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 ...

The Oak Grove UMC United Methodist Men have hosted a barbecue every fall since 1961. It's grown from a humble feeding of the congregation to today feeding more than 5,000 folks from all over the community. "We do a lot more than serve up a bunch of delicious barbecue and stew," said William Wallace, aka "Bull", who serves as President of Oak Grove UMM. On Saturday, October 21, the campus of Oak Grove UMC will be transformed. "The aroma of hams smoking since early Friday hangs in the air, it's...

A tragic event unfolded last week in Cedartown when two local police officers were shot on duty, one of them fatally. With a manhunt underway, local law enforcement reached out to Kresge UMC to ask if the church parking lot could be used as a staging area. Once the staging area was set, a member went to the building to unlock the doors and welcome law enforcement and first responders to use restrooms or access the facility for anything else they needed.  Kresge pastor, Rev. Ed Dickens, also ...

By Rebecca Wallace   Celebrating a decade of service as the lead pastor of Creekside United Methodist Church in Cumming, Rev. Dr. Jason Danuser said he is humbled to lead what has become one of the fastest growing churches in the Atlanta-Roswell District.   “We are in an area of South Forsyth County that has grown rapidly in recent years,” said Dr. Danuser. “People often move here after they have children because of our top-rated schools.”   In focusing its outreach on families with children, ...

By Rebecca Wallace Founded in 2007, the Korean Church of LaGrange was established by the North Georgia Conference to minister to the increasing Korean population that was settling in the area. Koreans were moving to LaGrange to work at the Kia Motors Manufacturing plant that had recently located there. Seeing the potential, the conference appointed Rev. Dr. Daniel Kim in 2008 to serve full-timve. “I went and knocked on doors in the Korean immigrant community, and visited them where they hang ...

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 ...

Rev. Jeff Ross of Cumming First UMC was certain of one thing about the community around the church: "Forsyth County is growing by leaps and bounds."  Wanting to serve the growing community, Ross took advantage of a Mission Insite training led by Rev. Hyo Kim at the North Georgia Conference Office last fall. Mission Insite is a tool that offers demographics data to help churches engage their community. The tool is available to all North Georgia Conference churches. Ross used Mission Insite to ...

Hindu neighbors visit Johns Creek UMC for "Join Together July" to share about their traditions and beliefs. Last month, Johns Creek UMC welcomed Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu leaders to participate in "Join Together July," a special Sunday School session where neighbors from various religious communities were invited to share about their beliefs and traditions. The guest speakers included Tareef Saeb of the Al-Rahmah Islamic Community Center, Rabbi Michael Bernstein of the Congregation Gesher L’...

You're invited to "Join Us at The Lord's Table," and this year the table is close to home! The UMC School of Congregational Development will be held here in Atlanta August 17-20 at Peachtree Road UMC. This is the premier event in The United Methodist Church for equipping clergy and laity to lead vital, dynamic, life-changing congregations. Sponsored by Discipleship Ministries, Global Ministries, and Path 1, this year’s event is being hosted by the North Georgia Conference, Candler School of ...

Alpharetta First United Methodist Church is collecting five tons of Oreo cookies to send to U.S. armed forces serving in the Middle East and is asking for the community’s help. The cookie drive is part of the church’s annual Operation Oreo, which provides service members with a taste of home. It’s a simple way to say thank you to those who stand in harm’s way.   Service members who will be sent Oreos include Marines with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Sailors aboard the USS Bataan, USS ...