News

3/20/2024

PHOTO ALBUM Last week, Bishop Robin Dease and 35 clergy from across the North Georgia Conference gathered for a Clergy Rest & Renewal Retreat. This gathering was the first of this type for clergy in the conference. The retreat’s only agenda was to provide a space for clergy to rest and renew. Participants gathered at Salem Campmeeting Campground in Covington, Georgia, which provides a sacred space away from the demands of ministry. During the 26-hour retreat, clergy responded to an invitation ...

1/2/2024

As laity in step into new leadership roles in your church this new year, our UMC General Board of Discipleship shares helpful church leadership job descriptions, spiritual gifts that benefit each role, responsibilities of leaders and committees, resources, and more!  This includes: SPR/PPR Committee  Trustees  Finance Committee Chairperson  Lay Leader  Lay Member of Annual Conference  Financial Secretary  Church Treasurer  Membership Secretary  Church Council / Administrative Board Chairperson...

10/5/2023

North Georgia's own Rev. Brett DeHart will be the first featured Ministry Innovator for United Theological Seminary Innovation Center's new webinar series on Thursday, October 19, at 2:00 p.m. In a webinar entitled, The Gift of Desperation: 6 Keys to Convert Crisis into Opportunity, he will share his ministry journey and offer an action plan to create forward missional momentum.  "Don’t ever underestimate what God can do with a handful of folks desperate enough to do whatever it takes," said ...

9/28/2023

October is Clergy Appreciation Month! Here are 10 ideas for how you might support your pastor this month: Offer to make pastoral care visits and calls for a week. Volunteering to help make visits and calls offers your pastor a break to focus on other tasks for the week and helps the people receiving the visits and calls a new personal connection. Make a charitable donation. Donate to a local charity or one of our United Methodist related ministries (like Glisson Camp and Retreat Center, Wesley ...

9/6/2023

Clergy are invited to hit the trails this fall with another series of hikes designed as a way to unplug from the day-to-day duties of ministry and plug into a sacred time of active rest as they connect with God in nature.  Beginning in October, there will be a series of six hikes for clergy to choose from over the next few months.    These hikes are made possible through a collaborative effort between NGUMC’s Center for Clergy Excellence, which hosts ACE (The Academy of Clergy Excellence), and ...

6/7/2023

By Rev. Blair Boyd Zant and Rev. Richard Hunter The landscape for faith communities in North Georgia is ripe with potential. Our cities, county seats and many of our rural communities are experiencing significant population growth. We have a large population of spiritual refugees, in other words, our neighbors who have dropped out of church due to relocation, division, displacement, church closures, and loss of connections. There is an ever-growing number of “nones and dones” who have decided ...

5/18/2023

On Tuesday the 2022-2023 North Georgia Academy for Leadership & Innovation celebrated the conclusion of nine months of learning and growing together. The graduation was hosted by Gainesville First UMC. Rev. Blair Boyd Zant brought words of encouragement and commendation to the group and they were sent forth by Bishop James Swanson with a charge to see, invite, and include the forgotten, the lonely and the hurting among us who need the love of Christ.  "Bishop James Swanson preached a powerful ...

5/7/2023

Members of the Imani Kiborione Group at their graduation ceremony. In 2020, a group of orphaned and vulnerable children were brought together and told that some people very far away not only thought they deserved a better life, but believed in their ability to become self-sufficient and even to become leaders in their community. It was hard for them to fully grasp what the future could hold, but Zoe helped them dream and then taught them how to achieve their dreams. Your generosity provided ...

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 ...

3/2/2023

It is my honor to share with you that the 2023 North Georgia Nominations process is well underway, now through March 15. The Nominations process is a pathway to service beyond the local church. It allows for highly qualified disciples of Jesus from across the connection to be nominated for service on boards and committees which are critical to the success of the North Georgia Conference.   Over the last two years the process has been improved for transparency and inclusivity. Among the changes ...

2/20/2023

We celebrate the 2022-2023 recipients of scholarships from the United Methodist General Board of Higher Education! These future leaders range from first-year freshmen to doctorate-level students across the denomination. Students who are members of any United Methodist church may apply for a Fall 2023 GBHEM scholarship online by March 30, 2023, at www.gbhem.org/scholarshipapplication. Recipients of GBHEM scholarships in the North Georgia Annual Conference include:  Jayla Rushin  BEN HILL ...

2/20/2023

Education is a core value of The United Methodist Church and has been since the 18th Century in England. John Wesley believed education was the key to a fuller, richer life. He believed that everyone should have access to education regardless of gender or class. In 1748, Wesley enlarged Kingswood School, a school he had opened for the children of coal miners. Wesley wanted young people to have a high-quality education so they could go to Cambridge or Oxford. As the Methodist Movement moved and ...

1/24/2023

Youth and Adult Leadership Opportunity Begins This Month January 2023   “Faith in Action is an intentional, intergenerational program to engage young leaders and equip mentors with the skills and competencies to transform the world,” says Rev. Nathalie Nelson Parker, the new Team Chair for Black Congregational Development Committee of the North Georgia Conference. “By participating in Faith and Action, young leaders will be prepared with critical conversations, spiritual formation, social ...

1/5/2023

Learn More About the Format and Background Checks The North Georgia Conference will be hosting in-person Clergy Ethics trainings between January 23 and March 25, 2023. In order to be in good standing and eligible to continue to serve under appointment, all clergy and lay supply must attend one of these 2023 scheduled sessions.    CLICK HERE to register for Clergy Ethics Training Sessions will be held: Monday, January 23 – Newnan First UMC (Session Full) Thursday, January 26 – Dunwoody UMC ...

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 ...

11/8/2018

By SYBIL DAVIDSON The first-ever Laity/Clergy M-LAB (UMC Movement – Learning Action Board) brought nearly 100 creative North Georgia Conference laity along with a pastor from their church to Atlanta Technology Village in Buckhead Nov. 2-3. Participants set aside this time to learn design thinking principles and ask how might we innovate in our local churches and begin moving ideas toward action. “One thing we know for sure, we need each other, and we need to embrace change if we want to see ...

10/9/2018

By Sybil Davidson   Clergy from across several Annual Conferences are being steeped in a new way of thinking and deepening connections thanks to a three-day immersive event called M-LAB.   UMC M-LAB (Movement – Learning Action Board) was created to bring together outwardly-focused United Methodists to incubate and prototype new ideas that will shape the future of our church.   A collaborative effort of the North Georgia, Florida, and Nashville Episcopal areas, this experience focuses on design ...

8/14/2018

By JESSICA BRADFORD From July 16 through the 19, numerous clergy of the North Georgia Conference gathered at Epworth By The Sea on St. Simons Island to learn about engaging their communities in the mission of their church. Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson preached on Wednesday evening, telling the story of William Wilberforce, the early Methodists, and how to rekindle the mission today. Bishop Sue began her sermon with a history lesson on William Wilberforce. Wilberforce was an Englishman born into ...

7/27/2018

Bishop's Panel at Georgia Pastors' School with Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson and Bishop Lawson Bryan. Moderated by Rev. Matt Nelson. (Photo courtesy of the South Georgia Annual Conference) By JESSICA BRADFORD For many years, hundreds of active and retired clergy have convened near the banks of historic Frederica River at Epworth By The Sea for the annual Georgia Pastors’ School. Pastors’ School provides inspiration, education, worship, fellowship, fun and relaxation for North and South Georgia ...

7/17/2018

Do you feel called to reach the unreached? Creating new places for new faces is one of the most effective ways we can do that. And you don't have to do it alone. That's why the North Georgia Conference developed the NExT Leadership Academy.  We've found that there are 10 essentials for successful church start-ups: Call, Vision, Launch, People, Funding, Preaching, Leadership, Family, Staffing, and Systems.  Through NExT, you'll get exposed to these essentials in action, be inspired by ...