Martha Bowman Church sits on Bass Road in north Macon, Georgia, and has been a worshiping community on the same site for more than 123 years. The congregation identifies itself as a Global Methodist body and describes its calling in plain words: to save the lost, disciple the saved, and alleviate suffering, led by the Spirit and carried by its laity. Senior Pastor Rev. Mark Magoni and a sizable staff, supported by a deep volunteer bench, anchor a ministry that reaches well beyond the church's own walls through partnerships across Middle Georgia and into Mexico.
Sunday Worship: Two Traditions and One Contemporary Service
Three Sunday morning services fill the morning on the Bass Road campus. At 8:30 AM the Historic Sanctuary hosts a traditional service that is also livestreamed. At 9:40 AM a Sunday school hour opens for every age. At 11:00 AM two services run side by side: a traditional service in the Historic Sanctuary (in person only) and a contemporary service in the Commons (in person and livestream).
Worship is also available online through a livestream portal and the church's Facebook page, and past sermon series are available online for catch-up viewing. Sermon series rotate through books of the Bible and topical studies; recent series have walked through 1 John, Hebrews, Nehemiah, and a study of the Sermon on the Mount.
Kids Ministry and the Historic Sanctuary's Youngest Neighbors
Children are at the center of Martha Bowman's life together. The Kids Ministry, led in part by Associate Pastor Rev. Fran Magoni, exists to help children know, love and serve Jesus. Preschool care is offered for children from birth through 4K during every Sunday morning worship service and the Sunday school hour. iKids, the program for kindergarten through fifth grade, opens at 9:15 AM on Sunday mornings; large group and small group time runs from 11:00 AM until noon.
On Wednesday nights during the school year the building fills again from 6:00 to 7:30 PM for iKids, nursery, preschool, and adult Bible studies. The night includes dinner, worship, games, and small group Bible study. Every classroom displays a short list of Happy Guidelines and core values - Love God, Laugh Often, See People, Touch the World - that are reviewed with the children regularly.
For the youngest children, Mother's Morning Out and Preschool is a separately registered weekday program for ages six months through five years, meeting Monday through Thursday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM (with 8:30 AM early drop-off available). The program blends age-appropriate academics, creative play, music, crafts, chapel, and outdoor play, and parents register through the Brightwheel online platform.
Child safety is built around the KidCheck system: every family with a child from birth through fifth grade participating in age-level programs must have a KidCheck account, which is checked at the door.
Youth: Sunday Pursuit, Wednesday Bible Study, and Trips
Youth Director Maddie Jackson Spivey leads the student ministry, having herself grown up at Martha Bowman. Sunday mornings begin with Sunday school from 9:30 to 10:45 AM, followed by the 11:00 contemporary service that the students attend together. Sunday evenings bring Pursuit, the church's Sunday night youth group, from 6:00 to 7:30 PM. The night starts with dinner, then worship and a game, a short sermon from the youth director, and finally small groups broken out by grade and gender.
Wednesday nights are split into two Bible studies. Middle schoolers meet from 6:00 to 7:00 PM, then join high schoolers for a joint dinner from 7:00 to 7:30 PM. The high school study runs from 7:30 to 8:30 PM. Both are discussion-based and centered on Scripture. The youth ministry communicates with families through two BAND groups (one for parents, one for students) and publishes the MBYM Podcast on Spotify so students can revisit Sunday night talks. Summer trips and special events are registered for through BAND as well.
Crossroads: College and Early Career
For college students and young adults stepping into early career, Crossroads meets Sunday nights from 6:00 to 7:30 PM off-campus at 3731 Berkley Drive. The gathering centers on free food, worship, teaching, and friendship, and is shaped around the experience of being in a new city, a new season, and in need of a church home. Crossroads is the church's stated bridge between the youth years and adult group life.
Adult Groups: Sunday School, Bible Studies, and Support Circles
Martha Bowman organizes its adult formation into three lanes. Sunday school classes meet between the 8:30 and 11:00 services from 9:45 to 10:40 AM. Ten classes cover the spectrum of life stages: Women at the Well, Francis Asbury, Genesis, Good Connections, John Wesley, Koinonia, Nan Freeman, Homebuilders, Sonshine (a class for adults with special needs, staffed by trained professionals and open from 9:30 AM to noon), and Friends & Family, which is geared toward younger singles, couples, and families.
Bible studies and support or community groups round out the week. Tuesday Morning Prayer meets from 9:00 to 9:45 AM in the Historic Sanctuary. Martha's Men gathers the first and third Tuesdays at 6 PM in the youth room. God is Greater meets the third Saturday of each month from 10:00 to 11:30 AM off campus. Juliets (Just Us Ladies Intentionally Eating Out) meets for lunch on the first Monday of each month, the women's Joyful Friends Circle meets in various times and places, and the ROMEOs men's group gathers Tuesday mornings at 8:00 AM in the Common Gathering.
Missions: A Wide Network of Local and International Partners
The church's mission is to be the hands and feet of Jesus locally, nationally, and internationally. The church supports a long list of partner ministries and invites volunteers into each.
The BackPack Buddies Ministry, started in February 2011 with nine students at Lane Elementary, now serves more than 2,800 children across multiple schools and four counties, sending food home with students who need it over the weekend. Weekend Lunch has been feeding downtown Macon's homeless, hungry, and less fortunate since the mid-1990s and is now far more than a meal program.
Beyond those two flagship efforts, Martha Bowman walks alongside J2:18, which serves women in Middle Georgia affected by sexual exploitation through outreach, case management, and practical support; Families 4 Families, a faith-based foster care agency founded in 2017; The Methodist Home for Children and Youth, which has provided residential care, foster care, and counseling across South Georgia since 1872; and Wesley Glen, a faith-rooted nonprofit serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities through residential services, a day program, mentoring, and employment support.
Recovery and housing partners include the Rescue Mission of Middle Georgia, which has offered faith-based recovery programs for more than 70 years, and Cross Roads Recovery, a transition program for men moving from recovery into daily life. Wesley of Macon reaches young adults with space for worship, sacred practices, hard questions, and community. Central Georgia CASA trains and supports volunteer advocates for children in foster care. Sleep in Heavenly Peace builds and delivers beds to children sleeping without one, and Spectrum Ministries in Tijuana, Mexico, ministers to vulnerable children and families across the border.
What We Believe
The church's statement of beliefs is a Wesleyan, Trinitarian confession. It affirms one true, holy, and living God, Eternal Spirit, Creator, Sovereign and Preserver, who reveals himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is confessed as truly God and truly man, the eternal Word made flesh, born of the Virgin Mary, who lived, suffered, died, was buried, rose again, ascended, and will return as eternal Savior and Mediator. The Holy Spirit proceeds from and is one in being with the Father and the Son, convicts the world of sin and judgment, and leads believers into the fellowship of the Church.
The Bible, Old and New Testaments, is received through the Holy Spirit as the true rule and guide for faith and practice. Humanity is fallen from righteousness, incapable of pleasing God apart from grace, yet responsible in freedom to exercise the will for good when empowered by the Holy Spirit. Salvation is grounded in Christ's offering on the cross as the perfect and sufficient sacrifice; penitent sinners are justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Regeneration is the Spirit's renewal of the believer in righteousness, and a regenerated person may yet depart from grace and be renewed again.
The church is the body of Christ and an extension of his life and ministry in the world today, whose mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Two sacraments are recognized: Baptism, which signifies entrance into the household of faith and is open to children of believing parents as well as adults, and the Lord's Supper, a representation of redemption and a token of union with Christ and with one another.
Leadership
The pastoral team is led by Senior Pastor Rev. Mark Magoni, who has served the congregation and written the welcome that greets visitors. Rev. Fran Magoni serves as Associate Pastor and oversees the Kids Ministry. Brooks Hanson is Associate Pastor of Contemporary Worship. Maddie Jackson Spivey directs the youth ministry. Nicole Woodruff is the Elementary Kids Director. Dionne Dillard leads the Preschool and Mother's Morning Out program. Ellen Hanson directs traditional worship, Donna Oliveri serves as organist, and Jack Stanley directs production. Caroline Hanson coordinates guest services.
Getting Connected
Visitors can join in person at 500 Bass Road on any Sunday morning, watch the 8:30 traditional or 11:00 contemporary service online through the church's livestream portal or Facebook page, and follow along with sermon series online. Children are welcome in every service, with nursery, preschool, and iKids care available. A member directory, public calendar, sign-up for church-wide emails, and online giving are available. The church office can be reached at 478-477-1901 or Info@marthabowman.org.