Serve with Us
Serving Our Church, Athens,
and the World
FPC Inreach • Local, National & International Outreach
SERVE
Long ago St. Paul wrote these words to the church in Corinth:
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
Outreach Spotlight
We are each called to serve. We encourage each of you to use the gifts God has given you! Click the link below to learn more about Ways to Serve at FPC. If you need a background check, please e-mail Jennifer Adams.
Local Outreach
Hands-on Support
First Presbyterians have a long history of loving our neighbors in Athens. As individuals, our members care for others in the community in many ways— from serving on agency boards to volunteering in hands-on roles. As a church, we are directly involved in the following outreach endeavors:
• Our Daily Bread Community Kitchen
• American Red Cross Blood Drive
• Presbyterian Student Center Group Meals
• Thanksgiving Food Bag Sunday for Athens Area Emergency Food Bank
• FPC Children & Youth also participate in numerous outreach and service projects
• FPC makes space available for numerous community groups such as Athens Flute Choir, Campus Kitchen at UGA, and Kate’s Club.
Contact Mark Hopkins, Chair of Mission & Outreach Commission, via email for more information about Local Outreach.
Outreach Grant
The church annually gives outreach grants to organizations which serve those in need, especially those who are poor, homeless, under-educated, or have physical or mental health problems. To view a list of organizations currently receiving the Outreach Grant funding:
Applications for 2024 grants are due October 1, 2023. Applications will be reviewed as we receive them, and a final decision will be made in January of 2024.
National/International Outreach
& Mission Trips
Our compassion reaches across the country and around the globe.
First Presbyterian Church of Athens has supported the following ministries through our Outreach/Mission budget and/or volunteer participation:
Bethlehem Ministry in Haiti
This Athens-based 501(c)3 organization is dedicated to the support of a holistic approach to improving the lives of the poor of northeast Haiti. Believing in the empowerment of the Haitian people as the key to sustainability, Bethlehem Ministry works in community with Haitians through educational, economic, environmental, and health care initiatives.
Columbia Theological Seminary
We give to this PC(USA) seminary located in Decatur, Georgia dedicated to the formation of women and men for Christian ministry.
FPC Mission Trips
On alternate years we sponsor intergenerational (adults and youth), life-changing and life-affirming trips for service and learning.
Montreat
As a “Church Patron,” our congregation partners in ministry with this denominational conference center located in the beautiful North Carolina mountains. Montreat affords “relationships, renewal, recreation, and rest” for 35,000 visitors a year.
PC(USA) Mission
From underwriting mission personnel in more than 50 countries who are focusing on initiatives in reconciliation, evangelism, and global poverty to promoting causes in the United States like child advocacy and education, our denomination spreads God’s love in tangible ways. Explore the many ways the Presbyterian Church (USA) is partnering with God.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance enables congregations and mission partners of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to witness to the healing love of Christ through caring for communities adversely affected by crises and catastrophic events.
WINGS Guatemala
Founded in 2001, WINGS Guatemala is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides quality reproductive health education and services to underserved, primarily rural Guatemalan youth, women, and men.
We also receive special offerings, the impact of which is felt by countless people in our nation and world:
The Souper Bowl of Caring
Combats hunger locally with money collected on Super Bowl Sunday by the youth of the congregation. Begun in 1990 by Presbyterian youth in South Carolina, this now nation-wide initiative has generated more than $8 million to change the largest weekend of football into the largest weekend of caring.
One Great Hour of Sharing
Enables the church to share God’s love with our neighbors in need around the world by providing relief to those affected by natural disasters, giving food to the hungry, and helping to empower the poor and oppressed.
Mother’s Day Offering
Benefits residents of the Presbyterian Homes of Georgia by covering the gap between Medicare reimbursement and the actual cost of the high quality of healthcare they receive. It also supports in-home services so those in apartment homes can maintain their independence.
Pentecost Offering
Helps the church encourage, develop, and support its young people, and also address the needs of at-risk children. Forty percent of this offering goes to support a local program chosen annually by our Session that aids children.
Peace and Global Witness Offering
Enables the church to promote the peace of Christ by addressing systems of injustice across the world. Twenty-five percent of this offering goes to support a local peacemaking effort chosen annually by our Session.
Thornwell Home for Children
Provides loving homes for abused, abandoned, or neglected children; offers an opportunity for healing through proper healthcare and mental health counseling; and offers each child hope for a successful future by furnishing educational support and teaching self-advocacy.
Christmas Joy Offering
Provides financial assistance to current and former church workers and their families and also enables deserving students to attend Presbyterian-related racial ethnic colleges and schools.
Congregational Care
At First Presbyterian Church, in addition to the myriad acts of kindness and encouragement that happen spontaneously among our members, there multiple organized ways that we respond compassionately to needs:
• The Correspondence Team and Scribes send cards of encouragement, celebration, and thanks.
• DotsCloset@First offers members a chance to borrow or loan a walker, wheelchair, etc. Contact Madeline Van Dyck for more details.
• Flower Ministry volunteers rearrange flowers from the Sunday service into smaller bouquets and deliver them to those not able to attend church. Contact Lucy Bell Johnson for more details.
• Lay Callers are trained laypersons who visit members in the hospital and senior living facilities. Contact Lucy Bell Johnson for more details.
• Our Parish Nurse promotes health and wholeness among our congregation. Contact Madeline Van Dyck for more details.
• Prayer Chain members pray personally for people who request prayers.
• Response Teams prepare and deliver meals to families after the death of a church member, birth of a child, or other special need. Contact Lucy Bell Johnson for more details.
• Rideshare@First gives members the opportunity to receive or offer a ride to church or other important appointments. Contact Judy Scanlon for more information.
• Our Senior Adult Ministry honors our older adults with special events throughout the year. Contact Dr. Ryan Baer for more details.
• Stephen Ministry is a program which equips laypeople to provide one-to-one Christian care to those facing a crisis or difficulty such as death of a loved one, job loss, chronic illness, relocation, and other difficulties. To request a Stephen Minister or to learn about becoming one, contact a Stephen Leader: Margaret Davis and Lisa Oelke.
For more information about Congregational In-reach, please fill out this form:
Spotlight on Matthew 25
“I am so proud that our Congregation has accepted the call from the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. to be recognized as a Matthew 25 church. As we go forward on this journey, one might ask: “how is being a Matthew 25 church any different than what we have always done in our many Mission and Outreach efforts”? Let me share with you what I have learned that might help answer that question.
A more formal definition of what it means to be a Matthew 25 church would state that our congregation must not only believe in the teachings of Christ but we also must live and practice the teachings of Christ. A Matthew 25 church is one that is committed to treating the symptoms of racism and poverty while also working to address the underlying causes of these problems.
One of my favorite quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr. helped me understand what it means to be a Matthew 25 church. He made famous the saying that “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” What being a Matthew 25 church means to me is that we are not a congregation that sits on the sidelines and hopes that the “arc” is bending towards “justice”; instead, we are dedicating ourselves to being proactive in this effort: taking measures to ensure that the “moral arc” will bend steadily towards justice.
So, to me, I find that being a Matthew 25 church speaks to my belief that as a Christian we should be practicing our faith by engaging in activities and causes that work “to bend the arc of the moral universe” so that all God’s people are treated equally.
These are things that I know this church already believes. Being a Matthew 25 church just makes our intentions clear to all and guides our actions down a dedicated path. I look forward to working with you all as we walk down our Matthew 25 path together.”
– Rob Haire
Spotlight on Matthew 25
“The greatest commandments are to love God and to love neighbor, as yourself. That’s what our calling boils down to. There are numerous other ways the Bible expresses particularly neighbor love, for example:
▪ Do unto others as you would have them do unto you (The Golden Rule)
▪ What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
▪ Go out into the world in peace. Have courage. Hold onto what is good. Return no one evil for evil. Support the weak. Strengthen the fainthearted. Help the suffering. Honor all people (from the Epistles)
▪ Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, (James 1:27)
Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25 where the sheep feed, clothe, visit, and welcome “the least of these” strikes the same note, only in story form. By session action our church has signed on to our denomination’s initiative known as “Matthew 25” whose name is derived from the parable. The three pillars of this initiative address poverty, racism, and congregational vitality.
As we begin our third century of life as a congregation, we will be focusing on ways we can live out our calling to love God and others with Matthew 25 as our guide.
— Carol Strickland, Former Associate Pastor at FPC