“EASTMINSTER: Church for the Community” lights up the property sign at the corner of East Cobb’s Old Canton and Sewell Mill Roads – home to Eastminster Presbyterian Church. As the church celebrates its 50th anniversary in October, the congregation holds fast to a deeply rooted conviction to build, grow, bear fruit, and leave a legacy for this community.

Plans are underway for a time of celebration and reflection as the golden anniversary approaches. The celebration includes a reception and dinner, which several ministers who previously served the church plan to attend. A 50th anniversary cookbook, entitled Tastes of Heaven, has been created by church volunteers for the occasion. The reflection time has been spent exploring the church’s history, culminating in a historical brochure.

Research revealed that as East Cobb rapidly expanded in the early 1970s, a small group, associated with the Cherokee Presbytery, organized as MINTEC (Ministry to East Cobb). Eight individuals signed the Charter Application to establish a Presbyterian church in the community. The first service was held on October 1, 1972, at Mt. Bethel UMC. Then in March 1973, the open charter was granted, and Eastminster became official.

As the church prospered, the congregation purchased acreage on Johnson Ferry Road and built a residential-style structure that was completed in 1974. The first true sanctuary was built on that site four years later. Continued church growth led to the purchase of the property where the church now resides. Fast forward to September 12, 1993, Eastminster held the Dedication Service for the new sanctuary, complete with a 57-foot steeple.

Today, several hundred covenant partners (what church members are called) worship and serve others in the name of Jesus. Eastminster’s leadership recently adopted the tagline, “Church for the Community,” which has a dual meaning, according to Rev. Aaron C. Moore, senior pastor.

“Eastminster desires to foster community within its walls, as well as serve the community in which it’s situated,” he explains. “It’s one thing to adopt a tagline, but it’s another to live it out. We open our doors to Homeschool Classical Conversations each Monday, and the immensely talented Marla Feeny hosts music lessons on our campus daily. Young Life Capernaum uses our facilities for all its events. We host both Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts, and a fitness program uses our parking lot several days a week. And our biggest community outreach by far is our preschool ministry, the best kept secret in East Cobb.”

Eastminster’s covenant partners also spend time serving others through local, national, and international missions. Local missions include MUST Ministries, Table on Delk, First Care Women’s Clinic, Blessings in a Backpack, and Agape Way.

For more information, visit www.epres.org. Services are held each Sunday at 9am for contemporary worship and at 11:15am for traditional worship.