Giving at FPC
Support Your Church & FPC Service Efforts
Make a single donation, submit an annual estimate of giving, or learn more about the 1820 Legacy Society or Columbarium
GIVE
Support First Presbyterian Church of Athens, its commitment to its members, and its mission of service and outreach by making a one-time donation, pledging your donations for the year, or planning for the future of FPC in your estate or will with the 1820 Legacy Society.
FPC recently celebrated its 200th year! This is such an exciting time to be a member of First Presbyterian Church of Athens, and to recognize our shared opportunity to give back to the church which means so much to each of us, and to help support our mission of service to our local community, to our nation, and to the world beyond.
You can keep track of your contributions using your member login. We update accounts with contributions on a monthly basis.
If you are having issues accessing your account, please contact Paulo Santos.
Please be aware that the Church pays a fee for gifts given with a credit card. If you would like to cover this fee, please add 3.5% to your contribution. Thank you for your generosity!
Make a One-Time Donation to FPC
Make an instant, one-time donation to FPC via our secured system. You may also select which fund to which you would like your contribution to cover, including: General Fund, Capital Stewardship Gifts, Sunday School, Memorials, Debt Elimination Fund or Columbarium, or a current special offering or outreach project.
Submit an Estimate of Giving to FPC for the Calendar Year
Submit a calendar-year estimate of giving to First Presbyterian Church in cash or securities, payable weekly, monthly or quarterly.
The 1820 Legacy Society
Our church was founded by twenty-one faithful disciples of Jesus Christ on Christmas Day 1820. More than two hundred years later, we are continuing what God began through them. Joining the 1820 Legacy Society of First Presbyterian Church of Athens means that you will participate in the ongoing life of this congregation by including the church in your will or estate plans.
Learn more about including FPC in your will or estate planning:
Columbarium
A columbarium has been under consideration at First Presbyterian for more than 15 years. On February 19, 2023, we had a ceremony of dedication of the recently finished first phase, which contains 196 two-person niches. A columbarium within the bounds of the church will allow our members to retain a connection with the church in death as well as in life, and it will provide a place of meditation and consolation for the families and friends of the deceased.
The paved area along the Post Office side of the Sanctuary was widened with a higher retaining wall against which the columbarium niches are installed. New landscaping, lighting, gates, and fencing were installed, with benches for visitors.
If you are interested in acquiring one or more niches, please complete a brief survey. Some key facts are listed below to help with your decision.
At the bottom of this section, please complete the brief survey to indicate your level of interest.
Architect’s Rendering of Completed Columbarium
Questions and Answers About the Columbarium
What is a columbarium?
A permanent structure with 12-inch by 12-inch cubicles, or niches, for holding urns with the cremated remains of loved ones. Phase One of FPC’s columbarium will have 196 niches, each accommodating two urns and sealed with a granite front. Three black granite panels, inscribed with Bible verses, also will be installed.
What can be inscribed on the granite front of the niche?
The full names, birth month/date/year and death month/date/year. A military emblem also can be inscribed if the deceased served.
Who can be inurned in this columbarium?
Members or former members, pastors and staff of FPC, their spouses or partners, their children and step-children, grandchildren and step-grandchildren, their parents.
How will our columbarium be financed?
Through the sale of niches, donor contributions, and memorial gifts. Columbarium sales will fund maintenance and perpetual care through a portion of each niche’s sales price.
How much does a niche cost and what is included?
From $1,500 to $3,000 based on location and includes choice of location, inurnment by a FPC pastor, opening and closing of the niche, record-keeping, and maintenance in perpetuity. It does not include cremation, the urn, or inscribing the niche’s stone front.
How many niches may I buy?
As many as needed. Families or friends may opt to purchase adjacent niches.
Can I return a niche if my plans change?
Yes, FPC will buy back an unused niche at the original purchase price.
May I use my own urn?
Yes, as long as it fits within the niche. Or, a 5½-inch by 5½-inch by 7-inch satin-finish, sheet-bronze urn is available through the church for $90.
What is the size of the niche?
The inscribed granite front of the niche is 12-inches by 12-inches. The interior is 11½-inches wide, 11¾-inches high, and 11¾-inches deep.
When can I access the area to visit a loved one?
Any time the church office is open, the columbarium area will be accessible.
Who will maintain records and operate the columbarium?
FPC staff will maintain all records and the Session, with a perpetual-care fund, will maintain the structure and landscaping, and supervise all service providers.
Interested? Need more information?
Please complete this brief survey to indicate your level of interest in the Columbarium at FPC:
ANNUAL REPORTS: First Presbyterian Church of Athens
Spotlight on Matthew 25
“Over the coming months, we will learn more about the Matthew 25 initiative of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), in which the entire Church is called to come together around three missional foci: building congregational vitality, eradicating systemic poverty, and dismantling structural racism.
As I think about the critical theological, moral, and ethical tasks before the Church in the coming years, it strikes me that God is already in the world doing these things. God is in the business of building vital congregations. God is in the business of eradicating poverty. God is in the business of tearing down the dividing walls of racism. As Presbyterians, we believe that God moves in the world, and we respond. Matthew 25’s foci aren’t “new initiatives” so much as they are places where Presbyterians across the nation have seen the evidence of God’s “fingerprints” already at work in the world, and we are joining our hands and hearts together as one Church in the work that God is already doing.”
— Dr. Ryan Baer, Senior Pastor