The congregation of Lithia Springs Methodist Church gathered in worship in the sanctuary

A Stewardship Campaign of Lithia Springs Methodist Church

Faith, Fellowship & Fresh Air

Caring for the church that cares for us.

For more than 140 years, Lithia Springs Methodist Church has been a place where faith takes root, families find belonging, and neighbors find help. The two oldest systems on the campus have reached the end of their serviceable lives, and this spring a failure in the heating loop left our sanctuary and third floor without heat for the coming winter. Help us protect this house for the next generation.

Give Now See What Your Gift Protects

$157,441 raised and designated toward our $800,000 goal

20% of Goal

Includes $77,133 given by our congregation and community, and an $80,308 fund set aside by a previous generation for exactly this need. As of September 17, 2026.

This total reflects gifts received and funds designated before Consecration Sunday. The pledge commitments our congregation brought to the altar on September 20 are being tallied and are not yet included.

Our Ministries

This Building Makes All of This Possible

“The church is not this building. We are the church — but this building makes it possible for us to reach out and to provide ministry for our community.”Rev. Thomas Long, Pastor

Drive-Thru Food Pantry

In partnership with the Atlanta Community Food Bank, Borden Dairy, and the Good Samaritan Center of Douglasville, serving 100+ families at each distribution — 168 families, with the help of 64 volunteers, at our very first.

Backpack Blessings

Weekend food, clothing, and snacks for students at Annette Winn Elementary School, directly across the street — a Partner in Education relationship named for a member of this congregation.

After-School Tutoring

With the C.E. Mitchell Services Foundation: 10–15 students each week, three evenings a week.

Good Samaritan Ministry

$18,800 in direct emergency help in 2025 — rent, utilities, shelter — almost entirely to non-members, with referrals from Douglas County Schools.

Scouting, 70+ Years

Cub Scout Pack 62 and Scouts BSA Troop 62 meet weekly in our fellowship hall; the spaghetti-dinner tradition is older than most of its cooks.

How Far to Bethlehem

Each Advent, our free drive-through Live Nativity welcomes the community across the church grounds with the Christmas story.

And many more — including Operation Christmas Child, the Fall Festival and Easter egg hunt, choirs and handbells, and the community garden.

From Our Congregation

In November 2025, Pastor Thomas Long asked the congregation to remember how they had seen God move in their midst. One member answered:

Hear the congregation speak for themselves →

“We finally found home again. I just want to thank everybody here that’s really brought us in and accepted us as family.”

A member of this congregation · November 2025

Learn More About Our Church

This is what these gathering places make possible — but keeping them usable now requires renewing the aging systems that serve them.

Why We're Asking

The Project Is Mechanical. The Purpose Is Ministry.

The campus does not have one heating and cooling system. It has three, and this project replaces the two oldest: the 1961 system serving the original education building and the 1979 system serving the sanctuary and the education building’s third floor, which were built together. The newer system in the children’s building remains in service.

Planning began in 2025, while both systems were still operating. When the 1979 return line failed the following April, it raised the stakes on work already underway.

The church's 1961 boiler: a riveted, rusting unit in the education building's mechanical room, the insulation on its pipes crumbling — The 1961 boiler serves the original education-building system. The boiler serving the sanctuary and third floor was shut down and drained after the April 2026 return-line failure.

The 1979 System — Sanctuary and Third Floor

The sanctuary and the education building’s third floor were built together in 1979 and share one system. In April 2026, a heating return line serving them rusted through at an elbow, forcing that boiler to be shut down and drained below the leak. The boiler also failed its 2026 inspection, and the church has notified the inspector that it will no longer be used.

Worship and music in the sanctuary, and the classrooms and meeting rooms on the third floor, all depend on this system. Until the work is done, those spaces face the coming winter without heat.

The 1961 System — Original Education Building

The first two floors of the education building run on the system installed in 1961. Replacement parts are no longer manufactured.

The Fellowship Hall air conditioning on the first floor also serves second-floor offices and classrooms. These rooms hold meals, Scouts, small groups, Sunday School, tutoring, and Vacation Bible School through the week.

To replace them, our mechanical engineer has completed a full replacement design: fourteen individually controlled, high-efficiency units, zoned so every space is conditioned only when in use. The $800,000 goal covers the complete job: electrical work, removal of the old boilers and piping, any required abatement, and cleaning and testing the existing ductwork so what still serves can stay. Competitive bids will determine the final installation sequence.

“Sometimes our needs are the needs of our community.”Rev. Thomas Long, Pastor · September 6, 2026

Support the Campaign

September 20, 2026

Consecration Sunday

“Buildings are just tools that allow us to minister to people and allow us to carry Jesus into their lives.”Rev. Thomas Long, Pastor

On September 20, our congregation brought its pledge cards forward to the altar together, and they were prayed over. To everyone who made a commitment: thank you. Those commitments are being tallied and are not yet in the campaign total. If you haven’t pledged yet, you still can — pledges may be fulfilled over time as each household is able, and our general fund and weekly ministries stay protected.

Give Online

There is no minimum gift. Every campaign gift is restricted to the HVAC project and its directly related costs. The Board of Trustees oversees the fund, and members are asked to give above and beyond their regular offerings.

Give by check — payable to Lithia Springs Methodist Church, memo “HVAC,” mailed to PO Box 627, Lithia Springs, GA 30122, or placed in the offering plate.

Want the paper card? Download the pledge card (PDF) — completed cards may go in the offering plate any Sunday or reach the office by mail.

Questions, pledges, or larger gifts — office@lithiaspringsmethodist.org · 770-948-5429.

The wooden chancel cross of the sanctuary — a sunburst of graduated slats around the cross — lit warmly against the wall beneath the vaulted ceiling — The chancel of our sanctuary — where the pledge cards rested on September 20.

Lithia Springs Methodist Church from above: the sanctuary with its steeple and diamond-paned gable, the education building behind it, and the gazebo and covered walkways joining the campus

Who We Are

Lithia Springs Methodist Church is a congregation of the North Georgia Conference of the Global Methodist Church. Rooted in the Wesleyan tradition, our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ who worship passionately, love extravagantly, and witness boldly. Since 1885, this congregation has carried that mission in Lithia Springs.

Help us protect this house for the next generation.

Give to the Campaign

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