Staff
Rev. Dr. Sheila Crowe
706-253-2100
Cathy Riley
Office Manager/ Director of Music
706-253-2100
AMY SWANCEY
Director of Youth Ministries & Children
706-253-2100
Donna Dooley
Preschool Director
706-253-2100
EMILY COUNTRYMAN
Nursery Coordinator
706-253-2100
Howard SwaNcey
Custodian
706-253-2100
Location
The Church Front Entrance
Located On W. Spring Street
Church Entrance
Front Entrance Directions
Jasper United Methodist church front entrance under the portico and through the double doors. There you will find the sanctuary. The entrance is handicap accessible.
Location
The administrative offices are located in the building next door to the church.
Administrative Office
Office Hours
- Monday through Thursday 8:30 am – 4:30 pm
- Closed for Lunch from 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
- Friday – closed
Map
Office 706-253-2100
Fax 706-253-21110
Preschool 706-253-2109
Giving and Stewardship
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in My house. Test me in this and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” (Malachi 3:10)
JUMC Mission and Vision 2026 and Beyond
Goal: Outward-facing — Christ-Centered – Missional – Understandable – Life giving
Jasper United Methodist Church has a rich history of faith, worship, and service. But in a world filled with division, loneliness, fear, and uncertainty, people are searching for something real, hopeful, and life-giving. Over the last year, we have listened carefully to both the people of this church and to God in prayer sought to discern JUMC’s calling for this season of ministry. We believe our calling and desire is not simply to maintain a church building or preserve traditions
We believe our calling is to help people see Jesus both visibly, tangibly, and spiritually.
And, the heart of JUMC people is to become a church that intentionally reflects Christ in our homes, our community, and our world. Success simply cannot be measured by attendance, budgets, or programs, but by lives changed through Jesus Christ. We believe we can more fully become a church where people experience belonging, joy, spiritual growth, compassionate service, meaningful relationships, and a deeper commitment to living visibly for Christ in everyday life.
The mission is simple:
“Making Christ Visible through Love, Worship, and Service.”
Colossians 1:15-20 “Christ is the visible image…
Making Christ Visible
Through Love
Everything about who we are and what we do must be based in love for God and others. We will demonstrate this by building relationships marked by genuine care for others, encouragement, forgiveness, discipleship, and hospitality.
Through Worship
Our Worship shall be Christ-centered, Spirit-led, biblically grounded, welcoming, and transformational — inspiring people to live visibly for Christ Monday through Sunday.
Through Service
We will show our love through serving our neighbors and community through practical care, outreach ministries, partnerships, missions, and compassionate action.
Living the Vision: Where did you make Christ visible this week?
Current Ministry Expressions
Love
- Small Groups
- Women’s Ministry
- Men’s Ministry
- Visitation Team
- Lunch Bunch
- Hospitality Team
Worship
- passionate congregational worship
- Inspiring and creative worship and music
- testimonies
- prayer partners
- children participating in worship
- authentic biblical teaching
Service
- Good Neighbor Project (Fall 2026)
- Community Resource Center
- School Food Pantry Boxes (Summer 2026)
- Preschool Ministry
- Pickens Serve
- Kenya Partnership
Beyond: Dreaming Into the Future
Practical Care
- free oil changes for single moms/widows
- home repair days
- teacher encouragement baskets
- back-to-school haircut day
- laundry love ministry
- community meals
- foster family support
- respite nights for caregivers
Community Presence
- church at festivals/parades
- prayer tent at events
- sports team appreciation
- first responder breakfasts
- blessing teachers before school starts
- parent survival nights
Crisis Response
- emergency utility assistance
- grief support
- addiction recovery partnerships
- counseling referrals
- divorce care
- job interview coaching
Every Person Has a Place
Making Christ Visible isn’t just something our church does. It is something every follower of Jesus is invited to live every day. You don’t have to lead a committee, teach a class, or serve on a church board to make Christ visible.
Every act of kindness…
Every encouraging word…
Every prayer…
Every invitation…
Every meal shared…
Every child loved…
Every neighbor served…
Every person welcomed…
Every gift offered…
…makes Christ visible.
God has uniquely gifted every one of us with different abilities, experiences, passions, and opportunities. Together we become the visible presence of Christ in Jasper and beyond. The question is not, “Can I make a difference?” The question is,
“Where is God inviting you to make Christ visible?”
Your Next Step
Pray
Ask God each morning: “Lord, help me make Christ visible today.”
Love
Look for one person you can encourage, welcome, forgive, or serve this week.
Worship
Come expecting God to speak—and invite someone to experience worship with you.
Serve
Use your gifts in one of our ministries or help us launch a new one.
Grow
Join a small group, Bible study, or discipleship opportunity.
Dream
What ministry has God placed on your heart? Maybe He is actually calling YOU to help begin it.
Making Christ Visible doesn’t begin when you walk through the church doors. It begins when you walk back into the world. This week… Love someone. Serve someone. Encourage someone. Invite someone. Forgive someone. Pray with someone.
Make Christ Visible.
Funding the Mission
Love
Hospitality – $7,500 Update front entry area with rugs and new furniture
Purchase Visitor QR Tags
Upgrade visitor welcome gift
Worship
Creative Worship Experiences during the year – $3,000
Ramp to Stage – $2500 one time expense
Promotional Materials and Ads $3-5,000
Front Porch Jam and Music Programs $3000
Short Film – Working Title: Circle in the Darkness $3,000
This film will use local talent and be used to promote the message and hope of Jesus Christ in our community. It will be submitted to the 168 Christian Film Festival competition.
Service
Little Food Pantry Boxes
Sponsorship per location $6-$12,000 yearly
Storage Building $10-15,000 one time expense
Good Neighbor Project
Quarterly Neighbor Gifts and materials $500- $1000 per quarter
Our Mission is simple: Making Christ Visible!
A New Logo
To support our new vision, Making Christ Visible, we have also created a new logo. More than simply a new design, this logo honors our history while pointing toward the future God is calling us to embrace.
At the center is the familiar Jasper “J”, preserving the identity and legacy of Jasper United Methodist Church. The white cross woven into the “J” reminds us that Christ remains at the heart of everything we are and everything we do.
Surrounding the “J” is an open arch, representing both the church and an open doorway. It is a symbol of welcome, invitation, and God’s presence—a reminder that the church is not simply a building but a place where people are invited to encounter Christ.
The “J” and arch rest upon a gentle hill, recalling both Calvary, where Christ demonstrated God’s redeeming love, and the beautiful hills of Pickens County, reminding us that Christ’s presence is revealed not only in biblical history but also here, in the community we are called to serve.
Radiating from behind the “J” are rays of light, symbolizing the light of Christ shining into the world. They express warmth, hope, peace, and the expanding influence of Christ’s love as it reaches beyond the walls of our church into our homes, our community, and the world.
The word Christ is highlighted in red, representing the sacrificial love of Christ revealed through the cross. It reminds us that Christ is the visible expression of God’s love for all humanity and remains the center of our mission.
Finally, the green leaves beneath the logo symbolize life, growth, and new beginnings. They remind us that as we worship, love, and serve, God continues to bring new life through the ministry of Jasper United Methodist Church.
Together, these elements tell the story of who we are and who we are becoming—a church rooted in Christ, grounded in our community, and committed to Making Christ Visible.
A Brief History of Jasper United Methodist Church
In the earliest days of Jasper’s history, even before Pickens County was created on December 5, 1853, the move began to establish a Methodist Church in this community. This movement was led by James Simmons, Charles McClure and James Lovelace.
In 1850 a building committee was appointed, and in spite of the approaching days of the Civil War, the church building was completed on one acre of land deeded by James Simmons to the Jasper Church Trustees.
Two years before the church was built, a Sunday School was organized in the shade of a big oak tree which once stood on the church grounds. William H. Simmons was superintendent of this Sunday School, serving in this capacity for 32 years, until his death in 1881. This was the first Sunday School organized in Jasper by any denomination.
In 1860 the log church was completed and the congregation was served by “local preachers”, dedicated men of God but without the formal training and ordination of modern-day Methodist ministers.
The original log building was used for a schoolhouse during the week and for church services on Sundays. Citizens of the town bought cemetery lots on nearby land that was given to the church and this money was used to help pay for that first log building.
The men of the church donated their work, hand planning the lumber, and the ladies cooked dinner and carried it to the workmen. They also swept out the shavings and did what they could to make the church attractive, clean and inviting. When it was finished, an “all day meeting” and dinner on the grounds was held. This celebration took place where the church cemetery is now located.
In those days, children and adults had to sit still on hard plank benches through long sermons. Whoever got to the church first was supposed to build a fire. The heater burned long, green firewood and the stove pipe would get so hot it would smoke, but the church was never warm in the winter. However, early records of a Quarterly Conference Report reflected that, “Sunday School is expected to survive through the winter of 1887.”
The Jasper Charge was placed in the North Georgia Conference in 1868 and two years later, in 1870, a more modern frame building was erected. So well was it built that the main part of the structure, although remodeled and added to several times over the years, is still in use today.
Throughout its history, this church has been served by a long line of able pastors, among them Nath Thompson, Bishop W.T. Watkins, E.P. Kendall, Sanford McDonald, Robert Kerr, Charles Wilson and others who have left this mark on the congregation. This leadership has continued in recent years under the direction of Lloyd Lovern, Gerald Thurman, Lynn Walker, Max Caylor, Hoyt Jenkins, Herb Flanders, Jerry Peele, and at present, Chip Wilson.
A major renovation project was completed in 1949 when the building was moved back further from the road, which by this time had become a busy street. However, the lines of the old building were preserved. A daylight basement was added which provided Sunday School classrooms, restrooms, kitchen and an assembly/recreation hall finished in pine paneling. A new hot water system was installed, the grounds graded and grass sown. The sanctuary was completely re-decorated, including brass lighting fixtures and a choir loft added behind the pulpit. This work enhanced the worshipful atmosphere of the old church with the project costing approximately $11,000.
At that time, 1949, membership was 125. The Sunday School had an active roll of 121, an enviable percentage compared with present day Sunday School attendance.
In 1956 the church further improved its facilities by bricking the main structure and adding a three-story annex across the back. This provided more adequate kitchen facilities, recreation hall, pastor’s study, choir room, classrooms, nursery and storage room. These extensive improvements required a loan of $28,000 with approximately an equal amount of contributions. This loan was cleared in 1967.
A most notable advance by the Jasper Methodist Church was made when it went to a full-time ministry. In July, 1962 Dr. Charles Wilson was named the church’s first full time pastor. Excellent leadership was given by Dr. Wilson and the church took on a new spirit to move ahead with the members working with determination to ready an old dwelling on Main Street as a temporary parsonage. They moved to demolish the first house used as a parsonage in Jasper and drew up plans for a ranch-style, brick parsonage on the old parsonage site. Arrangements were made to obtain $20,000 to build it and this debt was cleared in 1974.
In 1968 the Evangelical United Brethen and the Methodist Church combined to form the United Methodist Church and the Jasper church became the Jasper United Methodist Church.
In 1977, under the capable leadership of Dr. Gerald Thurman, improvements were made to the sanctuary by adding storm windows, repainting, and carpeting some areas. The following year the church voted to replace the pews which had been made in 1904 of the finest oak timber by Rhyne Brothers Mfg. Company for $3.50 each. Stained glass windows were installed, lighting improved, new carpeting laid and the sanctuary generally refurbished. The 1978 improvements were met by bequests by the Kennemur Estate, the Bell Estate and contributions from the membership, with he work done by students from Pickens Tech. The expense for these improvements amounted to over $15,000.
From those earliest days when the ladies swept out chips and shavings from the log church building, the church has seen much activity and support from its women members. But it would be many years before they joined together in a formal organization. One hot July day in 1925, Miss Bert Winter and Mrs. Autry rode into the village of Jasper in a Model T Ford to organize a Women’s Missionary Society. Three women from the church wee interested enough to meet with them. Miss Bert quoted the scripture, “For where two or three gather together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” They took heart and organized. The women’s group, though the name has changed many times across the years, has remained. Services rendered, volumes studied, money collected and spent at home and abroad for missions has been notable.
In 1988 a temporary addition to the fellowship hall was built by the men of the church. Also at that time, the church membership voted to purchase the property adjoining the church on the east side and the Harrison property (since that time this property has been sold) across Church Street for future expansion. In January, 1994 the church retired the note for this property.
In 1998, our beautiful sanctuary was destroyed in a fire. There was a multi-purpose building being built at this time at the lower part of the property. That building was completed in November of that same year and is now being used as the current Sanctuary and Education Building.
The earliest records available, the year 1885, show the church contributed $62.50 “for the support of the ministry”. The budget for 1979 for Jasper United Methodist Church was $34,931, and the budget for 2007 is $587,432. Members on register in 1885 totaled 62; and now in 2007 the membership is above 800 members.
The Jasper United Methodist Church has a historic background and combined with today’s enthusiasm goes forth into her third century of proclaiming “Jesus Christ is Lord.”