Vision Guidebook

Welcome to the Guidebook landing page! Below you will find links to register for events or contacts you can click on to ask to join a group. You will also see suggestions for resources you can try out as you check off items in your guidebook.

Connect by volunteering in worship

Many people find their primary point of connection at church when they serve with people in groups like the ones listed below:

Sign up to be a greeter: a person who stands at the entrances to the church on Sunday morning or for funerals, welcomes folks, and helps them find their way around the building. For more information, contact Rachel Fullerton.
Sign up to be an usher: a person who welcomes others, hands out bulletins, and receives the offering at worship. Click Here
Sing in a choir. For more information, contact John Cowden.
Play in a handbell choir. For more information, contact John Cowden.
Play a musical instrument in worship. For more information, contact Scott Stewart.
Sign up to be an AV volunteer: a person who helps run the technology in worship. For more information, contact Joseph McBrayer.
Sign up to be an acolyte (6th-12th graders only). For more information, contact Angela McDaniel.
Sign up to help set up the worship space with the Altar Guild. For more information, contact Rachel Fullerton.
Volunteer to help serve communion. Click here to sign up. For more information, contact Joy Trotti.
Volunteer to read scripture in worship. People of any age can read, children, youth, or adults. Click Here

Training is provided for each of these opportunities.

Connect by joining a small group

Small groups for faith development, support, learning, or service are another deep source of friendship and connection. Check out these options:

Attend a weekday Bible study. Click here to register.for an available study
Attend a Wednesday evening study. These are held after dinner at 6pm in Room 104. Registration in advance is not typically required.
Attend a book study group. One book study that is coming up is a group Beth is organizing to study How to Be a Perfect Stranger: the Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook. This study will prepare folks to become ambassadors to other faith communities near us in the coming year. The time and start date will be determined by those who wish to attend. Email Beth if you are interested.
Register for an eight-week covenant group. For more information, contact Joseph McBrayer.
Join a United Women in Faith circle. For more information, contact Cara Cherry or Kris Nagle.
Participate in a mission event like Blessing Bags or It’s spooky to be Hungry. Blessing Bags are prepared after dinner every Wednesday evening in the area outside youth Hall. Spooky to be Hungry is our fall food drive. A sign-up genius for this event will be posted here and elsewhere on the website nearer the time of the event in October. If you would like more information, you can contact Ellen Kersh.
Volunteer for a BBQ crew. Many volunteers, organized into small groups or crews, are needed to put on Oak Grove’s annual BBQ to benefit missions. This year the BBQ will be October 21. A sign-up Genius will be posted closer to the event, but if you want more information, you can contact John McMillen.
Join a mission team like the Mobile Soup Kitchen. There are many mission teams here at OGUMC. Amy can give you more information about them, but if you want to join the Mobile Soup Kitchen group that feeds the hungry in Midtown Atlanta every week, you can get more information about that from Virginia Sowell.
Join the needles and prayers group that enjoys fellowship while knitting and crochets items for the ill and homebound. For more information contact Amy Morgan.

Connect by attending a fellowship event

A list of all current events can be found listed on the Events page or described in the Oak Grove News.
Attend Wednesday night supper. Click Here
Volunteer in the children’s department for a special event like Trunk or Treat or the Lantern Parade by emailing Elizabeth Loughran.
Volunteer in the Youth department for a special event like working the Christmas tree lot or going on a trip, by emailing CJ Lord or Susannah Bales.
Join the Drama ministry. Find out more about upcoming plans and shows by emailing Bob Unger.
Attend a senior adult event. If you want more information about events listed on the Events page you can contact Kara Johnson.
Welcome the community to the Oak Grove BBQ (October 21st) by cooking the food, greeting guests, or serving the food. A sign-up genius for volunteering will be posted here closer to the event, but until then you can get more information about what help is needed from John McMillen
Attend (or participate!) in the Waffle Off fundraiser for the Youth and Childrens’ music in mission trips. John Cowden

Grow in your knowledge of God

Join a study group like those listed in the connect section above or on the Events Page. For Disciple I click here. For Christian Believer click here. For Amy’s study on prayer, entitled Conversations with God, click here.
Take up a practice of reading the bible (daily, weekly, or during special seasons).
Listen to audio versions of the bible, either in your car or at home.
Listen to podcasts on religious subjects. There are lots of great podcasts out there on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and other platforms, such as: Everything Happens, with Kate Bowler, Evolving Faith, The Bible for Normal People with Peter Enns and Jared Byas, and Compass Podcast from United Methodist Communications, just to name a few.
Listen to the Oak Grove Podcast. You can do this through Spotify, Apple podcasts, or you can watch the video version at www.YouTube.com/ogumc
Read or listen to classical theological books. You can find lots of these on line. A great place to start browsing is at Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Read or listen to religious poetry. There many great Christian poets whose works can be found online, such as John Donne, Christina Rossetti, George Herbert, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Thomas Merton, Mary Oliver, or Annie Dillard. Works by all of these and many more can be found at the Poetry Foundation.
View and reflect upon religious art. You can do this at a museum, like the Carlos Museum on Emory’s campus, or at the High Museum, or you can visit most major museums worldwide through websites such as that of the Louvre, the British Museum, the Israel museum, or the Museums of the Vatican.
Read the Upper Room, or other daily devotional to form the habit of doing daily devotions. Copies are available at the Welcome desk in the Portico. Digital resources can be found online at the Upper Room as well.
Go to www.umc.org and take the Spiritual Gifts Inventory.

Grow in your service to God

Take Darkness to Light training so you can help work with children, youth, or vulnerable adults. For more information contact Elizabeth Loughran
Volunteer to become a lay minister (someone who visits church members at home or in the hospital). For more information contact Amy Morgan.
Volunteer with the Meal Team which makes and delivers meals for those experiencing difficulty. Click here to sign up.
Volunteer to deliver items to the homebound (Cards, Upper Room devotionals, poinsettias). For more information contact Amy Morgan.
Volunteer to write cards or notes to the homebound. For more information contact Amy Morgan.
Volunteer to drive the church van. To find out how to qualify, contact Dale Smith.
Volunteer to chaperone a youth or children’s event. For the children’s department contact Elizabeth Loughran. For youth, contact CJ Lord or Susannah Bales.
Become a D group leader for our youth. For more information contact CJ Lord.
Become part of a meal team for youth fellowship on Sunday evenings. For more information contact CJ Lord.
Volunteer to teach children’s Sunday school. For more information, contact Elizabeth Loughran.
Volunteer to be an additional adult in a children’s Sunday school class. For more information, contact Elizabeth Loughran.
Volunteer to help with Children’s church. For more information, contact Elizabeth Loughran.
Volunteer to teach an adult Sunday School Class. Resources and training are available. For more information, contact Beth LaRocca-Pitts.
Help out with Prayers and Squares, our group that makes prayer quilts. For more information, contact Laura Palmer.

Grow in your devotion to God

Whether you are interested in beginning a daily practice of prayer, or charitable giving, or fasting, or silence and meditation, there are many books and resources on line at The Upper Room, or Cokesbury that cover these topics. If you don’t find what you are looking for, contact one of the pastors (Beth, Amy, or Joseph) and we will try and help you find what you need.
Set an intention to increase your attendance in worship. If you are currently attending worship only in person and find that you can only make it to worship once or twice a month, try worshipping online on those Sundays when you can’t make it to church. Both Modern and Traditional worship can be found on Oak Grove’s YouTube channel.
Begin a practice of regularly taking communion. In addition to communion on the first Sunday of each month in both Modern and Traditional worship, communion is offered every Wednesday at 5pm in the Grand Hall.

Live your faith through engagement

Another important part of our faith life is the way we extend ourselves beyond our comfort zone to live our faith out actively in the world around us. We do this in any number of ways—by serving others, by meeting others and welcoming them into our friendship and fellowship, and by being a good neighbor in our communities. Below are some ways you can explore new ways to live out your faith in the world:

Support your local schools: You can support Montclair Elementary by coming on Wednesday Evening to help put together blessing bags of supplemental food for Montclair kids. You can also watch out for and contribute to our supply drives for the schools during the year. You can also contact a school near you to see if they have volunteer needs.
Visit a worship service of another faith tradition. If you want to be a part of an Oak Grove initiative of forging relationships with other faith communities that is coming up in the near future, contact Beth about joining the book study of How to be a Perfect Stranger: the Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook
Display an OGUMC magnet on your vehicle. You can pick one up at the Welcome desk in the Portico!

Live your faith through service

Volunteer to work at the It’s Spooky to Be Hungry food drive. Click here to sign up to put out bags
Volunteer for the Feed my Starving Children food packing event. It should return next year in August. This year’s event was a great success!
Volunteer to pack Blessing bags on Wednesday nights. No registration is required. Simply stay after dinner on Wednesday evening and join the group outside Youth Hall.
Volunteer for a domestic mission team, such as the Hinton Rural Life center mission. Contact Amy Mo r gan for more information.
Join a mission team like the Mobile Soup Kitchen. There are many mission teams here at OGUMC. Amy can give you more information about them, but if you want to join the Mobile Soup Kitchen group that feeds the hungry in Midtown Atlanta every week, you can get more information about that from Virginia Sowell.
Participate in the Angel Tree gift mission. For more information, contact Amy Morgan.
Participate in the Christmas Music mission by going with others to carol for our older adults. For more information, contact John Cowden.