ASBURY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH (DECATUR, GA.)
Records, 1954-1979.

RECORD GROUP NUMBER 031 

ACCESS: Unrestricted.

REPRODUCTION: All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.

COPYRIGHT: Information on copyright (literary rights) available from repository.

CITATION: Asbury United Methodist Church (Decatur, Ga.) Records, RG 031, Archives and Manuscripts Dept., Pitts Theology Library, Emory University. 

Asbury Methodist Church was organized on January 10, 1954 by Atlanta-East District Superintendent Nat G. Long.  Candler graduate Jack Bozeman served as the first pastor.  The new congregation was formed as a result of a joint survey between Candler School of Theology students and Glenn Memorial Methodist Church's Commission on Missions.  The survey determined a growing population of new home owners in Decatur in the Second Avenue, Glenwood, and Flat Shoals area.  Initially church members met in the auditorium of Leslie J. Steele Elementary School with a Baptist congregation.  In July 1954 the church purchased the 13.2 acre Oak Grove Ranch and renovated the auction barn to serve as the sanctuary.  The first service was held there on October 3, 1954.  The parsonage, located at 1290 Second Avenue, was purchased in 1955.

Asbury United Methodist Church was located at 2400 Flat Shoals Road in the Atlanta-Decatur-Oxford District.  Little is known about the church until 1979, when it was reported in the North Georgia Annual Conference Minutes that the property was no longer in use.  Three acres of the property were later sold to Victory Tabernacle.

The organization records consist of two church registers and two folders of loose material from these volumes.  The first volume covers the years 1954-1979.  The majority of records relate to baptism and church membership.  Records concerning deaths (1955-1964) and marriages (1958-1963) are limited.  This register also contains annual conference statistics for the years 1954-1962.  The second volume covers the years 1962-1974 and records far less information than the first.  There are no baptisms or marriage records and few membership (1963-1974) and death (1964-1965) records.

The loose material consists of membership lists, correspondence, and rolls.

CONTAINER LISTING

Box/Folder     Description                             Date

2/2            Church register                         1954-1979
1/1               Loose material                       1957-1966

2/3            Church register                         1962-1974
1/2               Loose material                       1970

Archives & Manuscripts
Pitts Theology Library
Emory University
Atlanta, GA  30322

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