Everybody is Welcome at Mount Moriah.
For over 130 years, Mount Moriah has served as a Progressive Witness of Jesus Christ in Pembroke and North Bryan County. At Mount Moriah, you find yourself in a warm and welcoming environment that will allow you to experience real folks abiding in community, loving each other, and serving God. As a small congregation in a beautiful rural setting, we have convenient parking located near the front entrance for our first-time guests. Our Mount Moriah Ushers will be glad to help you find a seat for the worship service.
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Beyond hospitality, Mount Moriah 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, heart-felt 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 Mount Moriah!
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Enjoy Connection
THROUGH WORSHIP | Sunday services start at Noon, following Sunday School, on the First, Second, and Fourth Sundays. Learn more.
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THROUGH STUDY | Sunday School for all ages begins at 11:30 a.m. 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 the most important values of Mount Moriah is our mission to the Pembroke community. Mount Moriah's members are involved in a variety of church-based ministries and community partnerships. Feel free to contact our Church Clerk with further questions.
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 Mount Moriah, 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, Mount Moriah 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.
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, Mount Moriah will rise with Spirit, memory, truth, courage, community, justice, and hope.
MOUNT MORIAH CELEBRATES 136 YEARS
Mount Moriah invites members, former members, family, friends, and the community to join us on Sunday, July 12, 2026, as we celebrate our 136th Church Anniversary.
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Mount Moriah was born in 1890, in a difficult and dangerous season for Black people in the South. The dream of Reconstruction had been betrayed. Southern Redemption was tightening its grip. Black families faced lynch mobs, voter suppression, segregation, and the growing shadow of Jim Crow. Yet even in that moment, our ancestors kept building.
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The foundation of Mount Moriah was established by faithful men and women including Deacons J.D. McMoore, Claudius Ealy, Will Pee; Brothers Emanuel Smart and Frank Byrd; and Sisters Sallie McMoore, Annie Able, and Mary Able Treadway. After the passing of Reverend Sampson, the organizing work continued through Reverend N.A. Hart. Lacking a house of their own in which to meet, the early believers received permission from St. John A.M.E. Church in Pembroke, Georgia, to organize there. From that sacred beginning, Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church rose not from comfort, but from conviction.
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For 136 years, Mount Moriah has stood in Pembroke and North Bryan County as the “Church with the Helping Hands” and the “Place where God Provides.” Generations have prayed, served, sacrificed, taught, sang, gave, and worked so this church could remain a home of worship, fellowship, community care, and faithful witness.
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Our anniversary celebration will begin at 12:00 Noon with a special panel discussion, “Mount Moriah: Past, Present, and Future.” Together, we will remember the people and stories that shaped our past, reflect on the ministry and mission of the present, and look with faith toward the future God is preparing for us.
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At 1:00 PM, we will gather for Anniversary Worship, including a special Dedication Prayer celebrating the completion of Phase III of our five-part renovation plan. This milestone is part of Mount Moriah’s ongoing commitment to renew and strengthen our church campus for worship, hospitality, ministry, youth, families, seniors, and generations yet to come.
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As we give thanks for 136 years of God’s faithfulness, we also invite continued financial support for ongoing church operations and debt clearance related to Phase III, which cost approximately $65,000. This anniversary is both a celebration and a call to stewardship. Come celebrate with us as we honor our past, give thanks for our present, and rise together into Mount Moriah’s future.
Progress Report
This season at Mount Moriah, we walked the road from Palm Sunday to Resurrection Sunday with purpose—and with power.
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Palm Sunday reminded us that Jesus did not enter quietly. He came as a disruption. He came as a declaration. He came announcing a different kind of kingdom—one that challenges injustice and lifts the lowly. And we did not just wave palms—we aligned ourselves with that kind of love.
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But this year, we did more than remember. We witnessed a repair.
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In the midst of renovation, we returned to a revived sanctuary—renewed space, restored beauty, and a living testimony that God is not finished with us yet. Because the same God who raises the dead is the God who repairs what is broken.
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Easter is not just about empty tombs. It is about recovery—recovering what was worn down. It is about healing—healing what has been wounded. It is about repair—restoring what needed fixing.
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And so we celebrated under this truth: No Greater Love. A love that sacrifices. A love that redeems. A love that refuses to let death, despair, or division have the final word.
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If you are looking for a place to grow your family in faith, to wrestle with real life in honest community, and to prepare for what lies ahead—this is your invitation.
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We are Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church. We are Rooted to Rise.
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And there is room for you here. Join us.
About Community
Established in 1890, the Mount Moriah Baptist Church has stood as a physical representation of the hope and determination of the African-American spirit. Through the years as a school, community center, and civil rights organizing meeting hall, Mount Moriah has always served people through its Watch, Witness, and Worship.
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At Mount Moriah, 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 Mount Moriah, you can be redeemed, reconciled, restored, and revived. Let's go!
Show Your Pride
Show your Mount Moriah pride wherever you go! Visit The Mount Moriah 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 Mount Moriah Baptist Church.
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The Reverend Dr. Francys Johnson well serves Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church. The pulpit of Mount Moriah has long provided community-wide leadership.
Over the last 25 years, Dr. Johnson has also exemplified the values of Christian service with humility before the congregation of Pembroke. He is also the Senior Pastor of the Magnolia Baptist Church of Statesboro. First Lady Meca Williams-Johnson’s particular success in youth programming and academic mentoring is an asset to the ministries of Mount Moriah. Further, they are ambassadors of our faith community to the region and nation.