Déjà vu and dissonance hit The Rev. Reid Hamilton in 2023 as neighbors and friends at Elberton First United Methodist Church voted to leave or stay with their denomination after it lifted same-sex restrictions.
As the priest-in-charge at St. Alban’s Elberton, Hamilton remembered the painful 2003 exodus of parishes over the election of Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop.
From that experience, and his 25-member congregation’s deep ties throughout the county, Hamilton without hesitation offered the outvoted United Methodists a temporary home at St. Alban’s. The arrangement has worked so well for 18 months that today, Grace United Methodist Church (80 members) is a permanent “resident congregation” at St. Alban’s and a vital co-participant in worship and ministry.
Suzanne Moore, a St. Alban’s member since 1975, wasn’t sure about the arrangement at first. The parish’s longtime sense of belonging, liturgy, rituals, fun, and fellowship were all important to her.
From the closeness with the Grace congregation, however, “I have grown spiritually through new friendships, and renewing friendships as well with others whom I know from our community,” she said. “I find we are more alike than different as time goes on, and to me St. Albans is more alive and vibrant through our mutual support of each other.”
Music and Improvisation
Every Thursday, the two congregations share Noonday Prayer, lunch, and Bible study. They sometimes hold joint worship services, such as for Christmas Eve. Hamilton and his counterpart, Rev. Jim McCullough, cover for one another in pastoral emergencies, too.
“Pastor Jim McCollough has been an inspiration to me, always smiling, giving his time, listening, and giving good hugs,” Moore said. “I like his mantra: ‘You go to your church, and I go to mine. We learn and grow through sharing our space, time and talents.”
The younger, more numerous Grace UMC members volunteer for the physically demanding work around the building and grounds that the older St. Alban’s members can no longer do easily.
“I gotta say, and Jim and his congregation are like the perfect guests,” Hamilton said. “They are not only respectful of our space, they love it. Having younger folks around who are able to do some of the heavy lifting has been a real blessing.”
The synergy between congregations especially resonates through music. Soon after Hamilton came to St. Alban’s in 2021, senior warden Nancy Seymour asked him to play fiddle in a holiday concert at a local retirement center in Elberton. McCollough, who had been a UMC minister in Elberton since 2018, joined on guitar.
Music made Hamilton unusually open to the idea of sharing space with a non-Episcopal church. He co-wrote Better Get it in Your Soul: What Liturgists can Learn from Jazz, which emphasizes respect for others’ gifts and skills, discernment of the spiritual needs of the community, and actively welcoming the creative force of the Holy Spirit.
“An improvisational approach to liturgy and ministry is very much me,” he said. He spends one-fourth of his week at St. Alban’s and the rest as priest-in-charge at St. Andrew’s Hartwell. He spent most of his career in a jazz-influenced chaplaincy at the University of Michigan Canterbury House that “really taught me a lot about being flexible and open, just being willing to try unusual things,” he said.
He and McCollough also discovered that they both attended Emory Candler School of Theology in the 1990s. Along with all these connections, they easily stayed in touch because their congregations were both on Church Street in Elberton.
By 2023, “I knew that the Methodists were having issues that were strikingly parallel to those in The Episcopal Church starting about the time I was in seminary,” Hamilton said. “I knew, following their vote, that Jim and his congregation were going to need some worship space. They made a generous offer, and we signed a space use agreement for a year that now has been going on for 2.5 years.”
The two churches celebrated their commitment in October 2024 on their corner at Church Street and Brookside Drive by replacing three St. Alban’s signs with one sign. To Hamilton, the sign represents “a permanent and public witness to the community of Elberton that these two congregations could share a home —and exercise ministry —together.”
The Grace Perspective
Elberton is the seat of Elbert County (population: 20,000), 106 miles northeast of Atlanta and 34 miles from Athens. Located on the border of South Carolina, the town is known as the “granite capital of the world.”
The foundation of Elberton First United Methodist Church cracked with the June 2023 vote. A 67 percent majority vote was required to stay or leave the denomination, with the church property at stake as well. Voting was in response to a major change in the United Methodist Book of Discipline that eliminated discriminatory language and bans related to ministry by, with, and for “self-avowed practicing” gay and lesbian people.
When the 241 ballots were tallied, 72% of that congregation favored disaffiliation. They remain in the building as Elberton First Methodist Church, affiliated with the Global Methodist Church.
The margin of 12 votes was “a shock that I did not see coming,” McCullough said.
The UMC wanted to keep a presence in Elberton, and about 60 members of his former congregation wanted to be that presence, with McCullough continuing as senior pastor. For several months, he and his leadership team met in homes to pray and discern next steps.
“We were the sojourner, the stranger that needed welcome,” he said. “Our tabernacle was in a wilderness, and we were finding that our home was really in the hearts of our people. God was making a way for us, but the location of God is never in a building. Our grieving process wasn’t just about leaving the building, but for the ways that we believe are right. The longer journey has been to let go and be open to this new way God is calling us to be in relationship.”
By his calculation, the county is home to more than 100 churches, so he didn’t think they needed to build another one. He called Hamilton to see about making room “for a few weeks” at St. Alban’s.
“Before I could finish, he said, ‘Yes, absolutely,’” McCullough recalled. “They could not have been more affirming, more supportive, more loving, really. They just opened their arms wide, which is who they are.”
At St Alban’s, Grace worships at 10:30 am Sundays and Wednesdays at 6 pm. “This is great for both of us,” McCullough added. “It’s cutting edge and it’s exciting, and perhaps this is the church that we’re supposed to be, sharing burdens, joy, work and the ministry of Christ together.”
St. Alban’s is not the only surprising door that opened after the split among UMC churches.
As UMC Resident Bishop Robin Dease, who now leads Georgia’s two United Methodist conferences (North and South), said in a website video, “I have been blessed to witness the remarkable strengths, the real challenges, and the extraordinary opportunities before us. God’s hand is at work through The United Methodist Church here in Georgia. I want to remind us all that our journey is never meant to be walked alone. We are called to community. There is no ‘us and them.’”
The Spirit of St. Alban’s
The parish honors an early martyr who took a great personal risk to save a faith leader. “Alban was one of the earliest martyrs in Britain, back in about the fourth century, a soldier in the Roman army,” Hamilton said. “A Christian priest was running from the authorities, and Alban exchanged clothing with him and helped him get away, for which Alban was martyred.”
“That’s the kind of improvisation that really commits,” he added.
Today on a typical Sunday, about a dozen people gather at 8:30 am to worship. With help from Grace, the nave will soon have upgraded lighting and a better sound system.
“We’re such a small congregation that I would say our operations were on a shoestring before this arrangement with Grace, and while not much more than a shoestring was needed,” Hamilton said, “Grace is helping us develop a little bit of breathing room; to imagine some other things we might be able to do. That’s still in the formation stage and we don’t know what that’s gonna look like. I didn’t know this would happen when I invited Jim and his congregation into the space, but the Holy Spirit has been all over this, and I expect that to continue.”