Oak Grove United Methodist Church in Decatur, GA broke ground August 23, for a new youth and education building. The building will replace the 1950s youth building, which will be demolished, and will provide an additional 20,000 square feet of educational space. The building will connect the church’s main building to the old sanctuary and education building that stands at the corner of Fair Oaks Road and Oak Grove Road.
The new building will meet the needs of the church’s large youth and children’s ministry as well as updating the existing educational wing, which was built in 1969.
“This has been a dream of the congregation since it built the sanctuary in 1969. For some of our long term members, they have seen the master plan for over 40 years, and now that dream is coming to fruition. There is an incredible amount of life and energy around the building program,” Rev. Glenn Ethridge, Sr. Pastor, said.
The total building program expenses including renovation and new addition will be just over $10 million and will be paid through contributions. Already the church spent over $1 million of the total in renovating the education wing, updating systems and finishes.
The church hopes to occupy the new ministry space in the summer of 2016.
Oak Grove United Methodist Church has been on Oak Grove Road since 1836, starting in a log cabin across from what is now Oak Grove Elementary School. The church is well-known for its youth, children, and music ministries. Recently the church added strong emphasis on mission and small group ministry. The church has over 250 people involved in small discipleship groups, and the church leads the community in the It’s Spooky to Be Hungry food drive each fall, providing enough food to operate one of the local food banks for six months.
The church operates two schools – a traditional church half-day preschool, Young Children’s School, and a licensed all-day daycare program called the Oak Grove Christian School. The two schools have a combined enrollment of 425 students. In addition, Oak Grove has one of the oldest and largest Scout programs in the city.
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