Austell First Leaning into Connection, Partnership, and Prayer

Austell First UMC and Trinity UMC in Mableton are two congregations leaning into connection, partnership, and prayer.

Earlier this year pastor Grant Perry of Trinity and Rev. Dorcas Rodriguez of Austell First began exploring opportunities to do ministry work together in the community.

They organized several fruitful meetings, bringing together Austell First UMC, Austell First UMC Hispanic Ministry, and Trinity UMC laity leaders. The communities of Mableton and Austell are having a great growth of young families moving into the area. And it is a very diverse community of neighbors from different races, ethnicity, cultures, and languages.  

"From the very beginning of our journey, the churches prayed for the most important result: 'to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with our community children.'"

And the prayers are being answered.

During the cold snap last winter, pipes burst at Kidz Quest Daycare in Austell. The church offered the daycare space on the Austell First campus temporarily as their building is repaired. 

This summer, despite the congregation's efforts at promotion, as VBS week arrived, they had no pre-registrations.  

"We agreed to not be discouraged because God was working behind the scenes," said Rev. Rodriguez. "And as you can see from our pictures God was up to something good! This was a record-breaking VBS attendance for our church. As one of our VBS children stated, 'We are filled with God's Spirit'."

"In the world where we hear of so much division, we see how the love of God brings us together," Rev. Rodriguez continued. "We hope that these partnership opportunities will lead to more ministry work that we can do together."