The roots of Zion Baptist Church are said to reach back to 1828, when the congregation included both Black and white members. While records from those earliest years have been lost, the first written documentation begins in 1851 with the founding of Jackson Baptist Church. According to the minutes, enslaved people were admitted to membership, and a special committee was appointed “to hear and receive experience of each Black person.” In 1852, Jackson Baptist was received into the Flint River Association with 35 white members and 44 Black members.

Following the Civil War, all Black members who requested letters of dismissal were granted them. In 1868, these members organized their own church, making Zion Baptist one of the oldest African American congregations in Georgia. They were allowed to use the Baptist church building for their meetings—on the condition, as recorded at the time, that “they did not choose a preacher of the radical party.” Zion used this space until 1872.

Nearly three decades later, in 1897, a permanent place of worship became a reality when the white Pepperton Community Church donated a building for Zion’s use. Older members recall that the structure had once served as a barn for storing supplies. Zion Baptist established itself on Benton Street in Jackson, worshiping there until 1974, when the congregation moved to its present location.

The building seen here is the 1897 church, which still stands and is now home to the New Birth Deliverance Church—a living link to one of Georgia’s earliest African American congregations.