Dunwoody, Georgia, September 9, 2018 — Kingswood United Methodist Church celebrated 50 years of ministry Sunday with a special worship service, including former pastors and charter members. Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson, leader of the North Georgia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, officiated and preached during the service.
The church held its first worship service on September 8, 1968, in a classroom in what was then Peachtree High School. The congregation was chartered with 76 members, 8 of whom attended Sunday’s service. Before moving to its current location at the corner of Tilly Mill Road and North Peachtree Road in 1974, the congregation additionally held worship services for a time at Chesnut Charter Elementary School, also celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
“The world is so desperate for a word of grace, and a word of love, and a word of hope,” said Bishop Haupert-Johnson to mark the occasion. Continuing, she challenged the church to look ahead, saying “I invite you to have the same spirit of curiosity and pioneer spirit that the founders of this church had 50 years ago, in a time as tumultuous as ours is now.”
Joining Haupert-Johnson in the service were Atlanta Roswell District Superintendent Doug Thrasher and former senior pastors Joe Bowen (1974–80), Dan Maxey (1984–86), and Jimmy Moor (1995–2003). Former associate pastors Mabel Foster (1984–87) and Carolyn Clifton (1998–2003) also attended the service.
Rev. Charles Broome, Senior Pastor, said, “While any anniversary is special, the 50th is very poignant. We selected ‘Foundations’ as a theme for our year of jubilee. It reminds us that as we look back, everything before us has gone for a purpose — to equip us for the greater things that God has in store for us in the next 50 years. Just like a child rests on the shoulders of a parent, we rest on the shoulders of our founders and those that came before us to see farther, reach higher, and fully embrace the community of Dunwoody that has been such a great place to build this church.”
In 2018, Kingswood added a new director of family and children’s ministry and also a new associate pastor, Rev. Dondra Davis, to its staff. “It’s been an exciting year as we increase the range of our ministries at the church,” said Davis, who is launching a new GriefShare ministry at the church beginning this week and oversees some of the church’s key ministry areas, such as its flourishing youth ministry. “We want to make sure this isn’t just a celebration about what has been. Our focus is looking outward, finding ways to partner in our community to make a difference.”
Kingswood is active in both local and global ministries. This year, Kingswood partnered with other congregations of different denominations to construct a house with Habitat for Humanity. The church sent a mission team to Honduras in July to Brisas del Rio and has packed more than 100,000 during its association with Rise Against Hunger. Together with other local churches, Kingswood is one of the founding church participants of Family Promise of North Fulton/DeKalb, and the church is active in its support of Kingsley Elementary School through school supplies and other volunteer initiatives.
Contact:
Rev. Charles Broome
(770) 457-1317
info@kingswoodumc.org
