Inclusion and Advocacy

Welcome to the Conference Inclusion and Advocacy Resource Page

This ministry seeks to:

  • Increase communication, coordination, and collaboration between and among Conference boards, committees, advocacy groups, and agencies with an aim to focus and deepen support offered to all North Georgia Conference congregations and the communities they serve. 
  • Cultivate and strengthen engagement with Communities of Color and within multi-ethnic communities, as foundational to our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ, from all communities, for the transformation of the world.
  • Help clergy and laity in predominantly white/Anglo churches engage in dialogue about systemic racism and white privilege, and developing plans and ministry as a result of that dialogue.
  • Ensure the intentional development of Leaders of Color across the North Georgia Conference, both lay and clergy.
  • Plant new churches and ministry expressions serving Communities of Color and within multi-ethnic communities, with equal access to North Georgia Conference funding and other resources.

Recommended Resources

Related Committees and Boards

News

North Georgia United Methodists Serving Their Communities MLK Weekend
1/10/2024
In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, United Methodists across the North Georgia Conference are serving, hosting their neighbors, and offering special worship services this weekend. Below are some of the special events and service projects: Andrews Chapel UMC Jonesboro is hosting the 39th annual Clayton County MLK Ecumenical Service. (Learn more.) Ben Hill UMC Atlanta is hosting its annual MLK Community Program, honoring and celebrating the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Service...
Grants Help Address Food Insecurity on College Campuses
1/3/2024
Students at seven colleges, including Reinhardt in the North Georgia Conference, have access to free or low-cost food and hygiene products thanks to grants from the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. Food insecurity on college campuses is often a hidden problem because students do not want to admit they are in need. The grants were funded by offerings on Human Relations Day, which is coming up on January 14, 2024. Christie R. House reports at umcmission.org/story/responding-to-food-i...
Vamonos al Campo: Take Part in a Workshop Series to Get to Know Our Latin Neighbors
12/21/2023
Vamonos al campo means Let’s go to the fields (or country). Jesus told those who would listen to him, “The fields are ready for the harvest” (John 4.34). In those fields, we hear the cry of the Psalmist: “Hear my prayer, Lord, listen to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. I dwell with you as a foreigner, a stranger, as all my ancestors were” (Psalm 39.12, NIV).  Across North Georgia there are thousands Hispanic and Latino families and individuals seeking a better, healthier, and ...
This Land Calls Us Home: Global Ministries Opens Exhibit at Atlanta Airport
11/7/2023
Native American identity and experience is the focus of the Atlanta Airport Exhibit This week at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, our UMC General Board of Global Ministries (Global Ministries)  and Native American Comprehensive Plan celebrated the unveiling of "This Land Calls Us Home," an exhibit featuring the work of 26 contemporary Native American artists and designers. The November 6 event included representatives from the airport, the City of Atlanta Government, Global ...
Plaque Installed in Dedication to Rev. Joel Rodriguez’s Work and Service in Austell
10/26/2023
Earlier this month a plaque was installed outside Austell First UMC in dedication to Rev. Joel Rodriguez's work and service in the Austell community. Austell Mayor Ollie Clemons Jr., District Lay Leader Randy Hardy, local Scouts, Kidz Quest daycare partners, members of Austell First UMC (both English and Spanish speaking congregations), the Rodriguez family and friends, and Joel's beloved wife and current pastor of Austell First UMC the Rev. Dorcas Rodriguez, attended the special ceremony ...
Liturgies for Hispanic Heritage Month
9/28/2023
The Hispanic Ministries Committee is preparing worship liturgies to help all our congregations across the conference celebrate with our Hispanic-Latino neighbors.  The first liturgy and two creeds are below. Churches are invited and encouraged to use these in worship: Liturgy for Hispanic Heritage Month Hispanic Creed (Credo Hispano) Immigrants Creed (Credo Migrante)
Peachtree Road UMC and Community Partners Open the 'Welcome Home House' for Incarcerated Women Reentering Society
8/29/2023
Peachtree Road UMC in Atlanta and City of Refuge (COR), a faith-based organization focused on families transitioning from crisis, have opened their first Welcome Home House, a supportive, transitional house for women reentering society from prison. Atlanta Habitat for Humanity constructed the four-bedroom, two-bathroom house located on Atlanta’s Westside. A collaboration between PRUMC and COR, the Welcome Home House program seeks to build safe, stable housing for women returning to society from ...
North Georgia Commission on Religion and Race Offers Statement Regarding Supreme Court Decisions on Affirmative Action
7/13/2023
"... We will continue to endorse legislation that remedies social inequities. We will support institutions, in our connectional church and beyond, that lift the descendants of those who suffered the sins of chattel slavery, exploitative sharecropping, and legalized discrimination. We will persist in inviting and working toward an empowered United Methodist Church that supports equity and diversity here in the North Georgia Conference and around the world. ..." The North Georgia Conference ...
Reparations Task Force Continues Work and Study with Definitions, Framework, and Witness
4/19/2023
Formed in response to thoughtful discussion at Annual Conference 2022, the Task Force will bring a report to the 2023 Annual Conference session By Latoya Damon   The Reparations Taskforce gathered on March 10 and 11 at Central UMC in Atlanta to continue their discussion on actionable steps toward restoring our beloved communities through racial healing and reconciliation. Curtis Paul DeYoung, a co-facilitator of the taskforce and the co-author of Radical Reconciliation: Beyond Political Pietism ...
Photo Taken at Central UMC Atlanta Among Winners of Smithsonian Magazine’s 20th Annual Photo Contest
4/7/2023
Among the winners of Smithsonian Magazine’s 20th Annual Photo Contest is a photograph taken on the campus of Central United Methodist Church in Atlanta. The photograph is of one woman in a chair, waiting for her polling place inside the church to open. The location is especially poignant because Central UMC has a strong tradition and ministry around the support of voting rights.  Smithsonian Magazine explains: On assignment for an Amsterdam newspaper to document the November 2022 midterm ...
Focus Area: Racial Justice and Healing is the Pathway to Beloved Community
6/13/2022
Racial Justice and Healing Academy Launching Soon ngumc.org/racial-justice-and-healing-academy By Rev. Brian Tillman I was in the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta one day. In the bottom level the King papers are held on a rotating display. On this occasion there was a pamphlet that Dr. King contributed to. He wrote about the aims of his resistance efforts and the strategy behind them. In it, he wrote something like, “We aim to resist in such a way that when we are ...

Staff

Brian Tillman
Director of Inclusion and Advocacy
(678) 533-1441

Quick Links

The Racial Healing and Justice Academy is beginning a new cohort in January 2023. Learn morenow!