New Birth Missionary Baptist Church Is Redefining the Modern Civil Rights and Black Economic Empowerment Movement Through Faith-Based Action and Community Investment

New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, the Atlanta-area megachurch led by Senior Pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant, is advancing a bold and expanding vision for what the modern Black church can represent in America, positioning faith institutions as engines of economic development, civic engagement, and long-term community wealth creation.

Under Bryant’s leadership, New Birth is actively redefining the intersection of ministry and movement-building, asserting that the Black church must function not only as a spiritual refuge, but also as a central driver of economic infrastructure in communities of color.

The church first captured national attention in 2025 through its highly visible Target Fast initiative, a coordinated consumer and advocacy campaign calling for sustained corporate accountability and investment in Black communities following the rollback of several DEI commitments.

The campaign concluded on March 11, 2026, after achieving key objectives that elevated national dialogue around corporate responsibility and Black economic inclusion, while also increasing visibility for Black-owned businesses and entrepreneurs.

Documentation and outcomes of the initiative are publicly archived at Target Fast.
Now, New Birth is advancing into what leaders describe as the “build phase” of the movement, shifting from public pressure to long-term economic systems development.

“At a time when voting rights are under attack and hard-fought civil rights protections are being systematically weakened, we cannot afford to separate social justice from economic justice,” said Bryant.

“The future of Black advancement in America will depend not only on our ability to protest, but on our ability to build businesses, housing, schools, and generational wealth. Economic independence is the next frontier of civil rights, and the Black church must remain at the center of both protecting our democracy and empowering our people to thrive within it.”

A planned affordable housing initiative on 35 acres of church-owned land, expected to create approximately 390 residential units designed to expand access to homeownership and generational wealth-building opportunities.

The project is being structured through a new community development corporation to support partnerships and funding expansion.

Over the past five years, New Birth-related scholarship initiatives have supported hundreds of students, with a strong emphasis on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

The church has distributed millions in educational support through partnerships and annual scholarship programming serving thousands of students across metro Atlanta.

Located at 6400 Woodrow Road in Stonecrest and serving as the largest polling site in DeKalb County, New Birth continues to expand voter education, civic forums, candidate engagement, and mentorship programs.

These initiatives position the church as a hub for civic literacy, leadership development, and historical preservation.

Launched during the Target Fast movement, this entrepreneurship initiative supports Black-owned vendors, creators, and small businesses.

The program has attracted hundreds of vendors and tens of thousands of shoppers across its activations, while connecting participants to broader networks such as Buy Black, which features more than 100,000 Black-owned businesses nationwide.

Originally launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, this biweekly outreach effort has provided meals and resources to more than one million families.

The program operates on a no-questions-asked model, serving individuals regardless of income, background, or circumstance.

New Birth has also built internal entrepreneurial infrastructure, including an “internal chamber of commerce” model for business development within the congregation and surrounding community.

The church serves as a hub for national initiatives such as One Million Black Businesses (1MBB), accessible at One Million Black Businesses, with a goal of helping establish one million new Black-owned businesses by 2030.

Annual entrepreneurship programming, including the Entrepreneurs Breakfast, regularly convenes business leaders, cultural figures, and policy voices to strengthen networks of Black economic collaboration and investment.

As national debates continue around voting rights, gerrymandering, educational equity, and economic disparity, New Birth is positioning itself within a broader historical continuum, one that links the legacy of the civil rights movement to today’s emerging frameworks of economic justice.

Rather than treating worship, activism, and economic development as separate efforts, the church is integrating them into a unified strategy for community transformation.

In doing so, New Birth is advancing a model in which the Black church is not only a moral compass, but also a functioning economic engine, one capable of shaping housing markets, supporting entrepreneurs, feeding families, and preparing future generations for sustained civic and financial participation.