News

3/16/2024

The North Georgia Conference is pleased to announce that we are continuing in partnership with Amplify Media to provide United Methodist churches in our Conference with access to the streaming service at a deeply discounted rate. The discount can be activated through the end of 2024.  In alignment with our Area of Focus, "Scriptural Literacy and Imagination," Amplify is an online resource for church‐wide, group, or individual study, worship, and devotional material. Access anytime, anywhere, on...

2/10/2024

More than 30 laity and clergy from the North Georgia Conference joined hundreds of innovative and inspiring United Methodists from across the country at the first Fresh Expressions UM National Gathering this week. The event, held in North Carolina and sponsored by our UMC General Board of Discipleship, was organized to bring United Methodist leaders together to fellowship, learn together, be energized by fresh imagination and hope, and to curate the best practices from the field.  PHOTO ALBUM "...

1/16/2024

A community Dinner Church offered by Lawrenceville First UMC, Cannon UMC, and the Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministry is bearing fruit.  By Nicole Meredith Fike, Leader of The Table Community Dinner  As the day approached, the excitement was uncontainable. The three-year journey to get here was in the shadows, and God’s "Yes" had firmly silenced the "No"s! The long-term effects of the pandemic profoundly impacted the Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministry (Co-Op) community. Seniors and ...

3/29/2023

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN FOR THE 2024 TOUR! CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS AND REGISTRATION. By Rev. Karen Elaine Webster Parks For the last 36 years, SCLC WOMEN Inc. has led a group of sojourners on a tour of several historical sites dedicated to the Civil and Voters Rights movements. The tour is designed to expose the participants to many unknown or rarely shared facts about some of the s/heroes of the 1960s Voting Rights Movement. The tour ends with a commemorative march across the Edmund Pettus ...

1/25/2023

On Sunday, January 22, Madras United Methodist Church launched in the South West District of the North Georgia Conference. This new church start now begins weekly worship. "Sunday was probably one of the most incredible experiences of my life," said lead pastor Rev. Fede Apecena. "For the team and I to launch and say 'hey, we are here and we are seeing the fruits of our presence in this area; all the hard work and the wait was worth it' is fantastic!" The launch was two years in the making! ...

1/18/2023

A Fresh Expression is a form of church for those not connected to any church. Fresh Expressions take shape outside of the walls of the church in places where our neighbors are already gathering. Fresh Expressions are anchored to existing churches, connecting churches with people who would never enter the church building on a Sunday morning.  Fresh Expressions in the North Georgia Conference are making new disciples and are passing on the traditions of our Wesleyan faith in new and creative ...

2/10/2022

In 2021, the North Georgia Annual Conference hosted 4 incredible learning opportunities with leading edge ministry practitioners. Red. Dr. Tod Bolsinger, Red. Dr. Mark DeYmaz, Rev. Elizabeth Hagan, and NGUMC's own Rev. Robert King offered powerful in-person sessions on Adaptive Leadership, Multi-Ethnic and Entrepreneurial Church development, building trust and healing relationships through Brave Church experiences, and reclaiming the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, relationships, and ...

8/24/2017

By Rachel Quartarone   Each year, Discipleship Ministries of The United Methodist Church selects congregations for the "One Matters Award," recognizing that every new disciple—even just one—matters. The award is specifically given to congregations that had experienced decline but made a turnaround in growth with new baptisms, professions of faith, and of course, new members. This year the “One Matters Award” went to Suwanee Worship Center UMC in Suwanee, Georgia. It was presented at the North ...

3/23/2016

Sunday worship at Druid Hills UMC began like most Palm Sundays, but it held a greater meaning for a church that would soon celebrate Easter Sunday as a brand new church, merging with Epworth UMC in Candler Park. In fact, the congregation will temporarily be called New Church. Palm Sunday represents a time when people made way for something new, unknown, and promising. As palm branches waved through the morning worship service, children sang and danced, there was no a feeling of sadness. The ...

2/4/2016

North Georgia Conference’s own Beth Corrie, Director of Emory University’s Youth Theological Institute, served as editor of new CEB Student Bible. This edition, published in fall of 2015, is described as “a Bible by and for young people that invites them into deeper forms of both personal holiness and social holiness, helping them make connections between the world of the Bible and their own world.” Youth ministers and biblical scholars have all come together with today’s youth in order to ...

1/13/2016

Riverdale UMC decided to look into its past in order to enhance their future. Congregants gathered at the church Saturday, January 9th for Getting to Know Your Neighbor, an event that invited members of multiple ethnicities and generations to come share their stories of how they came to Riverdale UMC and how they’ve seen it change. “Church is like a bank,” one story teller explained. “You have to put something in it in order to withdraw something from it.” Another speaker told of her struggle ...

11/24/2015

By Ansley Brackin Communications Specialist  Hartwell First UMC has always had a great attendance record during their three worship services, but they wanted to form a deeper connection between congregants across all services. Small Group Ministry Coordinator, Marci Garringer, discovered that members who went to different services didn’t know each other, and that only older adults attended Sunday School classes. She and her pastor, Allen Stewart decided to open up a new opportunity in the form...

8/19/2015

By Ansley Brackin Communications Specialist The buzz that overflowed the sanctuary on Ground Breaking Sunday for the new Christian Life Center at Buford First UMC was lively and jubilant. The service, which doubled as Homecoming Sunday, was filled with music and words of encouragement from Bishop Othal Lakey of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and Gainesville District Superintendent Rev. Richard Chewning. “We need a place for people to live from moment to moment,” Chewning said in his ...

7/20/2015

By Ansley Brackin Communications Specialist Redemption UMC in College Park wanted to make a difference for the local children participating in their summer camp this year. However, they also made a difference in the lives of a youth group in Sarasota Florida. Redemption UMC has witnessed the needs of their young community. They see children growing up in housing projects, on reduced or free lunch during the school season. Rev. Robert Crawford always had big goals for the church’s summer camp....

6/2/2015

By Ansley Brackin Communications Specialist Flat Shoals UMC of Decatur is not a large church, but they are harvesting big dreams through their new GED Initiative. Its tagline: “Welcome to Success”. The church, led by Rev. Dr. Hubert Brown, held an open house for the congregation and community on Sunday, May 17th. The program, beginning its first semester on June 4th, aims to provide education for those in the county without a high school diploma, and for only $10 a person. “They need a larger...

4/9/2015

Know a college student exploring a call to children's and/or youth ministry? North Georgia Camp & Retreat Ministries is looking for three to four more guys for its Grow+ELI summer ministry team.  They are looking for strong Christian leaders who would be excited to mentor 50-100 high school students as part of an intense leadership development program (ELI) and to gain experience leading a stand-alone ministry program site with a staff of high school volunteers serving as counselors for up to ...

3/30/2015

More than 1,000 North Georgia Conference youth and adult leaders grew closer together and gained new insights into discipleship and spiritual growth as they encountered Road Trip, the theme of this year's Spiritual Life Retreats at Glisson Camp and Retreat Center. The retreats were held on the first three weekends of March. Spiritual Life Retreats happen every spring in North Georgia. The three weekends are identical in content, though the bands and speakers change. Groups can register for any ...