In 5 years, Courtwatch clocks 1000 hours, bonds out 51 people

The all-volunteer Athens Area Courtwatch Project is completing its fifth year of observing criminal proceedings in the Athens-Clarke County courts. 

By the end of 2023, volunteers will have logged nearly 1,000 hours in courtrooms, observing hundreds of hearings, providing moral support to families of defendants and encouragement to defendants’ lawyers. More than 100 unique individuals have volunteered in 2023.

The … Read the rest

What now? What next?

OSUMC will practice radical hospitality and intergenerational discipleship so that lives and the community are transformed by God’s love.

-Oconee Street UMC Vision Statement

What now?

You have the vision statement in front of you, so be in prayer for how we will inhabit it and be challenged by it. Aaron Farnham challenged the church to read Luke leading up … Read the rest

Radical Hospitality

Dear Church,

This past Sunday I preached on “radical hospitality.” Radical hospitality is understanding that our belonging is tied up in the belonging of others; it is recognizing the call to give up our power or ownership in spaces we inhabit; it is welcome informed by the pursuit of justice. There are many ways that churches can practice radical hospitality, … Read the rest

Come see work on racial justice at GMOA

OSUMC Racial Justice Task Force invites you to an Evening at the Museum on Thursday, July 28, 2022 at the Georgia Museum of Art. We will be viewing, experiencing and reflecting on two specific exhibits at the museum, “Carrie Mae Weems: The Usual Suspects” and “Call and Response,” a collection of works by African American artists. After, we’ll gather for … Read the rest

Celebrate new horizons for U-Lead students

Supporting U-Lead Athens is part of the immigrant justice mission of Oconee Street UMC. U-Lead Athens began in August 2014 to provide college mentoring, access, and scholarships to Athens-Clarke and adjacent county students who are un(der)documented immigrants (and thus banned from UGA and charged three to four times in-state tuition elsewhere) or children of immigrants. 

U-Lead would not exist without the … Read the rest