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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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We are #Rooted2Rise by Growing from the Ground Up!
#STRONGBLACKFAMILIES
This month, we focus on the sacred work of strengthening the family. Family is where faith is nurtured, identity is formed, wounds are healed, wisdom is passed down, and generations are prepared to rise. Our families face real pressures, but we are more than what we have survived. We are heirs to generations of faith, resilience, creativity, sacrifice, and love. #Rooted2Rise reminds us that strong roots make flourishing possible. We strengthen the family by caring for the whole person and the whole household: spiritually, physically, financially, emotionally, socially, culturally, and within the wider community.
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Here are seven practical things every family can do this month:
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Spiritual: Pray Together - Set aside time each week for family prayer, Scripture, gratitude, and honest conversation about faith. Ask one another, “How can I pray for you?” A praying family creates space for God to heal, guide, and strengthen.
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Physical: Protect Your Health - Schedule the checkup you have delayed. Take a family walk. Drink more water. Prepare a healthier meal together. Rest without guilt. Caring for our bodies honors the life God has given us.
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Financial: Have a Family Money Conversation - Talk openly about saving, spending, debt, giving, and goals. Review the household budget and teach children that money is a tool to be managed, not a measure of their worth. Financial wisdom today can change generations tomorrow.
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Emotional: Make Room for Healing - Ask, “How are you really doing?” Listen without immediately judging, fixing, or preaching. Apologize where necessary. Forgive where possible. Seek counseling when needed. Strong families are not families without wounds. They are families willing to heal.
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Social: Reconnect - Call an elder. Share a meal without phones. Visit family. Make room for laughter, recreation, and joy. Relationships require attention, and presence remains one of the greatest gifts we can give one another.
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Cultural: Read, Remember, and Tell the Story - Share the names, photographs, traditions, testimonies, and stories of those who came before us. Then join the Heart. Mind. Soul. Book Club on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, at 6:30 PM, featuring Dr. Melva Sampson’s The Pink Robe Chronicles. Through an Afrocentric, womanist, and liberation lens, we will explore family, identity, memory, healing, and faith. Sankofa reminds us to reach back, recover what is valuable, and carry it forward.
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Community: Support the Statesboro Food Bank - Put faith into action by supporting the Statesboro Food Bank. Donate food, give financially, volunteer, or involve the whole family in helping neighbors facing food insecurity. When we help put food on another family’s table, we strengthen the entire community.
Artist of the Month - Larry “Poncho” Brown
This month, we feature acclaimed Baltimore artist Larry “Poncho” Brown, whose work bears witness to Black family, heritage, memory, resilience, and possibility.
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On the cover of our Sunday bulletins is Soul Survivors. This work reminds us that family can heal, binding wounds and restoring hope when life has pressed us low. Sankofa Spirit and Love, Links & Lineage also appear in the bulletins and other church publications. These works remind us that family is more than bloodline. It is the sacred chain connecting ancestors to descendants, preserving our stories, nurturing our faith, and forming our identity. ​Brown’s life and work remind us that our roots do not restrict our rising. They make our rising possible.
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Author of the Month - Dr. Melva Sampson
Our featured author is Dr. Melva Sampson, author of The Pink Robe Chronicles, a work that invites us to reflect deeply on identity, family, memory, faith, healing, and the stories that shape our lives.
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We will continue that conversation at the Heart. Mind. Soul. Book Club on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, at 6:30 PM. Through an Afrocentric, womanist, and liberation lens, we will explore The Pink Robe Chronicles and consider how honest storytelling can help us name what has wounded us, recover what has sustained us, and imagine what healing can look like for ourselves, our families, and our communities.
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This month, let us do more than talk about family. Let us pray together, heal together, plan together, read together, remember together, serve together, and rise together. Our families are sacred soil. When we strengthen the roots, we prepare the next generation to flourish.
Rooted in faith. Rooted in family. Rooted in love. #Rooted2Rise
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.