The 2025 North Georgia Annual Conference is scheduled for June 12-14, (Thursday through Saturday).

Meeting with the theme “Come Follow Me,” we’ll focus on listening to God’s call on our lives, celebrate our United Methodist colleges Wesley Foundations and Wesley Fellowships, and we’ll give thanks for 100 years of camp ministry at Glisson!
 
Please be in prayer for Bishop Dease, Pastor David, and the laity members you have chosen to represent you in this exciting time. Much will be discussed and decided as we strive to come together as a unified body to strengthen the conference and improve the connectional efforts to be a lighthouse to all people who need a beacon of hope in a deeply troubled world.

June 7th promises to be a wonderful day for the RUMC church family!  We will be hosting our second annual Children’s Celebration of Summer, inviting literally hundreds of children to attend.  Special invites have been sent to select groups of people including:  Camp Catoosa participants, families included in our Children’s Celebration of Christmas, members of the Relative Caregiver’s Support group that meets at our church monthly, Foster families from Catoosa County, our preschool and Scout families and of course, our own church family kids. At our recent dessert auction, money was raised to provide free hot dogs, snow cones, popcorn, inflatables and even a petting zoo for the children and families to enjoy.  In order for this to be a success again this year, lots of volunteers are needed!  Please sign up on the app if you haven’t already, as there is something that everyone can do.  Another thing everyone can do is pray for this ministry! Please pray for good weather, for safety, for lots of families to attend, and above all, for Christ’s love to be felt by everyone that attends!!!

We have lots of summer fun in store for our kids at RUMC! Throughout June and July, we will be having our Reading Buddies program. We will meet each Wednesday at 6pm to get together and read. Each child will be paired up with an adult “buddy”. There is a limited number of spots for this, so make sure to sign up if you haven’t already! The only date we will not meet is June 25, and that is for a very special reason- VBS!

The theme for our Vacation Bible School this year is “In the Garden”. We will learn about how our story starts and ends in the garden and about some of the gardening parables Jesus used. VBS will be June 22-25, 6-8pm. It will be four evenings of singing and dancing, crafts, games, stories, snacks, and plants! We will end VBS with a special children’s ministry led celebration service at 11 o’clock on Sunday, June 29 and a church wide pool party at the Ringgold City Pool from 6 to 8pm.

We will also be doing our second annual Music Camp July 23-26, 10am-12pm. We’ll have singing, dancing, boomwhackers, bucket drums, and fun! We will celebrate the end of music camp with a special musical offering from our kids at the celebration service on July 27 at 11 o’clock. We will have a church picnic later that day at the Little General Park from 5 to 7pm.
And remember, all of these wonderful events require help from YOU, our church members! Help us show our kids and the kids from the community how much both Jesus and we love them!

The Council of Bishops, in conjunction with the UMC Connectional Table, is pleased to announce the unveiling of a new vision statement for The United Methodist Church. This vision reflects our Church’s deep commitment to embodying God’s dream for the world.

The vision states:
The United Methodist Church forms disciples of Jesus Christ who, empowered by the Holy Spirit, love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously in local communities and worldwide connections.

This vision statement complements the Church’s longstanding mission statement, inspired by Matthew 28:1-20: “The mission of The United Methodist Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”

The vision encourages United Methodists to embody the following principles:
Love Boldly: Passionately love God and, like Jesus, embrace and include people of every age, nation, race, gender and walk of life.
Inspired by Matthew 22:37-39 and John 13:34-35

Serve Joyfully: With a Christ-like heart, journey alongside the most vulnerable, offering care and compassion with joy.
Inspired by Psalm 100:1, Nehemiah 8:10, John 13:14-15 and 1 Peter 4:10

Lead Courageously: Follow Jesus’ example by resisting and dismantling all systems of evil, injustice, and oppression, striving for peace, justice and reconciliation.
Inspired by Joshua 1:9 and Ephesians 6:10

“This new vision is not simply a statement or a plan, it is a catalyst for transformation,” said Bishop Tracy Smith Malone, President of the Council of Bishops. “It is a vision that will help the Church embrace the opportunities before us, to follow where God is leading us, and to more fully engage in our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”

The Council of Bishops and the Connectional Table will work with General Agencies to create resources that inspire and equip disciples, leaders, and congregations to live into this vision. Resources will be shared at Annual Conference sessions and with leaders within local churches this summer, with lay member resources anticipated to follow in late 2025/early 2026.

Learn more about the vision, access the informational video and get resources as they become available at resourceumc.org/vision

Remember watching “The Newlywed Game” many years ago?  Well, we are going to recreate that exciting TV show for RUMC 49er’s meeting on June 10 at 6:00 p.m. in the Gym. We are titling our event “The Not So Newlywed Game”. All will be able to participate in this game and enjoy the responses from others. You won’t want to miss this fun filled evening!

We will provide a newlywed’s favorite meal, Pizza, and ask you bring side dishes and desserts.

We’re grateful to share a powerful update from Momance, Haiti: the students are back in school.

In recent months, escalating gang violence forced Les Pionniers de Momance school to temporarily close, and families were displaced in fear. Thanks to the courageous work of the Leogane police and the unwavering determination of local citizen militias, the gangs have been pushed back and peace is slowly returning to the area. Through it all, God’s hand never left this mission. With unshakable faith and courageous hearts, the local leaders in Momance stood firm—trusting that peace would return. And it has. Today, we rejoice as the school has reopened and 215 of our 265 students are already back in their classrooms, laughing, learning, and healing. This mission—planted in 2013 by Ringgold United Methodist Church—has always been about more than buildings or books. It is a reflection of God’s love in action, offering hope, stability, and joy in the midst of hardship. Even during the closure, your prayers and support made a difference: teachers were paid, families were fed, and medical care continued.

Now that the school has reopened, we need your support more than ever. Our students have lost valuable time, and we are working hard to help them catch up—academically, emotionally, and spiritually. Please stand with our friends in Momance. For just $300 a year—or $25 a month, you can sponsor a student and help them return to a place of safety, nourishment, and hope.

All sponsorship funds are carefully managed in a U.S. bank account and only sent to Haiti in limited amounts. We have had no issues with gangs accessing these funds—every dollar is used with integrity to support the school and its families.

The road ahead may still be uncertain, but our faith is stronger than fear. The light is shining again in Momance—and with your continued partnership, it will only grow brighter.

Pam Blaylock Holcomb will be retiring from her role as Office Administrator on June 26. In preparation, the Staff Parish Relations Committee and the Finance Committee are revising the responsibilities of this position.

As part of this transition, servants are needed to act as the “face of RUMC.” Responsibilities include:

• Answering telephone calls
• Welcoming and providing access to visitors
• Performing light office duties (e.g., printing)

Servant Schedule:

• Monday–Thursday, 8:30 AM – 11:30 AM
• We aim to form a flexible team of 8–10 volunteers.

We are also actively hiring for a new Office Administrator to take on additional duties.
Interested?
Please contact Laurie McGee, SPRC Chair at sprc.chair@ringgoldumc.org. Training will be provided.

We are at a crossroads! Our online ministry’s vision is to provide spiritual and meaningful online worship that allows people within our community and beyond to not just watch but truly worship with us. We have seen this vision provide tangible change in the lives of our online worshipers through family unity in worship, a reclaimed ability to worship, and creating a digital front door for guests to experience worship before visiting us in person.

Over the past few years, and for a large number of reasons, the production team has been dwindling in numbers despite our best efforts to maintain servants and find new ones when we lose others. Without the small, core group of people that have been serving every week for quite some time (and some in every single service), we would not have been able to continue streaming in general, and we need to provide them some rest. Because of our lack of servants, the quality of online worship and even our ability to stream our services has declined. We are at a crossroads in which the existence of online worship at RUMC is at stake. I, along with many of you, can't imagine not being able to provide online worship or more specifically high-quality, spiritual, and meaningful online worship. Although I don't believe this should come at the expense of in-person worshipers, we are the ones that have to step up and make it happen. Lots of hands make for light work which would allow all of us to maintain a healthy level of worship alongside our service.

We would love for you to support this ministry and its vision by serving on the production team. It's not as scary as it might sound. There is no experience required at all, and we mean that! Just come with a heart willing to serve and we will equip you with the knowledge and tools to work toward our vision and mission alongside us. You could serve as little as once a month! We have multiple different roles for you to serve in so we can work to find the best fit for you if you are unsure.

With your help we can make a difference in the lives of online worshipers! Sign up to serve on the production team today.

If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, contact Drew Sherrill at
drew@ringgoldumc.org or sign up below. We would love to have you as part of our team.

General Budget
Full Year Budget: $584,083
Budgeted in April: $48,673
Received in April: $38,392
Spent in April: $50,144
Budgeted Expense April: $48,673    
Received April YTD: $172,211
Spent April YTD: $197,604

In Person :
9 AM: 88
11 AM: 66
 
Online:
9AM: 22
11 AM: 13

Benevolence
In Memory of Marge Cooper
by Barbara Barger

In Memory of Roger Howard Ensley
by Alan & Belinda Crisman

Ringgold United Methodist Church
706-935-4777 | www.ringgoldumc.org
7484 Nashville St
Ringgold, GA 30736

David Cott, Senior Pastor
Sally Ensley, Assistant Pastor
Kirsten Lankford, Director of Children’s Ministry
Kodi Lowry, Director of Preschool
Taylor Lankford, Executive Director of Worship and the Arts
Marty McGee, Coordinator of Senior Adult Ministries
Pam Blaylock, Office Administrator
Drew Sherrill, Communications and Technical Director
Jamie Smith, Director of Youth Ministry
Carolyn Turner, Organist
Ann McMillen, Pianist