Our Story

This church was not built overnight. Our story is one of God’s steady hand, faithful people, and a shared desire to see lives changed by the gospel in our community.

Our beginnings trace back to Brainerd Baptist in Chattanooga, a church with a long legacy of disciple-making and sending. In 2018, in response to a growing burden for the North Georgia area, Brainerd made plans to launch a new campus. From the very start, the heart behind this campus was simple: bring the hope of Jesus and gospel ministry to the people in Catoosa County.

God opened an opportunity through Sonrise Community Church, a congregation with its own rich history and commitment to the gospel. Rather than pursuing separate missions, both churches recognized a shared vision and complementary strengths. After prayerful conversations, the two congregations united to form one church family. This union was not merely organizational, but spiritual: two communities becoming one, unified under a shared vision to love God, serve people, and reach others with the gospel together. Two histories, two cultures, one renewed mission.

Over the next 7 years, the people of Brainerd North Georgia continued to worship, serve, and grow together. New ministry opportunities developed, relationships deepened, and a strong sense of identity began to take shape. In all of this, God began stirring a new calling in our midst. The sense of mission, of reaching more people for Christ and planting deeper roots in our region, grew stronger. It became increasingly clear that God was preparing this congregation for something more: to stand on its own as a local church, rooted in this community and equipped for even greater impact in Catoosa County and beyond.

Now, after much prayer and faithful preparation and with the support and blessing of Brainerd Baptist Church, we are launching into our next chapter, stepping out as an autonomous church plant under the name North Georgia Fellowship. It may be a new season, but we have the same goals in mind - to be a church that is locally rooted, missionally-minded, and committed to gospel faithfulness, serving our community with love, integrity, and truth. While our name is new, our foundation is not. We carry with us the legacy of Brainerd’s sending culture and the history of Sonrise’s faithfulness, all woven together into a new expression of gospel community.

Our mission is to see those who are far from God become committed followers of Jesus Christ. We strive to create a church where Scripture shapes us, discipleship deepens us, and serving others defines us. Most of all, we want to be a place where people encounter the transforming grace of Jesus.

This is our story: one God has been writing long before we ever recognized it. And we believe He’s only getting started.