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History of the South Georgia Conference

January 5, 1831 – Georgia Conference held its first session in Mulberry Street Methodist Episcopal Church, Macon

The new Georgia Conference had six districts: Augusta, Athens, Columbus, Milledgeville, Oconee and Tallahassee. The Tallahassee District covered all the work in Florida and part of South Georgia.

 

1866- Georgia Conference divides into two conferences; the North and South Georgia Conference

The meeting was held in Americus. The Georgia state line became the outer boundaries of both conference with the Georgia congregations attached to the Florida Conference returning to the South Georgia Conference. The boundary between the North and South Georgia Conference, then and now, extends from where Pine Mountain meets the Chattahoochee River just above Columbus across to the Monroe County line above Macon across part of Jones County along the southern edge of Baldwin, Hancock, Warren and Richmond counties to the Savannah River just below Augusta. In 1867, like today, the South Georgia Conference covers the same geographical area which includes 65 counties and a portion of Harris County, an area 35,665 square miles or 61.2 % of the state.

 

December 11-16, 1867 – First Session of South Georgia Conference held at Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Savannah

Bishop George Foster Pierce, a Georgia Conference member when elected Bishop, presided. The 10 districts were: Altamaha, Americus, Bainbridge, Brunswick, Columbus, Macon, Savannah, and three African American districts, Ft. Valley, Bainbridge, and Tallahassee.

 

1900-1939 – Districts were Americus, Columbus, Cordele, Dublin, Macon, North Macon, South Macon, McRae, Savannah, Thomasville, Valdosta, Waycross

 

1939 – First session as the The Methodist Church with the unification of the Methodist Episcopal Church, The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Methodist Protestant Church

The South Georgia Conference became one of 16 conferences in the Southeastern Jurisdiction. The Districts were Americus, Columbus, Dublin, Macon, Savannah, Statesboro, Thomasville, Valdosta, Waycross

 

1968 – The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren become the United Methodist Church

First session as the United Methodist Church held at Mulberry Street Methodist Church, Macon

Central Jurisdiction began merging into the geographic jurisdictions in which they lay.

 

2014 - The Districts were Coastal, North Central, Northeast, Northwest, South Central, and Southwest.

 

**Information provided by the Arthur J. Moore Methodist Museum.

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3040 Riverside Dr., Suite A-2 - Macon, GA 31210

478-738-0048

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99 Arthur J. Moore Dr - St Simons Is., GA 31522

PO Box 20408 - St Simons Is., GA 31522

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