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Everybody is Welcome at Magnolia.
For over 100 years, Magnolia has served as a Progressive Witness of Jesus Christ in Statesboro and Bulloch County. At Magnolia, you find yourself in a warm, welcoming environment where you can experience real folks abiding in Community, loving each other, and loving God. We are a small congregation in a rural setting with convenient parking located near the front entrance for our first-time guests. Our Magnolia Ushers will be glad to help you find a seat for the worship service.
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Beyond hospitality, Magnolia is committed to being Christian stewards of love. As such, we practice love, build the beloved community, and pursue social justice. We believe the overwhelming message of the Bible, in story after story, is that of God's radical love and welcome. Every time we think we know who's in and who's out, God does something to challenge those assumptions, unbind our hearts and minds from old ways of understanding, and draw the circle ever wider.
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Our doors are wide open to people from all backgrounds, regardless of where they are on their spiritual journey. Together, we are striving to become a place where there's relevant teaching, heartfelt worship, honest friendships, constant prayer, and compassionate care. So whether you are a spiritual seeker who is just starting to ask questions about God or a committed Christian who wants to sink the roots of your faith even deeper, you can find a home here at Magnolia!
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Enjoy Connection
THROUGH WORSHIP | Sunday services begin at 9:45 am. Before Worship, there is an engaging Sunday School that starts promptly at 9:00 am on the First, Second, and Third Sundays. Learn More.
THROUGH STUDY | Sunday School for all ages is on Sunday mornings at 9:00 am. Additionally, there is a Morning Devotion every Wednesday at 6:30 am. Just dial 717.908.1726 and use Passcode 1065315# to participate. Learn More.
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THROUGH SERVICE | One of Magnolia's most important values is our mission to the Statesboro community. Magnolia's members are involved in a variety of church-based ministries and community partnerships. Feel free to contact our church office at (912) 225-3151 or via email with further questions. Learn more.
Impact Through Ministry​
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AMERICA AT 250​
We are now in the Season after Pentecost, also called Ordinary Time. But there is nothing ordinary about a people filled with the Spirit. Pentecost is not just fire from heaven. Pentecost is courage in public. It is truth-telling in dangerous times. It is the Spirit pushing the church beyond comfort, fear, nationalism, and silence.
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As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, July forces the church to ask the question Frederick Douglass asked in 1852: “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” That question still judges this nation. It exposes the gap between America’s language of liberty and its long record of bondage, segregation, voter suppression, racial violence, mass incarceration, immigrant scapegoating, and selective citizenship.
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The recent battles over birthright citizenship make the question even more urgent. The Fourteenth Amendment was born from the ashes of slavery to overrule Dred Scott and declare that Black people, and all persons born here and subject to this nation’s jurisdiction, could not be written out of citizenship. So when powerful voices try to narrow that promise, they are not just debating immigration. They are reopening one of America’s oldest wounds: who gets to belong, who gets protected, and who gets erased.
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That is why Pentecost matters. At Pentecost, God broke barriers. Outsiders were brought near. The frightened became bold. The overlooked became witnesses. The Spirit refused to be controlled by empire, ethnicity, language, borders, hierarchy, or hate. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
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At Magnolia, we will not celebrate America 250 with amnesia. We will remember the Fourth of July, but we will also remember Juneteenth. We will remember Douglass. We will remember the enslaved. We will remember those who had to fight for rights others claimed as birthright. We will remember that freedom delayed, denied, narrowed, or selectively applied is still freedom unfinished.
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As we continue to decolonize our faith, we draw inspiration from Jamaican-born artist Bernard Stanley Hoyes, whose work embodies Black joy, sacred memory, movement, Spirit, and liberation. His art reminds us that survival can become worship and that liberation is holy work.
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This July, Magnolia declares that casual faith is not enough. Silent worship is not enough. Patriotic slogans are not enough. The Gospel confronts every political, social, economic, and spiritual power that denies people abundant life. On First, Second, and Third Sundays, come expecting prophetic preaching, sacred music, honest reflection, and the movement of the Holy Spirit.
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Because Pentecost is about freedom. And freedom is still the work.
We are #Rooted2Rise by Growing from the Ground Up!
SEVEN WAYS TO INTENTIONALLY RISE IN JULY
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Rise with the Spirit
Begin each day asking God for courage, clarity, and holy direction. Pentecost reminds us that the Spirit was not given for comfort alone, but for witness, power, and purpose. Practice: Spend five minutes each morning in prayer, then write down one act of courage God is calling you to take that day. -
Rise with Memory
July cannot be reduced to fireworks and flags. Remember Frederick Douglass. Remember Juneteenth. Remember the enslaved. Remember those who fought to make America’s promises more honest than its history. Practice: Read or listen to Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” and share one quote or lesson with your family. -
Rise with Truth
Refuse convenient silence. Tell the truth about injustice, racism, poverty, exclusion, and every system that denies people dignity. Freedom begins where falsehood loses its power. Practice: Have one honest conversation this month about race, citizenship, democracy, or justice with someone in your circle. -
Rise with Courage
Do not let fear have the final word. Speak when it is easier to stay quiet. Stand when it is safer to sit down. Move when the Spirit says move. Practice: Speak up for someone being dismissed, mistreated, or ignored, whether at work, school, church, or in the community. -
Rise with Community
Freedom is not individual escape. It is collective liberation. Check on somebody. Encourage somebody. Bring somebody with you. Build the kind of community where nobody has to rise alone. Practice: Call, text, visit, or invite someone who has been absent, grieving, discouraged, or disconnected. -
Rise with Justice
Let faith become action. Serve. Advocate. Vote. Organize. Give. Repair harm. Defend the vulnerable. The Gospel must become visible in how we treat people and confront power. Practice: Confirm your voter registration, help someone else check theirs, or support a local justice effort with your time, money, or voice. Here is a Link to do it now. Yes, Now! -
Rise with Hope
Hope is not denial. Hope is discipline. Hope is what our ancestors practiced when the evidence looked thin but God was still faithful. Rise this July believing that freedom is still possible and still worth the work. Practice: Write down one reason you still have hope, then share that hope with someone who needs encouragement.
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This July, Magnolia will rise with Spirit, memory, truth, courage, community, justice, and hope.
PROGRESS REPORT
As part of this vision, Magnolia proudly celebrates the completion of major renovations to our kitchen and fellowship hall. These renewed spaces, featuring updated appliances, cabinetry, flooring, plumbing, paint, and energy-efficient improvements, reflect our commitment to strengthening ministry, deepening hospitality, expanding outreach, and increasing our impact throughout the community for generations to come.
About Community
The Magnolia Missionary Baptist Church of Statesboro, Georgia, was organized on March 18, 1914. The pioneers of this Church journeyed from the Magnolia Missionary Baptist Church of Louisville, Georgia in search of a better life for their families. Magnolia of Louisville was organized on May 17, 1868, after the Civil War, but before the ratification of the 14th Amendment, which extended liberties and rights granted by the Bill of Rights to formerly enslaved people.
For more than 100 years, this Church has stood as a physical representation of the hope and determination of the African American spirit. Magnolia has always served people through its Watch, Witness, and Worship.
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At Magnolia, all our resources are utilized to provide a Christ-centered setting where people in this community can be redeemed to a personal relationship with Christ, reconciled to God and his people, restored to wholeness, to well-being, and revived for a full life involved in service to others.
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At Magnolia, everyone is welcomed and affirmed!
Show Your Pride
Show your Magnolia pride wherever you go! Visit The Magnolia Shop to browse exclusive shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, and other items that celebrate our church’s spirit of faith, service, and community.
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We are proud to partner with Black- and minority-owned businesses to source, produce, and distribute our products — keeping our ministry rooted in economic justice and community empowerment. Every purchase supports the ministries and mission of Magnolia Baptist Church.
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A CHARGE TO KEEP I HAVE
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Magnolia Missionary Baptist Church is well served by the Reverend Dr. Francys Johnson. The pulpit of Sweet Magnolia has long provided community-wide leadership.
Over the last 26 years, Dr. Johnson has also exemplified the values of Christian service with humility before the Mount Moriah Baptist Church congregation of Pembroke. First Lady Meca Williams-Johnson’s particular success in youth programming and academic mentoring are assets to the ministries of Magnolia. Further, they are ambassadors of our faith community to the region and nation.