In Jasper, Georgia, Jasper United Methodist Church brings together roots in the town's early Methodist movement and ministry for children, students, adults and families. The congregation is known for Sunday worship and school, the student-led Elevate movement, a church preschool, music and worship arts, and hands-on service across Pickens County, North Georgia and Kenya. Its mission is stated plainly: Making Christ Visible through Love, Worship, and Service. It is part of The United Methodist Church and the North Georgia Conference. Rev. Dr. Sheila Crowe serves as pastor.
From a Log Church to the Sanctuary and Education Building
The church's roots reach back before Pickens County was created on December 5, 1853. James Simmons, Charles McClure and James Lovelace led the movement to establish a Methodist church in Jasper, and a building committee was appointed in 1850. Before the log building was completed, a Sunday school was organized in the shade of a large oak tree on the church grounds. William H. Simmons served as superintendent for 32 years, until his death in 1881. That Sunday school was the first in Jasper organized by any denomination.
The original log building served as a schoolhouse during the week and a church on Sunday. Local preachers led the congregation, worshipers sat on hard plank benches, and the first arrivals sometimes built the fire. The building was never warm in winter, yet the Sunday School was expected to survive the winter of 1887. The Jasper Charge entered the North Georgia Conference in 1868, and a frame building erected in 1870 supplied a core that remains in use today.
A major 1949 renovation moved the building farther from a road that had become busy and added a daylight basement with Sunday School classrooms, restrooms, a kitchen and an assembly hall. The sanctuary was redecorated with brass lighting and a choir loft. Membership stood at 125, with 121 in Sunday School. In 1956, the main structure was bricked and a three-story annex added. July 1962 brought a full-time ministry under Dr. Charles Wilson. When the Evangelical United Brethren and Methodist churches combined in 1968, the congregation became Jasper United Methodist Church.
Further work in 1977 and 1978 brought storm windows, carpet, new lighting, stained glass and replacement oak pews. A temporary fellowship hall addition followed in 1988. The most consequential change came in 1998, when fire destroyed the sanctuary. A multipurpose building completed that November became the present Sanctuary and Education Building. A Women's Missionary Society had already organized in 1925, and its commitment to study, serve and support missions continued through later changes in the women's ministry. The result is a congregation that links a nineteenth-century foundation with a building shaped for worship, learning and service today.
Making Christ Visible Through Love, Worship, and Service
The church's stated goal is outward-facing, Christ-centered, missional, understandable and life-giving. Its calling is not simply to maintain a building or preserve traditions, but to help people see Jesus visibly, tangibly and spiritually. Success is defined by lives changed through Jesus Christ rather than attendance, budgets or programs, with belonging, joy, spiritual growth, compassionate service and meaningful relationships as signs of that change. Every follower is invited to make Christ visible through ordinary acts of kindness, encouragement, prayer, welcome and service.
Worship is to be Christ-centered, Spirit-led, biblically grounded, welcoming and transformational. Love is demonstrated through genuine care, forgiveness, discipleship and hospitality. Service takes the form of practical care, outreach ministries, partnerships, missions and compassionate action. The logo expresses the same vision: a familiar Jasper J with a white cross, an open arch and rays of light, resting on a hill that recalls both Calvary and the hills of Pickens County. Green leaves beneath it signify life, growth and new beginnings.
Sunday School and Children in Worship
Sunday school begins at 9:45 every Sunday for Kindergarten through 5th grade. Children gather upstairs for pastries, juice and games before class. Children Church alternates between Sundays so children can worship with their parents and also receive a children's sermon. Children are named among the church's worship expressions alongside testimonies, prayer partners, biblical teaching, congregational singing and creative music.
Worship takes place in the Sanctuary and Education Building. Sermons are livestreamed through the church's YouTube channel, and services are also shared through its Facebook presence. The front entrance is under the portico and through double doors, where visitors reach the sanctuary by a handicap-accessible route. The administrative offices are in the church and are open Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with a noon to 1 p.m. lunch closure and no Friday hours.
Elevate: A Student-Led Movement
Elevate is a student-led movement for middle and high school students in Jasper. It gathers on Sundays from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. Meetings begin with a meal and conversation, then move through games, lessons, discussion and encouragement. Elevate describes itself as a place where students can come as they are, build relationships and grow in their relationship with Jesus.
Each semester, Elevate attends United Methodist Conference retreats at Camp Glisson, where students meet other United Methodist youth and hear faith leaders. Its wider gatherings include mission projects, service, pool parties and fireworks. Youth bells rehearse on Sundays from 4:00 to 4:45 p.m., followed by youth choir from 4:45 to 5:30 p.m. for students in grades 6 through 12. Amy Swancey directs Youth Ministries and Children.
KOK, Vacation Bible School and JUMC Preschool
KOK, the church's midweek children's ministry, meets every Wednesday from 4:00 to 5:45 p.m. and is open enrollment, so children may join at any time. Each afternoon includes a snack, games, praise music, special choir arrangements and an age-appropriate class. Children and families are invited to join the Wednesday night dinner afterward.
Vacation Bible School traditionally occupies the first half of summer for children ages 4 through 6th grade. It is free to the community and uses Bible-based themes through music, crafts, Bible study, recreation, fellowship and snacks. The JUMC Preschool operates from 8:00 a.m. to noon in a secure, caring, Christ-centered environment. Its stated goal is to promote each child's spiritual, emotional, physical, social and intellectual growth through learning appropriate to the child's developmental age. Donna Dooley directs the preschool, and Emily Countryman coordinates the nursery.
Music, Worship Arts and Adult Fellowships
Music and worship arts have long been part of Jasper's worship, combining vocal and instrumental music with drama and liturgical dance as expressions of praise. Chancel Bells rehearse on Wednesdays from 5:15 to 6:00 p.m., and the adult Chancel Choir follows from 6:40 to 7:40 p.m. Kids of Kingdom, the preschool through 5th-grade choir, rehearses during the KOK hour. The Sunday youth bells and youth choir give students in grades 6 through 12 their own place in the musical life of the church.
Adult fellowship is organized through several groups. United Methodist Men meet on the second Thursday of each month at 6:00 p.m. in the sanctuary, beginning with dinner. Dorcas Circle also meets on the second Thursday in Room 106, while Lunch Bunch gathers every Thursday at noon in the same room. A Ladies Book and Bible study follows a seasonal rhythm. The First Mountain City Quilters meet every Monday from 10:00 a.m. to noon in Room 106. The group welcomes every skill level, and some participants knit or crochet while others come for the fellowship. These groups embody the church's wider variety of small groups for adults.
Serving Pickens County
The mission's service emphasis reaches into Pickens County through several partnerships and volunteer roles. Good Samaritan Health and Wellness is a volunteer-operated nonprofit clinic offering free, compassionate medical, dental, vision and social services to uninsured residents. It is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with Thursday hours extended to 8:00 p.m., and uses volunteers in both health care and non-health roles. North Georgia Pregnancy Center ministers to young women and teens facing an unplanned pregnancy through compassionate help, a message of sexual abstinence, and care for those seeking healing after abortion. The center is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from noon to 5:00 p.m.
The Community Thrift Store accepts reusable clothing and other items, offers donated goods at low prices and ships excess clothing overseas. It is run by volunteers, with profits returned to organizations serving Pickens County. C.A.R.E.S. distributes food Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to noon for people whose illness, accident or misfortune has created temporary need. It also provides emergency help with prescription medicine, utilities, rent or mortgage payments and necessary transportation, along with resource counseling and educational assistance. Volunteers can also serve children and families through the preschool.
The church's stated service vision names community meals, foster-family support, respite for caregivers, home-repair days, teacher encouragement, emergency utility assistance, grief support, addiction-recovery partnerships, counseling referrals, divorce care and job-interview coaching. These practical forms of care sit beside a community presence at festivals and parades, prayer at events, sports-team appreciation, first-responder breakfasts and blessings for teachers.
From Regional Care to Global Mission
Regional outreach extends through HOPE House of North Georgia, which provides emergency foster care for abused and neglected children in Pickens, Dawson and nearby counties and accepts help with upkeep, remodeling and fundraising. Boys and Girls Club of North Georgia offers a safe place for young people to learn, grow and build character. Habitat for Humanity provides no-profit, no-interest housing and invites volunteers to contribute carpentry, painting, yard work, fundraising and community support. The Ruth House is a Christ-centered, long-term residential recovery program for women recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, while Timothy House provides residential treatment, counseling, education and required community service.
At Timothy House, residents attend two group-counseling sessions each week, a Wednesday class and a Friday Celebrate Recovery meeting, and volunteer at the thrift store, a food program and the health clinic. Worldwide outreach includes Operation Christmas Child, in which the congregation assembles shoeboxes of toys, school supplies and hygiene items for children affected by war, disaster, poverty, illness or neglect. UMCOR provides emergency supplies, fresh water, shelter and longer-term recovery work across more than 80 countries.
The Kenya partnership with Obaga Primary School is another international expression of service. Directing funds through the church budget and matching them with support from SERV Ministries International, the project supports lunches for 450 students, with meals prepared in the community and food available twice each week. A Missions Committee identifies unmet needs and draws on the gifts, skills and interests of the congregation to respond. The Kenya school lunch partnership stands alongside local food distribution and regional foster care as a practical expression of the church's mission.
A Front Entrance on West Spring Street
The church's main office is at 128 West Spring Street in Jasper, Georgia, with the office line at (706) 253-2100 and the preschool line at (706) 253-2109. Its front entrance beneath the portico leads through double doors to the sanctuary and is handicap accessible. Online giving is available through the church's giving option. Jasper United Methodist Church's life in Jasper joins its 1850 roots, its 1998 Sanctuary and Education Building and a ministry that reaches from Sunday classrooms to local clinics, recovery homes, regional foster care and a school lunch partnership in Kenya. Its identity remains centered on making Christ visible through love, worship and service.