The North Georgia Conference is an Annual Conference

Annual Conference

An Annual Conference in the United Methodist Church is a regional body that governs much of the life of the "Connectional Church." Annual conferences are composed primarily of the clergy members and a lay member or members from each charge . Each conference is a geographical division...

 (a regional episcopal

Episcopal polity

Episcopal polity is a form of church governance that is hierarchical in structure with the chief authority over a local Christian church resting in a bishop...

 area, similar to a diocese

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

) of the United Methodist Church

United Methodist Church

The United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...

. This conference serves the northern half of the state of Georgia, with its administrative offices and the office of the bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 located in Norcross, GA. It is part of the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference. The bishop is Bishop B. Michael Watson

B. Michael Watson

B. Michael Watson is a Bishop of The United Methodist Church, elected in 2000. He is currently Resident Bishop of the North Georgia Annual Conference, which comprises 1,000 churches, more than 1,500 clergy members, and more than 320,000 lay members.-Education:Watson received a bachelor of science...

.

Bishops

• 1996 - 2008: Bishop G. Lindsey Davis
  G. Lindsey Davis
  G. Lindsey Davis is an American Bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1996.-Birth and Family:Davis was born in Durham, North Carolina. He married Jennifer Mink of Pineville, Kentucky on 20 May 1972...
  
  
• 2008 - Current: Bishop B. Michael Watson
  B. Michael Watson
  B. Michael Watson is a Bishop of The United Methodist Church, elected in 2000. He is currently Resident Bishop of the North Georgia Annual Conference, which comprises 1,000 churches, more than 1,500 clergy members, and more than 320,000 lay members.-Education:Watson received a bachelor of science...
  
  

Bishop B. Michael Watson was installed September 7, 2008.

Districts

The North Georgia Annual Conference is further subdivided into 12 smaller regions, called "districts," which provide further administrative functions for the operation of local churches in cooperation with each other. This structure is vital to Methodism

Methodism

Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...

, and is referred to as connectionalism

Connectionalism

The term Connexionalism is today most commonly used to describe the theological understanding and foundation of Methodist polity, as practised in the British Methodist Church and the American United Methodist Church...

. The Districts that comprise the North Georgia Conference are:

• Atlanta-College Park
• Atlanta-Decatur-Oxford
• Atlanta-Emory
• Atlanta-Marietta
• Atlanta-Roswell
• Athens-Elberton
• Augusta
• Gainesville
• Griffin
• LaGrange
• Northwest
• Rome-Carrollton

External links

• North Georgia Conference of The United Methodist Church