We are looking forward to the new year as a church family, and we invite you to participate in ministry with us as we continue to reach out to our community and our world. One way you can do this is by helping stock our local Community Food Pantry!
Build Bridges at the Baker & Glover Community Center!
What is your favorite children's book? Would you love the opportunity to share your passion for reading with others? Our ministry at the Baker and Glover Community Center is in need of volunteers to offer reading help to the children on Tuesdays 4:30 - 5:30pm and Thursdays 3 - 4pm. For more information, contact Meredith Pierce.
Poinsettia Delivery and Visits to Homebound
Share the message of Christmas joy with our homebound members. Gifts of poinsettias are available the Gathering Room and Mac Lobby. Pick one up and deliver it and a card from the children to one of our members who is no longer able to worship with us. Cards with names and addresses of those will be available for you to make your selection. Thank you for sharing the spirit of care and love to these special members.
GFUMC Called Charge Conference
A called Charge Conference will be held on Sunday, December 16, following the morning worship service in the Reception Hall. The purpose of the meeting is to adjust salaries of the clergy for 2019.
Staff Love Offering
Gainesville First, you are blessed with an outstanding and talented church staff who strives year round to be salt and light in our church and the Gainesville area. During the first weeks of Advent, you will receive a Staff Love Offering envelope with your weekly bulletin on Sundays. Will you prayerfully consider brightening your church staff’s Christmas season with a monetary gift? If possible, we would like to receive your offering by Sunday, December 16. Thank you for who you are and for your generosity. - Frank Norton, Jr., SPR Chairman
A Thrill of Hope for You and for Others
In 1868, standing on the hills of Palestine, looking down on the town of Bethlehem, Philip Brooks wrote the words to O Little Town of Bethlehem. A line from the song says, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” Bethlehem, a town where even today hope and fear collide, becomes the birth place of God’s light.
2018 Christmas Eve Offering
In Tanzania, one in nine children die before their fifth birthday, and one in fifteen do not make it through their first year. Lack of quality medical care is a major contributor to these deaths.
An estimated 34% of Tanzanian children are growth stunted due to chronic malnutrition, well above global averages.
What is the solution?