History

Planted with a handful of dear saints, under the leadership of Clark Ivey, Cleveland Road Baptist settled in West Athens, GA, in 1988. Like any church, Cleveland Road has gone through its ups and downs over the last 35 years. Through it all, God has proven faithful and continued fulfilling His promise by building His Church.

2022-2023

God’s blessing has marked the last four years. By His grace, our church has experienced a season of growth numerically, and more importantly, spiritually.

We have seen unbelievers come to faith, new believers get baptized, and many grow in understanding the local church’s role in the Christian life.

What was a congregation of about 10 members in 2020 is now a church with close to 125 members, and even more that attend every week.

While we have seen a cross section of all generations commit to Cleveland Road, this growth has primarily occurred among college students.

Current Challenges

With this growth has come some challenges. On Sundays, when the University of Georgia is in session, our average attendance is between 175 – 200 people. This increase in attendance is encouraging, and if there is one problem that a church wants to have, it is capacity issues.

Unfortunately, we are running out of room in all the areas of the church building. We no longer fit in our fellowship hall for meals, there is a need for additional bathrooms, and our parking brings with it challenges we never anticipated. Out of necessity, we ask our college students to park on the grass each week to free up parking lot spaces for families, senior adults, and visitors.

When this building was constructed nearly 35 years ago, it was meant for a church of about 100 people. We are at a place where the building is not able to meet the needs of our growing congregation.

Possible Solutions

The elders have considered several solutions, none of which work for us at this time:

I. We’ve considered moving to two services permanently, but we believe the Bible describes the church as one gathering of all the saints simultaneously.

II. We’ve considered planting a church. And while that is certainly something we hope to do in the future, we are not in a position to do that in a healthy, strategic way.

III. We’ve considered buying a new building or new land elsewhere. But we’ve decided against that because our leadership feels strongly that the Lord has placed Cleveland Road Baptist in West Athens for a reason. We believe that staying in this location would benefit future generations with the Gospel.

So, considering these three options are not ideal, the elders of Cleveland Road Baptist are proposing the following building campaign. 

This is where we need your help. If the Lord graciously provides the funds through generous donations from people like you, we believe that our upgraded and expanded facilities will help better serve this congregation and enable our church to more effectively reach the community of West Athens with the Gospel for many years to come.

Current Plan

So, here is what we’re proposing and where we need your help.

If the Lord provides the funds, we want to build a new sanctuary for our regular Sunday morning gatherings.
This new but traditional style room would have a capacity of just under 300 people, almost doubling our current capacity.

Next, we would transform the old sanctuary into a welcome center that would be an easily convertible space for Sunday school, Bible studies, and church-wide fellowships. We would also add bathrooms in the welcome center outside the new sanctuary.

We would expand our existing fellowship hall, creating more space for meals and church life.

Additionally, we’re hoping to add a dedicated children’s area. A hallway would lead from the new fellowship hall to additional classrooms and a large children’s room.

A designated space for kids is a high priority as we want more families to join our church.

Lord willing, situated between the existing sanctuary and the new fellowship hall addition would be a brand-new playground, securely fenced in, with access to the new children’s classrooms.

Next, we’d add additional parking, tripling the size of our current lot.

Finally, we hope to make some much-needed improvements to the church-owned home on the property. The parsonage, built in the mid-60s, has seen better days and is in dire need of new windows, doors, HVAC units, and plumbing fixes. A functional home for the pastor’s family helps supports Cleveland Road’s yearly budget.

Goal

Our goal is to raise two million dollars.

If we reach that number, we will accomplish everything in our plan and possibly a little more. We realize that raising two million dollars might not be possible right now. It is a vast number, and while we trust the Lord’s provision, we are also trying to be realistic and wise. And so, as a church, we have tiered our needs to match whatever money comes in.

Our tiered approach looks like this:

We are asking you to pray about making an initial one-time donation and/or to consider making a two-year pledge, submitted by December 31, 2023, but fulfilled by the end of 2025.

We have voted as a congregation to refrain from taking out a loan exceeding whatever gifts plus pledges are made through the end of 2025. And our deadline to receive donations, both gifts and pledges, is December 31, 2023.

Essentially, we are putting this project’s scope in the Lord’s hands and committing to use whatever donations the church receives for the good of His people and the glory of His name.

How to Help

Would you pray for the following?

• • The ministry of Cleveland Road Baptist Church to continue growing.
  • The pastors of Cleveland Road Baptist Church, as we lead and shepherd.
  • The Gospel’s advancement, particularly in West Athens and on the Campus of the University of Georgia.
  • That the Lord would produce generosity in the hearts of those who hear of our vision and recognize our need.

Would you consider giving?

A. One time gift
B. Two-year pledge spanning the years 2024-2025

All gifts are tax deductible.

All donations or pledges should be made by December 31st, 2023, so that we can determine what Tier we’ve reached and the scope of the project.

If you want to donate, but prefer not to give online, please contact us at clevelandroadbaptistchurch@gmail.com.

Give by Check

Checks can be mailed to:

Cleveland Road Baptist Church
1215 Cleveland Road
Bogart, GA 30622

From the Pastor