We seek to live lovingly and justly as servants of Jesus Christ by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, caring for the stranger, freeing the oppressed, being a compassionate presence, and working to develop social structures that are consistent with the gospel.
Local Missions:
Family Promise - Family Promise works to provide needs to children & their families dealing with homeless transition. While the family lives in the Day Center, First UMC provides financial support, pantry items, ingredients for meals, baked goods, & gift cards. Contact Kelly Smith to volunteer.
Arnold Memorial Elementary School - First UMC has adopted Arnold Elementary as their partner school. Our partnership includes providing school supplies; volunteer help for different functions the school hosts during the year, teacher appreciation in the form of food, gift cards, letters of appreciation, painting, cleaning, & more.
Holston Home for Children - Holston Home provides quality, compassionate care for children & focuses on getting the child & family reunited. FUMC collects a Fifth Sunday Offering during Worship Service to help support this ministry. Seeker’s Circle collects school supplies each August for the children at Holston Home.
The Caring Place - The Caring Place is a local organization that assists with food & clothing to those in need. Their ability to help is based on our willingness to give. As a church, we collect food donations on a quarterly basis.
Bread of Life II - The 2nd Thursday of each month, members of First UMC cook & serve dinner (40-50 meals) to the Recovery Alive program at South Cleveland Church of God. We need people to prepare, take & serve the meals.
National Missions:
UMCOR Sager Brown Depot, Baldwin, LA. Mission Trip in August. As the humanitarian relief and development arm of The United Methodist Church, the United Methodist Committee on Relief – UMCOR – assists United Methodists and churches to become involved globally in direct ministry to persons in need. UMCOR comes alongside those who suffer from natural or human-caused disasters – famine, hurricane, war, flood, fire or other events—to alleviate suffering and serve as a source of help and hope for the vulnerable. Volunteers to Sager Brown Depot have prepared approximately $4 million on average annually in relief supplies for shipment from the UMCOR Sager Brown Depot in response to disasters in the United States. During their visits, volunteer team members assemble, verify and pack relief supply kits. Learn more about kits here: https://umcmission.org/relief-supplies/.
Sacred Road, Yakima, Washington. Mission Trip in June - Sacred Road is a united and growing community of believers serving the Lord and ministering in Indigenous communities.
Sacred Road is a church planting ministry with a passion for God, our “first neighbors”, and each other. We are moved into action by Isaiah 58, as God calls His people to minister to the needy and oppressed. All of our efforts are motivated by the message of the Gospel and spreading the good news of Christ. We seek to raise up generations of leaders built-up through strong relationships, discipleship, and consistent service.
International Missions:
Vimperk Partnership, Czech Republic - trip in July.
Mary Diana Samuel Home, Chennai, India. The Mary Diana Samuel Home and Shelter was established in 2010 to love, shelter, nurture and educate seventy to one hundred girls in India from the age of three to eighteen who are orphans or whose parents are unable to take care of them.
The founders hoped to provide opportunity for the girls to be taught the truth from God’s word without denominational bias
Each February a team goes to visit the Mary Diana Samuel Home and stays in the guest house. This is one of the ministries that our church family supports in many ways. We hope to change the story for each of these girls.
Words of Isa, Tyre, Lebanon. Our mission is to take the Gospel of Christ to some of the most unreached areas in the world. We have a vision to plant Churches and home Bible study groups in strongly Muslim Arab areas and raise up missionaries, Elders, and Pastors who will carry the Gospel to the rest of the Arabic-speaking world. Our current Church planting work in Tyre is a network of 20 home Bible study meetings (and growing!) among Muslims which are led by a team of six Muslim Background believers working in cooperation with us.
Estonia Seminary Scholarship
