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IN-PERSON WORSHIP for this Sunday, Jan. 24th
8:30 and 10:30 a.m.
Make your reservation by clicking below.

We have a quick and easy way to do this. Please
CLICK THIS RESERVATION LINK and let us know that you plan to be with us on Sunday morning.


"So, You Want to Plant a Garden?"

Decatur First United Methodist Church will host a virtual two-session gardening class on Wednesday, February 3 and Wednesday, February 10 at 5:30 p.m. via Zoom. The class will be led by Allyson Shabel and Lucy Edwards from the Morgan County Cooperative Extension Service. The first one-hour session on February 3 will focus on identifying and controlling insects and diseases in garden plants. The second session on February 10 will cover planting, watering, and weed control. This class is offered to all who are interested in developing or honing your gardening skills to use at home or in our church community garden. Register to participate in the So You Want to Plant a Garden class through this link.

And speaking of our community garden, we need volunteers at The Urban Acre! The Urban Acre is a ministry of Decatur First United Methodist Church. Volunteers from our church and community gathered to start the Urban Acre on May 17, 2016. The garden has expanded and improved each year since. Our harvest is taken by volunteers to community agencies to feed members of the community in need. Click here to take a photographic tour of The Urban Acre and see its development.

The number of volunteers from the church who help with the garden has declined. On November 17, 2020, I held a Zoom meeting on the future of the garden and posed the question, “Do you want to plant, tend, and harvest the Urban Acre in 2021?” If the answer was no, we would take steps to restore the garden plot into a lawn. However, those in attendance answered with a resounding YES, with this qualification: if you will teach us how, and if we can recruit enough volunteers to sustain the garden. The gardening class is an important part of the teaching. Now to the recruiting.

I have asked for volunteers to help with the garden every year. I want to thank all of you who have helped in the past. This year is different. It is no secret that I have a passion for gardening. It is an expression of my belief that God made human beings from the soil and set us in a perpetual reciprocal relationship with it. If we take care of the soil, it will take care of us. Connecting God’s people to God’s land through the church is the vision I live out in large measure through our church community garden. My retirement date of June 30th is approaching fast. Sandy and I will move this June to our home and farm in Lineville, Alabama. I will help plant the church community garden this spring, but I will not be available to assist with tending and harvesting the garden through the growing season.

I believe that there are members of our church who will step up and help lead the garden ministry of Decatur First in 2021 and beyond. I am praying that God will stir your heart and give you the inspiration and the will for the task. Make plans to participate in the gardening class, So You Want to Plant a Garden, February 3 and 10. Through networking with others who share your interest in gardening and in this ministry of our church, I am confident we can enlist, equip, and organize a garden team for this vital work. Gardening is good for you physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Community gardening is Kingdom work. Grow your own food from the soil and help keep our church garden growing, too.

Yours in Christ,

Hughey
 

End of Year Finance Report
We are thankful to God for our congregation’s stewardship efforts during a most difficult 2020. Towards a $780,240 Ministry Budget First Church members and friends gave $748,811 or 96 percent of budget. While giving was down a little for the year, offerings in October, November, and December exceeded those received in the last three months of last year, a good sign.

Your staff and lay leadership helped by paying close attention to spending. While expenses were down because of the pandemic, careful attention to spending kept expenses well under budget for the year.

Your offerings allowed the church to end the year with no deficit for the ninth year in a row. Because of your efforts, First Church ended 2020 in better financial shape than anticipated.

Thank you for all pledged and unpledged offerings to the First Church Ministry Budget last year.

Your church’s debt for the 2006-2008 building/renovation program stood at $724,328 on December 31, 2018 and at $391,483 on December 31, 2019. Jim King’s generous bequest to your church allowed us to significantly reduce debt during 2019. We made our bank payment last week, and your church goes into 2021 with debt of $236,100, well below our end of year $250,000 goal. Our overall goal is to be debt free by the end of 2022. At the current rate of giving your church should be out of debt as planned.

Thank you for all pledged and unpledged offerings to the Building Fund last year and going forward into 2021-2022.

Faith Promise is on track to meet all promised missions giving on time for the Faith Promise year which ends February 28. Our second mile mission giving through Faith Promise keeps us among the most generous mission outreach churches in the North Alabama Conference.

Based on Ministry Budget pledges for 2021 and offerings received in 2020, your Finance Committee has crafted a 2021 Ministry Budget of $739,700 that has been approved by the Administrative Board. The budget covers all requested program expenses, staff salaries and benefits, and proper upkeep of our facilities. We also expect to meet our conference apportionments with available offerings during the year.

You can help by turning in your pledge card, which most folks have already done, and keeping your church and God’s work foremost in your pledged and unpledged giving in 2021.

Thank you and God bless you and yours in the New Year.
Respectfully,
YOUR FINANCE COMMITTEE
Ronnie Dukes, Chair


Focus on First Grace


The board of First Grace Child Development Center is eager to share all of the wonderful things happening at the school with our church family. Each week we will highlight a different aspect of what is going on in this vital ministry. This week, we want to introduce you to our board members for 2021.

Board Members:
  • Penny Townson - Chairperson
  • Ann Henry - Secretary
  • John Burns
  • Brooks Coley
  • Sheila Davis
  • Molly Ferrell
  • Julianne O'Hara
  • Mike Ward
  • Jen Winkler
Ex-Officio Staff Members:
  • Kristin Green - First Grace Director
  • Louise McCallion - Director of Children's Ministry
  • Hughey Reynolds - Senior Pastor
  • Toby Chastain - Associate Pastor
Children's Ministry News
Hello my friends, how are y’all doing? I hope you’re doing well! 
This past week included a Wednesday watchings filmed in a shower, talk about sheep, and packaging 10,000 meals…it has been a wild ride! On Sunday afternoon some of our children and their families joined us at our "Rise Against Hunger" event where we packaged over 10,000 meals for our friends overseas. There was a buzz in the fellowship hall that I haven’t gotten to experience just yet ... it felt almost normal. What a BLESSING to be the hands and feet of Jesus plus getting to fellowship as a church family. 
 
Coming up in Children’s Ministry this week is:
  • Wednesday Watchings uploaded to our FUMC youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/decaturfumc)
  • Nursery for both 8:30 and 10:30 worship service, and if needed during the Sunday school hour!  
  • Children’s Church during 10:30 worship - this week we will talk about Jesus and his ministry, specifically when he began to gather his disciples. 
The Children’s Ministry team is working hard to plan for the Spring and into Summer, so get excited about all the wonderful things ahead! See y’all Sunday, either in person or online :)
 
Yours in Christ,
Louise McCallion
Director of Children’s Ministries 
256-770-9089

children@decaturfumc.org

 
From the Youth and Missions Teams:
Thanks to everyone for making our "Rise Against Hunger" mission project so successful! Thanks to those who came and participated and to those who donated. What a fantastic event to kick off a new year for our church! Check Facebook and Instagram for photos and gifs of the event, and tune into worship on Sunday for a very special video presentation! 
Please keep the following in your prayers this week: 
  • Susan Baughn
  • Sandra Kelley, cataract surgery and back pain management
  • Jim & Chris Surber
  • Carolyn Swanson (Judy Coon's sister) 
  • Cathren Bonds - Sherrill Altice’s Mom
  • Mary Jane Sasser
  • Burl Oliver
  • Audra Prefling
  • Vandon Windsor, rehab for broken hip
  • Ann Harris
  • Eston and Peggy Lovingood
  • Patsy Ogle, liver cancer
  • Beth Nash, niece of Jim & Doris Ridgeway
  • Mike Altice
  • Dr. Willis Vickery, Celiac disease
  • Judy Coon
  • Lanora Brooks Altice, tumor in abdomen
  • Doris Ratliff
  • Dalton Garner's mother Susan, chemotherapy
  • Deborah Stewart
  • Sarah Bailey
  • Adrianne Irby Ritter, cancer (Faye Irby's stepdaughter)
  • LaVerne Dollahite
  • Our leaders, our citizens, our churches, the state of our Nation, and our World. 
  • Unspoken


Our annual Women’s Retreat will be held at the church (due to the unknowns of COVID) on March 12-13, 2021. Friday evening will include a lesson and dinner. Saturday will be from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Meals will be catered. We hope you can join us next year for a time of relaxation, education and rejuvenation. We look forward to this special event bringing together the love of sisterhood, God, and spiritual growth. Registration forms are now available in the church office and will also be easily accessible on the church website next week.


 
Online and Text Giving
To give online simply go to our website: www.decaturfumc.org then click on the giving tab on the right-hand side of the page or text the word “GIVE” to 256-482-6337. You can also watch this quick video that shows you how to give online.

Important Email Addresses
Hughey Reynolds, hreynolds@decaturfumc.org
Toby Chastain, tchastain@decaturfumc.org
Jonathan Creekmore, youth@decaturfumc.org
Louise McCallion, children@decaturfumc.org
Cindy McCulloch, cmcculloch@decaturfumc.org
Alyson Quinn, aquinn@decaturfumc.org
Kristin Green, firstgrace@decaturfumc.org
Tommy Davis, tommy.davis@nahacad.org
Ruth Moyers, moyersruth@yahoo.com
Wayne Keller, waynekeller25@yahoo.com
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