Headlines
Published: February 20th, 2012
Please join us in room 110 on Monday, February 27, from 6 to 7:30 pm, for a Website Open House.
We’ll be exploring tips and tricks about how to use the church website. Plus we’ll be comparing notes and doing some training with the volunteers who help to manage it.
This is an open invitation to drop in during the evening and get questions answered and share ideas with others.
It is very informal, and all church members who are interested in learning more about the church website are encouraged to stop by.
If your group or committee is not currently listed on our website and you’d like to see it there, please join us.
This is the place to be on Monday night!
Contact the Web Manager for more details
Category Congregational Life, Headlines, Website Info |
Published: February 17th, 2012
A Sunday Forum February 26, 12-2 PM
(Light lunch provided)
Fireside Room
Joan Schweizer Huff, MA of Portland’s Dougy Center and Leslie Storm of the Oregon Partnership a nationally certified suicide prevention organization will lead our forum.
We will seek to gain better understanding of Prevention, Intervention and Postvention before, during and after this crisis or traumatic event has occurred.
It is designed to help us better understand our experience as a congregation and help us be better prepared when crisis may occur.
We will attempt to have a learning experience helpful for all including youth, young adults’ family members and friendship networks.
The events design will include discussion, question and answers and potential follow-up gatherings. Friends and interested persons are encouraged to attend.
Category Forums, Headlines |
Author: web manager Published: February 16th, 2012
Our Lenten pathways begin on Ash Wednesday, February 22nd. Join us from 5:30 to 6:30 in Collins Hall for a simple supper, and in the Chapel from 7:00 to 7:30 pm for songs, prayers and the imposition of ashes as a way to mark the beginning of this reflective, preparatory path toward Easter.
Category Headlines, News |
Author: Megan Humphreys-Loving Published: February 13th, 2012
Come and support the Youth Group’s annual Pancake Lunch fundraiser next Sunday, February 19.
Pancakes, fruit, sausage and coffee are available for a suggested donation of $5.
There will be Gluten Free and Vegetarian options available.
Food will be served buffet style in Collins Hall following worship.
All are invited to come and support the Youth at FUMC!
Category Headlines, Youth |
Author: Phyllis Leonard Published: February 12th, 2012
The third Sunday of every month we take a special “Thank Offering” to support organizations beyond the church who are engaged in positive or ministries of compassion and service.
You are invited to share a brief word of gratitude for something or someone in your life as you bring your gift to support these ministries. February 19th our gifts will go to Sisters of the Road Cafe in downtown Portland.
Here is a little information about this organization, taken from their website, www.sistersoftheroad.org:
Since 1979, Sisters Of The Road has been an essential part of the Old Town/Chinatown neighborhood. Sisters offers a space to build community, empower ourselves, learn from one another, dine with dignity and organize for justice and human rights for all.
Sisters Of The Road exists to build authentic relationships and alleviate the hunger of isolation in an atmosphere of nonviolence and gentle personalism that nurtures the whole individual, while seeking systemic solutions that reach the roots of homelessness and poverty to end them forever.
Category Global Mission committee, Headlines, News |
Author: Mark Ohlson Published: January 24th, 2012
First United Methodist Church Portland Announces
Ecumenical Bible Discussion Fellowship
A downtown Portland Ecumenical Bible Discussion program has now begun at First United Methodist Church. All interested participants are welcome to attend. Invite your non-Methodist friends to join you for a spirited ecumenical discussion and then head out to lunch afterward!
The format is a discussion group of lay participants and at least one clergy person. The Rev. Joanne Rannells (United Methodist, Ret.) will be present as the group gains momentum and clergy from other denominations join in as they are welcome and invited to do.
Discussions are following the common lectionary for the church year (currently Year B), and the only requirement participants are encouraged to do in preparation is pre-read that week’s scripture and come with a Bible, comments, and questions. A chart of weekly readings will be distributed at the meetings to allow participants a clear understanding of weekly scripture for the next meeting.
This discussion series is designed to enable participants from different traditions to reflect together on scripture through each other’s eyes and share common and divergent points of view. The emphasis is on discussing scripture in the context of the times in which we live.
Plan to join this new ecumenical fellowship group each and every Thursday morning!
Meeting Dates: Each Thursday Morning, 10:30AM to Noon
Place: First United Methodist Church
1838 SW Jefferson St., Portland
Public Transportation: (Located at Goose Hollow MAX station, 18th and Jefferson)
Portland, OR 97201
For more information contact:
Mark Ohlson, First Church Outreach Coordinator
503-228-3195 (ext. 220)
mohlson@fumcpdx.org
Category Fellowship Opportunities, Headlines |
Published: January 23rd, 2012
Did you miss church last Sunday? We know there are many reasons you may not have been in the pews during the service.
Maybe you were in Sunday School teaching the Fourth Graders. Perhaps you had to set up for the coffee hour after the service. It’s possible that you were working in the nursery or some other part of the church. You might even have been skiing on Mount Hood…
No matter! Have we got a deal for you!
The whole worship service from Sunday morning is online! That’s the whole service from every Sunday morning!
Starting in January of this year, we have begun offering all of our Sunday morning services for playback online. Each service begins with the our lay leader’s announcements and plays right through to the end of the postlude.
You can listen to any of the services listed in the Sunday Morning section under the Worship heading right here on our website. Services that are available show up as a row links at the bottom of that Sunday’s entry (you’ll see them right under “Download the Bulletin” when they are available). Just click on the “Play Now”, “Play in Popup” to listen right away, or click on “Download” to get the service and play it later.
If you listen to podcasts using the iTunes Podcast directory, you can subscribe and have each week’s service delivered to your favorite listening device automatically. Go to the iTunes Podcast directory and search on fumcpdx to subscribe (or click on this link: Portland’s First United Methodist Church at iTunes).
Category Headlines, News, Website Info |
Author: Rev. Donna Published: January 18th, 2012
The snow started falling at my house yesterday afternoon. It was lovely to watch – especially since I had already decided that my Martin Luther King Jr. holiday would be spent at home, catching up on rest, doing a few creative projects, and enjoying being home.
This morning it was still beautiful, and I appreciated the snow even during the hour it took me to get here to church from Beaverton (a drive which usually takes about 20 to 30 minutes). Now I am hoping that by the time I head home at 8:30 or 9:00 this evening the mercury will not have fallen to freezing so that the roads will be passable.
All in all, I love a good snow. And I chuckle at the excitement it causes us all – especially the television news crews standing watch on the top of Sylvan Hill along Highway 26, or out in the Gorge, or in the Coast Range. It seems we Oregonians just love a good weather story!
As it happened, I was part of a conference call this morning with people from Alaska, Washington, Idaho and Oregon. Of course the Alaskans thought it was hilarious that many of the team were calling in from home, not daring to drive to their offices with the 3 inches of snow they had on their driveways. I guess it is all a matter of perspective. It’s all in what we’re used to, and what we are prepared for.
At our weekly staff meeting this morning Dwight Dragoo was our facilitator. And he greeted us with our usual agenda, plus a few nicely chosen quotes for the day… all having to do with winter, or with snow. Here is a quick sampling:
“One kind word can warm three winter months”- a Japanese proverb
“A snowflake is winter’s butterfly” – from a Hero Arts stamp
“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant…” – Anne Bradstreet
And then there was my personal favorite:
“When it snows, you have two choices: shovel, or make snow angels.” (author unknown)
I hope to remember both of these choices. Because sometimes when the snow falls, either literally or metaphorically, we need to shovel. We need to care for the physical needs of home, family, friends, and ourselves.
And other times, what we really need is to make snow angels – to revel, to play, to rejoice in the moments of surprise, the unusual occurrences in our lives. We need those snow angels every bit as much as we need the cleared sidewalks and bare driveways of our souls. On snow days … and every day.
Rev. Donna
Category Headlines, Pastor's Notes |
Published: January 2nd, 2012
The United Methodist Women are sponsoring a forum on Sunday, January 22, 2012 at noon in the Fireside Room. Dr. David Poindexter will be speaking on the issue of: “What do women have to do with population?”
David is known internationally for his work in entertainment-education broadcasting and his creation of the Population Communication Center. He has served as convenor for UN International Conferences on Population in Mexico City and Cairo. He still continues his work throughout the world and serves as President of the Portland Chapter of UNA-USA.
David, who is an ordained United Methodist pastor, will also autograph copies of his recently published book, Out of the Darkness of Centuries. David and his wife Marion are active members of our congregation.
Category Forums, Headlines, United Methodist Women |
Published: January 1st, 2012
Ministry here at First United Methodist Church is active and varied, and we have involved leaders at many levels to keep the church vital and growing. Staff-Parish Relations Committee is in direct conversation with other FUMC church leaders and with our Assistant to the Bishop, the Rev. Lowell Greathouse, as we look at the goals and direction of our ministry and the needs we have for staffing. The normal timing of a new pastor’s appointment is July 1 each year. To assist our Senior Pastor, the Rev. Donna Pritchard, during this in-between time, SPRC, the Lay Leaders and Rev. Donna, have arranged for some interim leadership.
FUMC Lay Leaders, Sonja Connor, Dan Woodward and Cheryl Bittle, and committee chairpersons are being asked to take the lead in some of our program areas – most notably with visitor and new member efforts, some volunteer recruitment for Sunday morning worship, and in some of our short-term classes and Sunday forums. Mark Ohlson, our Outreach Coordinator, will be adding 5 hours of paid work each week (for a total of 20 hours weekly), and will provide staff support for Church & Society, Planet Church, Missions Committee and the Library Committee. He will also be the contact person for community members who come to the church seeking emergency assistance which is not pastoral in nature. Chris Bostick, Church Administrator, will become the staff support for the Travel Committee. Megan Humphreys-Loving, Director of Children, Youth and Family Ministries, will work more closely with Rev. Donna in planning Lenten programs for the church, including identifying themes for worship and learning for all ages.
The Rev. Dr. Tom Rannells, a retired United Methodist elder associated with First Church, will be working 5 hours per week as the “interim Adult Ministries Director”. In this role Tom will help the Adult Ministries Committee develop short-term studies, speaker bureaus, and small group ministries. Tom will also collaborate with other program areas in this work. This position will be in place January through April. If you don’t know Tom Rannells. he served churches in Wisconsin and in California before coming to Oregon-Idaho as the Conference Council Director and his picture is in the Church Directory.
Occasional guest preachers will fill our pulpit throughout the winter and spring when Rev. Donna is away doing continuing education or fulfilling responsibilities to the larger church, or taking a little time to rest and be renewed.
The Rev. Tom Foster continues to provide ministries of pastoral care for members of First Church, and the rest of our staff continues to serve us very well. The SPRC is managing the funding of the additional staff through the funds created with the vacancy in the associate pastor role. Please let us know of any unmet needs and, of course, please tell us when you see our staff performing “above and beyond.” Let us continue to be the church that is “Believing-Thinking-Acting” to make God’s love visible in this world.
Category Headlines, Staff-Parish Relations Committee |
