FIRST PRESBYTERIAN

“Responding to God’s love and grace we serve Jesus Christ through our service to others.” 

 

This vision statement of First Presbyterian Church is a reminder of the needs within our church as well as in our community and our world. Scripture repeatedly stresses the importance of doing the things we say we believe, so service has become an ongoing emphasis for our church. Ten percent of our annual budget is devoted to local and global charitable organizations.

 

Some of the ways we respond to our vision are by collecting items for local agencies through our “Mission of the Month,” sending teams to work with Habitat for Humanity and Appalachian Service Project, and involvement in annual community events such as Operation Christmas Child and Rise Against Hunger. Four times a year (on fifth Sundays) we collect a special offering for local hunger programs. Additionally, we fund missionaries and hunger programs in Guatemala, Haiti, and South Sudan. And on a more personal level, we have two groups of members who regularly use their sewing talents to create teddy bears for children in hospitals and prayer quilts for people needing tangible gifts of love.

 

We also make our building available when possible to serve the community and other churches. Two examples include use by Narcotics Anonymous, who meet here three times a week, and the Gallatin Sudanese Church who recently used our church to complete a translation project to minister to their friends and families still undergoing great trauma in South Sudan.

 

The previous examples are just a few of the service ministries that we know about. Untold members of our church commit their time, money, and energy to individual acts of service known only to God and the recipients of their love and care.