COMMUNITY
Coweta churches reach out to adults at all stages of life By W. WINSTON SKINNER
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any church programs are aimed at children, but Coweta churches also are seeking to meet the needs of their parents and grandparents. “Children and older adults are the life and legacy of the church but what about the 20-, 30-, 40-something age group?” asked Yolanda JonesColton, pastor at Smith Chapel United Methodist Church. “I strongly believe that a church without an active children and youth ministry is a dying church.” Still, there are needs for adults at all stages of life. “We, as baby boomers grew up in a one-size-fits-all church,” she said. “This approach is no longer applicable, so we must focus on age appropriate ministries to enchance the interests of all age levels,” Jones-Colton said. She said today’s church must offer ministries “for the different stages and phases in the life of the church.” She said many families choose to join a church “based on the ministries the church has to offer.” Churches across Coweta offer a variety of programs to meet needs that adults face – unemployment, parenting problems, substance abuse and relationship challenges. Crossroads Church is a center for support groups which meet weekly — many of them at the church’s Highway 154 campus. “We live in a community where many folks are struggling with tough issues and need a safe, healing place 80 Coweta Living 2013-14
for help,” said Karen Turley. “We open our 154 Campus every Tuesday night at 7 so people can find a variety of support groups to help them break free of addictions, heal from past hurts or break destructive cycles in their life.” Turley said the groups are led by “trained lay counselors who have found long-term freedom in these areas as
provide a neutral location for job seekers, businesses and employers and organizations to meet. The ministry also provides “a forum for businesses to introduce themselves to the job seekers in the community and a place for job seekers to introduce themselves to these businesses,” Whitlock said.
Churches across Coweta are reaching out to the community, offering a variety of programs to meet needs that adults face — unemployment, parenting problems, substance abuse and relationship challenges. well.” All the groups are confidential and free. “We also offer support groups for elementary, middle and high school students who are struggling and free child-care for kids under 12 not attending a group,” she said. First United Methodist Church in downtown Newnan is home to the Job Network, which meets monthly and offers hope and help to those who are unemployed and underemployed. The group got started in September 2003. The goal of organizers was “to provide a meeting place” where those seeking a job could connect “with local businesses and organizations that could help them in their search for another employment opportunity,” said Andy Whitlock. The Job Network continues to meet the second Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. in the church’s parish hall on Greenville Street. The meetings
Because the setting is informal, those seeking work can often have a conversation with an employer. Also, job seekers meet other job seekers and volunteers who can help in their job search. Whitlock himself was laid off from his job as a software engineer in 2003. “My own job search took me to several job network meetings in North Atlanta at Roswell United Methodist Church, Crossroads Baptist in Dunwoody and St. Philips in Buckhead,” he said. “By the spring of 2003, I became convinced Coweta County needed a similar job networking program. Allen Rainwater, one of our ministers, encouraged me to seek others in the church and in the community who would support the ministry,” he recalled. Several church and community leaders — including Billy Arnall,