After an inspiring sermon message and a picnic lunch, members of Mt. Zion United Methodist Church dived into an old-style summer carnival Sunday afternoon as they celebrated the 125th anniversary of the church’s founding.
The carnival atmosphere included cotton candy, snow cones and hitting the bell.
That’s where long-time Mt. Zion member Dayle Thompson was volunteering.
Thompson said she and her family began attending Mt. Zion around 30 years ago, when her children were young, because of the church’s strong youth programs.
They had come from a bigger church where they felt they didn’t quite fit in, and found that for them, Mt. Zion “was the right size.
“They really try for a family appeal,” she said. “Especially as you get older, you find your church family becomes as important as your own family.”
She is involved in the adult Sunday School program and has been a part of Mt. Zion’s participation in the Family Promise of Cobb County outreach program, which includes 13 faith communities in the county.
Mt. Zion’s first service took place on Aug. 19, 1892. The congregation moved to its present location on donated farm land at 1770 Johnson Ferry Road in 1964. Historical messages were pinned to the walls of the gymnasium, with deeply-researched answers underneath.
The church’s original location was on Post Oak Tritt Road near Johnson Ferry and where the Mt. Zion Cemetery is still located. The current sanctuary was opened in 1976, and the Family Ministries building opened in 1985. More renovations were made in 1997, not long after Mt. Zion marked its 100th anniversary.
