Welcome! We are becoming an Acts 1:8 church. What is that kind of church? It is a church that can't ignore the hurting people in the world, that hears the cry of the needy and answers Jesus' command: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth!" Specifically, our prayer is to share through God empowered witness, God's great love to our friends and famiy in Washington, Wilkes and surrounding counties, Georgia, and all the world! How do we do this?
In the town of Washington and to residents of Wilkes County we reach out in many ways. God's Marketplace, Inc, a local nonprofit we started with support from the Presbyterian and Episcopal churches, provides food and clothing to families. God's Marketplace, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) with many churches involved. GMI has a Thrift Store and a Food Pantry. At Christmas First United Methodist organizes and runs Angel Tree, a local community outreach to families with food and presents. We hope this will become a year-long outreach because families don't just hurt at Christmas, they have needs all year long. Our Seekers' Circle of friends reaches out to students with new bookbags filled to the brim with school supplies. At First United Methodist we help whenever we are asked and look for additional opportunities to generously give to many local projects.
Our youth reach out at Thanksgiving meals to homebound and elderly. This year they joined other area youth groups and delivered 272 meals, nearly doubling last year's numbers. In addition they join other youth for a week in the summer and repair houses in Lincoln County.
We reach out to Georgia through the Wilkes Pre-Release Center to witness of God's great love to prisoners through studies, parties and follow-up. In addition, for the past several years at Christmas we gave money for the purchase of toiletries for women incarcerated in Hancock Prison.
We join UM churches all over the world through World Service and UMCOR Giving. In addition we give to Heifer International, missionaries and others. We've sent two mission teams to help in Katrina Relief- one to Pascagoula and the other to Pearlington and donated money to Haitian Relief through United Methodist Committee on Relief, where 100% of our money goes to help others.
Presently we have a mission team that just returned from a trip to El Salvador. They will be sharing this Sunday, August 1 on all they experienced during their trip. They are there to help start up a thrift store like the one we have here in town. They took many suitcases full of items to help this thrift store get started. Please be praying for this team which consists of Gale and Rich Seibert, Ralph and Kay Bray, Kris Fisher, Tena Blakey, David Jones and Todd Lewis.
Washington First UMC is an exciting church. If you are tired of warming a pew or tired of wondering what it would be like to live a dynamic, Christian life, then pray about becoming part of God's work here.