Photo: Dr. Gary Mason speaks at the East Belfast Mission in Northern Ireland in 2008 at an event attended by Queen Elizabeth.  Dr. Gary Mason, a world-renowned and heavily consulted Methodist pastor, will be our guest speaker at the 2019 North Georgia Annual Conference on the topic of peacebuilding and reconciliation. Mason directs a conflict transformation organization based in Belfast called "Rethinking Conflict." He spent 27 years as a Methodist clergy person in parish ministry in Belfast ...

Photo: Volunteers in action at an Action Ministries "We Serve" event in LaGrange! North Georgia Annual Conference related agencies are coming together to host an afternoon of fun, service, and barbecue! The event will immediately follow the close of the Tuesday, June 11, afternoon session of Annual Conference and all members are needed and encouraged to attend.  “Serving With Each Other,” will highlight our work together through our agencies and emphasize our conference theme. It will take ...

Continuing a tradition that began in 2017, clergy will form a processional into the Service of Licensing, Commissioning, and Ordination at the 2019 Annual Conference. The service will be Thursday, June 13, at 7:30 p.m. in the Theater of The Classic Center. Participating clergy will surround their new colleagues as an outward sign of welcome and covenant community in this service. All clergy are encouraged to participate. No registration is required, however, participants are asked to wear robes...

The North Georgia Conference Board of Laity has announced that a familiar face (and voice) will be this year's speaker at the Annual Conference Laity Luncheon.  Dr. Tom Jackson is an active member of Athens First UMC, a long-time lay member of the North Georgia Annual Conference, and a four-term member of the North Georgia Delegation to General Conference. Before retiring in 2017, Tom spent 27 years in the senior administration of the University of Georgia, the last nine of those years as Vice...

Members of the North Georgia Annual Conference will elect delegates to the 2020 General and Jurisdictional Conferences during the 2019 Annual Conference Session, June 11-14, at the Classic Center in Athens.  General Conference is the global gathering of The United Methodist Church where mission and ministry priorities are established and The Book of Discipline is reviewed for revisions. General Conference is the policy-setting body of The United Methodist Church. The 2020 General Conference ...

The following report was submitted to UMC.org to summarize the 2018 North Georgia Annual Conference. Members of Annual Conference are invited to use this report and daily update newsletters to help craft their reports to their local churches.  Annual Conference Daily Update: Tuesday June 12 Annual Conference Daily Update: Wednesday June 13 Annual Conference Daily Update: Thursday June 14 www.ngumc.org/AC2018 North Georgia Annual Conference The Classic Center, Athens, Ga. June 12-14, 2018 ...

At the 2018 North Georgia Conference in Athens more than 60 youth served as members of the Annual Conference. "One thing unique about The United Methodist Church is that laity has as much a voice in leadership and direction of the church as clergy," said Rev. Sam Halverson, associate director of Congregational Excellence with a focus on youth ministry. "Another is that teenagers have just as much a voice in the lay leadership of the church as adults." "That means these youth represented your ...

Welcome to Annual Conference 2018! "I invite you to join me in prayer for our North Georgia Annual Conference this week in Athens. May we be filled with grace and empowered for mission." —Bishop Sue Thousands of North Georgia United Methodists and guests began arriving in Athens this week for the 2018 Annual Conference session. Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson will preside over the three-day annual meeting June 12-14. The focus will be on spiritual disciplines and the theme "Moving Toward Perfection ...

Photo: Impact UMC leads closing worship at the 2017 Annual Conference. by JESSICA BRADFORD “Moving Toward Perfection in Love." This theme for Annual Conference 2018 seems simple enough, but how do we plan and order worship in a way that will help our gathered community deepen their connection to God when their needs and personalities are so diverse? According to author Corinne Ware, it is possible. Ware’s spiritual growth book, Discover your Spirituality Type: A Guide to Individual and ...

This year's North Georgia Annual Conference emphasized the importance of preparation, spending time in prayer and with scripture, and collaboration in worship planning. It was inspiring and challenging and led the Conference to seek experts in worship planning to teach us more.  That's where the November 4 Worship Design Conference comes in. Your church is strongly encouraged to send a team to this one-day event.  The Worship Design Conference will be led by Jason Moore of Midnight Oil ...