Atlanta First United Methodist Church in

Atlanta First United Methodist Church in Georgia will hold an organ concert on Friday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m.

In a Facebook post, the church said it invited the public to the concert, which will showcase the Atlanta First Director of Music and Worship, Rowena Dennard.

Dennard, a retired teacher from the Atlanta Public Schools, has over 50 years of performance experience and is in high demand as an accompanist, clinician, and director, according to the church.

The church said the organ has five mobile manual consoles, 155 ranks (61 pipes per rank), and hundreds of digital MIDI instruments.

The main organ has six divisions and the gallery antiphonal organ has three divisions, it added.

Atlanta First Director of Music and Worship

Atlanta First United Methodist Church said Dennard has worked with organizations like the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Progressive National Baptist Convention, the American Baptist Churches of the South, the Atlanta Missionary Baptist Association, West Hunter Street Baptist Church, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., and the NAACP ACT-SO C.

She also graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Talledega College and a Master of Music Education from Georgia State University, it added.

The church said the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated (Golden Life), the American Guild of Organists, the National Association of Negro Musicians, the Metropolitan Atlanta Musicians Association, and the Atlanta African American Music Society are just a few of the organizations she belongs to.

According to the church, Dennard will play the organ that the A constructed in 2007. Georgia's E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company is located in Lithonia.

Interested participants may visit atlantafirstumc.org/afumc175 for more information.

Church’s History

Though the past of the Atlanta First United Methodist Church is essentially about people, the church claims that its history places a greater emphasis on places and buildings than it does on specific persons, according to the church's website.

The church acknowledged the years of faith, compassion, and sacrifice that had been made in order for it to grow and thrive during the course of its first 170 years.

Atlanta First United Methodist Church asserted that prominent and well-known individuals have contributed significantly to Atlanta's development both historically and currently.

The congregation claimed that because it can accommodate both wealthy and less wealthy members' spiritual needs in the city's core, the church has repeatedly made the decision to stay there.

According to Atlanta First United Methodist Church, a kind man by the name of Samuel Mitchell donated a substantial tract of land to the Methodists in 1845.

The church said a triangle-shaped parcel is bounded by Peachtree, Pryor, and Houston Streets (near where the Georgia Pacific building stands).

It added that a little log dwelling with chimneys at either end was constructed here. It further mentioned that it ran as a church on Sundays and a school during the week.

Atlanta First United Methodist Church reported that the Union Sabbath School, a multi-religious Sunday school, was founded. Preaching services were held by all three denominations, according to the church: Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists.