MISSION OUTREACH

First Church supports many organizations and causes through our Missions and Christian Involvement Ministry including the following:
 

• Battered Women's Shelter
• Chris Hena - our missionary in Kazakhstan
• Equal Exchange
• Ghana Missions Project
• Good Neighbors
• Goodwill Industries
• Habitat for Humanity
• Haven of Rest
• Interfaith Housing Network
• Methodist Christian Home - Havana
• OPEN M
• Prayer Shawl Ministry
• Project Linus
• Refugee Assistance
• Afternoon Tea Ministry
• UMCOR - United Methodist Committee on Relief

First Church also gives support to Henderson Settlement in Frakes, Kentucky.  This includes a week-long mission trip each summer to Henderson Settlement, where First Church youth with adult counselors faithfully donate their time, labor and construction materials, in order to make life better for this Appalachian community. 

Please see below for details on some of our projects/groups.  Special short-term missions projects may be found on the Events page.

We believe in Jesus' great commission:  "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...and lo, I am with you always."  (Matthew 28:20)

General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church

 

ONGOING MISSION PROJECTS


 

Afternoon Tea Ministry

The Afternoon Tea Ministry is an organized system of ministering to others by sharing teatime visits with those who are homebound, grieving, disabled, recuperating, living in a nursing home or assisted living facilty, or inactive, so that they can, once again, feel connected to the church.  It is simply a ministry of listening, loving and caring for God's people through the ritual of Afternoon Tea.

If you, or someone you know, is interested in a visit by someone in the Tea Ministry, please fill out the form below and you will be contacted.

Prayer Shawl Ministry

This ministry is made up of women of faith who know how to crochet or knit, or would like to learn.  Shawls are created and given to individuals who have been seriously ill, have suffered through many trials, or who are shut in and need a reminder that they are remembered and loved by the church.  Each shawl is special because it has been faithfully prayed over as it is being created.

 Good Neighbors

We support Good Neighbors in several ways. We have a permanent box in the hallway beneath the breezeway where clothing, school supplies or other items may be place throughout the year. We also participate in their food and school drives at different times of the year.

UMCOR Coffee Project

Now you can purchase packages of gourmet, organically grown items and know that with every sip or bite you have helped a farmer in a third world country or even here in our own country earn a fair wage.  We offer several varieties of coffee, tea and hot chocolate, as well as baking cocoa,  large chocolate bars - milk chocolate,  dark chocolate with almonds, very dark chocolate - and mini dark chocolate pieces.  We also have organically grown roasted almonds and dried cranberries.  The items are available for purchase in Asbury Hall and the church office.

OPEN M

Every 3 months members of our congregation serve lunch at OPEN M, a local non-profit neighborhood-based, comprehensive ministry working in the community of South Akron.   As part of the lunch, church members bake and donate 25 or more dozen cookies. We also help keep their food pantry continuously supplied with boxes of macaroni and cheese and soup. On the 4th Sunday of each month, we collect "Loose Change" in the offering which also goes toward the OPEN M lunch program.