Churches Open as Cold Weather Shelters Christmas Week
12/20/2022
In 2022, Christmas week includes both the longest night of the year and some of the coldest nights in many years, with highs expected to be below freezing. United Methodist churches across our Conference are opening their doors for those without a place to stay warm. United Methodist churches opening as overnight shelters this week (and this season) include: Brookhaven UMC Central UMC Conyers First UMC Decatur First UMC Douglasville UMC Due West UMC Ellijay First UMC Rome First UMC Tucker First...
Housing and Homeless Council Celebrates Operational Grant Recipients
12/19/2022
By Rev. Stacey Rushing The North Georgia Housing and Homeless Council is excited to celebrate its 2022 Operational Grant Recipients! We appreciate the work of the Housing and Homeless Council members who reviewed applications, visited applicants, and prayerfully discussed how to best award funds to help the Church serve neighbors in need. We were so inspired by churches of all sizes in communities across the North Georgia Conference who are finding meaningful ways to address poverty and ...
North Georgia Conference Welcomes New Conference Chancellor Harold Buckley Jr.
12/19/2022
The North Georgia Conference welcomes a new Conference Chancellor this month, Harold Buckley, Jr. He follows Jim Thornton who has served as Chancellor since 2017. Thornton steps away from the role as he takes on a new role as the director of Governmental Relations for the Georgia Municipal Association. Buckley is the Managing Member of the firm Wilson, Brock, and Irby, LLC in Atlanta and an active member of Columbia Drive UMC in Decatur. Buckley’s primary practice area is state and local ...
Early Response Teams from North Georgia Continue to Respond to Hurricane Damage in Florida
12/14/2022
After the news stories subside it's easy to forget about the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Nicole this fall. But North Georgia United Methodists haven't forgotten and keep showing up. Last week, two Early Response Teams from North Georgia served in Florida in coordination with the Florida Annual Conference. A team with members from Northside UMC, Hillside UMC, and Due West UMC served on the Fort Myers coast while a team from Alpharetta First UMC, Midway UMC, Northbrook UMC, ...
Pastor Brings Chess Club to Kids in His Apartment Complex
12/14/2022
This fall Rev. Josh Miles of Peachtree Road UMC in Atlanta started a chess club for kids at his apartment complex. With support from the church, 20 young people participated weekly over pizza. Sybil Davidson in Conference Communications checked in with him on this heartwarming and inspiring ministry. Sybil: What gave you the idea for a Chess Club? Josh: I still remember how my elementary school in Athens, Ga. brought in a local chess instructor during the fall of my third-grade year. We ...
Judicial Council Offers General Conference 2024 Clarification
12/13/2022
Because the 2020 General Conference was postponed and not canceled, delegates elected at the 2019 session of the Annual Conference continue to serve in this capacity By Heather Hahn UM News The United Methodist Church’s highest court ruled that new delegate elections “are not required” for the long-delayed and potentially pivotal 2020 General Conference, now set for 2024. “The delegates duly elected to the 2020 General Conference for the 2020-2024 Quadrennium stand as submitted and certified by...
Sabbath Life Program Enriched Clergy Participants: New Groups Open for 2023
12/13/2022
In today’s fast-paced world, the idea of taking a Sabbath day of rest seems next to impossible. With calendars crammed full of appointments and to-do lists and with email inboxes that never seem to empty, the idea of Sabbath has been regulated to a few minutes a few times a week or to a few hopeful hours at best. Sadly, for many, the idea of ceasing to work for even a short period of time is completely foreign. Is the idea of Sabbath out-of-date in our modern times or better yet, how can we ...
BEAT Celebrates 2022 Investments, Sets 2023 Grant Application and Funding Window Deadlines
12/12/2022
The Barnes Evaluation and Administration Team has completed its work for 2022 having invested $1,388,622 this year in innovative mission and ministry throughout the North Georgia Conference. The BEAT is entrusted by our Annual Conference to receive grant applications and make the best mission investments possible for the whole of the conference. This year the team funded 23 grants across our 8 districts. The grants vary from technology upgrades, to accessibility and facility updates, to ...
Bishop Dease's Journey to North Georgia: 'Where He Leads, I Will Follow'
12/12/2022
Bishop Robin Dease (Photo by Matt Brodie) By Sybil Davidson Bishop Robin Dease’s assignment to the North Georgia Annual Conference was a full-circle moment. It was right here in North Georgia that she first fell in love with The United Methodist Church. Brooklyn, NY to Atlanta Though Bishop Dease had 12 brothers and sisters, in many ways she has always been set apart. “I was the only one in my family to go to college,” she shared. “My parents were from South Carolina and moved to New York ...
Celebrating Two Years of #HolyMischief
12/8/2022
By Rev. Dr. Shannon Karafanda It’s been two years since I launched the digital ministry of #HolyMischief and what an amazing ride it has been! In the past two years, the Facebook group has grown to more than 1,200 members and the email list to almost 300. We’ve had pop-up events at a Farmer’s Market, Wine Tasting venue, and restaurants. We went on a Civil Rights Tour, hosted virtual prayer meetings, and shared the story on podcasts. In 2021, I launched a subscription box service: a quarterly ...