“I’m an expert ribbon cutter. I do this all day,” said Mayor Andrew Young, as he lent a helping hand to his wife, Jean, as they cut up a bright red ribbon at 465 Boulevard in southeast Atlanta.

That officially opened the doors to the new home of the Christian Council of Metropolitan Atlanta, which had been located downtown on Peachtree Street for 14 years, but moved to lovelier and more spacious quarters near Interstate 20 and Boulevard in late July.

The old building had been owned by the North Avenue Presbyterian Church, which explains how the ecumenical organization came to be at 848 Peachtree Street for so many years. But three years ago the building was sold and the Christian Council began searching for a new home and one which would provide more space for the growing staff.

The Rev. Don Newby, executive director of the Council, chuckled at the description of the old quarters as “spartan,” saying that was perhaps a kindness to the simply furnished and often crowded rooms. The new Council offices take up 6,000 square feet on parts of the first and second floor of a storefront building and are sparkling with fresh paint, new carpets and pictures that are waiting to be hung on the walls.

Archbishop Thomas Donnellan, Bishop Frederick Talbot of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Bishop L. Bevel Jones of the United Methodist Church and many others took part in an ecumenical service outside the Council offices before Mayor and Mrs. Young cut the ribbon.

The Christian Council began 105 years ago as the Atlanta Preachers Meeting and has continuously operated since then, expanding from an organization which provided emergency assistance and sponsored an annual ecumenical community breakfast into a council with many branches. The CCMA now has a unit working with refugees, a mental health branch running two homes for the mentally ill, a task force for the homeless and a day care center for children of homeless families. It also has other independent extensions, such as the airport chaplaincy program at Hartsfield International Airport, the Christian Employment Cooperative and Atlanta Interfaith Lawyers.

The council serves a seven-county area, Newby noted, so its new office near I-20 is a convenience for those outside Atlanta. “It is also just five minutes from City Hall” and downtown offices, he said. “It just is providential.”