptist has been seeking a new worship center for a number of years to address membership growth and to unify the large congregation.
Currently Johnson Ferry holds a traditional worship in its main sanctuary (capacity 1,200) and three modern services in the church’s activities center, which holds 1,600.
Neither are large enough to accommodate what church leaders say they need to transform the 44-year-old faith community for the long-term future, into a “multi-generational, multi-ethnic congregation.”
“They don’t always have community together,” Shane Bruce, Johnson Ferry’s executive pastor, told East Cobb News last May.
In order to create space for the new worship center, Johnson Ferry Baptist acquired 1.7 acres at 919 Johnson Ferry Road next to the sanctuary that had been residential property for $2 million.
Church leaders said the sanctuary would continue to be used for special events. The new venue would connect with the church’s busy activities center.
Related:
- Founding head of Mt. Bethel Christian Academy dies
- Eastside Church proposes senior living to expand its mission
- Scout Troop 1011 to leave Mt. Bethel Church after 54 years
- ‘Speechless’ East Cobb rabbi honored by Cobb commissioners
- Johnson FerryBaptist Church seeks new worship center permit
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