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OUTREACH First United Methodist Church of Tacoma May 2015

Inside this Issue Pastor’s Page ................................................... 2

Money Matters ................................................ 3

Opportunities for Ministry ............................... 4

Calendar .......................................................... 5

Pantry Patter .................................................... 6

Council Notes ................................................... 6

Noisy Offerings / INM ..................................... 7

Prayers & Contact Info .................................... 8

Lights, Camera, Faith!

We will be viewing “Contact”, a sci-

fi film on May 3rd at 5:30 pm in

Room 207.

If you are able, bring a snack to share. This event is

open to all adults! ~Amanda Lucas

THURSDAY, MAY 7 6 to 7:30 pm

registration opens @ 5:30 pm

621 Tacoma Ave S, Tacoma

TRIVIA NIGHT FUNDRAISER Help feed those in need

Dine on heavy appetizers, donate to help the Pantry feed

those in need – and have a blast in our battle of the

brains.

Winning team gets $500 & unlimited bragging rights!

Second place receives $250 & limited bragging rights.

Email martha.curwen@gmail.com or call (253) 627-1186

to sign up your team of 4 or 5 who know a little bit about

a lot of things – or join a team at the event. Sassy team

names encouraged!

3-Week Bible Study in May

Everyone has different schedules, so we will

continue offering short-term Bible studies at

different times. Since the Lenten Series was in the

evening, it’s time for daytime.

Bring your Bible and questions!

Please indicate which day you could attend by

emailing Pastor Ann (pastor@fumcot.com).

Tuesday afternoons 2pm-3:30 on

May 5, 12, 19

OR

Saturday mornings/lunch 11:30-1pm on

May 9, 16, 23

Hope to see you there! ~Pastor Ann

We had an awesome Church Retreat sponsored by the

PACK at Camp Indianola. What’s next for Children’s

Ministry? How shall we as a congregation care for the

spiritual lives of our kids? See page 4.

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Pastor Ann’s Page "Most of us were taught that God would love us if and when we change. In fact, God loves you so that you can change. What empowers change, what makes you desirous of change is the experience of love. It is that inherent experience of love that becomes the engine of change." -- Richard Rohr We love because God first loved us. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. – 1 John 4:19 & 7

What good is the love of God when yet another another beloved child of God is killed at the hands of police sworn to serve and protect?

What difference does the love of God make in the face of systemic racism and the poverty, hopelessness, and rage it creates?

What is our call, as the small gathering of independent, not-entirely-

like-minded Jesus people called First UMC of Tacoma, to transform relationships in our families, our own church congregation, and the world.

How do we keep changing, bit by bit, into transforming people who help transform the world into something like beloved community - something that reflects Christ’s love - in all the places we go?

These questions are on my mind, amid increasingly glorious days of Spring. These questions are on my heart as I witness people of First UMC respond to the promptings of the Spirit with prayer partners and hospital visits. They’re being answered as I see leaders practicing new ways of intentionally of saying “thank you” when we notice the generosity of others. They’re coming into focus as I rejoice in children growing before our eyes and their parents planning ways to nurture and teach and love them into life.

Actions build relationships. In the Bible and throughout Christian theology, there is amazing writing about love. Powerful words and ideas about the source of love (God), the nature of love (generous, mutual, joyful), the power of love (to transform us and the world). Love needs relationships to be put into action.

Lots of us have different ideas about God. We have different experiences and hopes about church can and ought to be. We have different ways we’d like to transform the world. I love all this difference because I believe God loves variety and created us unique out of delight, and for good reasons.

These are strengths of our congregation at First UMC. Questions are welcomed, doubts are affirmed as a normal part of faith, and no one expects that we’ll all come to the same conclusions. Praise God! There’s room for us and our hearts and brains and experience.

Yet, the challenge of all this openness, the shadow side of flexibility, is that it can be hard to plug in. It can feel like there’s no “there” there. A deep and dependable sense of loving belonging is elusive for many people who long for such transforming relationship.

How do we move from “no one will demand you to claim a particular creed” to inviting everyone to develop a relationship with a trustworthy God who transforms the heart and mind?

How do we move from church as “a place where there are friendly people” to offering and developing deep relationships and belonging?

How do we move from exhausting ourselves and each other by scattering to respond to every need, to focusing ourselves on equipping every person for his or her ministry of transforming the world?

The truth is, we follow Jesus, who never demanded that people be the same, but always invited people to transform their hearts and lives through love in action. The actions he lifted up as most important: Love God. Love Self. Love Neighbor. Most often in the New Testament, we see people living out this challenging love in small communities. This is our call as a church that bears Christ’s name.

We don’t have to have exactly the same ideas about God in order to encourage one another in spiritual growth that leads to love.

We don’t have to have exactly the same faith in order to develop deeper relationships of love and care that transform us as a faith community.

We don’t have to have exactly the same passions in order to engage in transforming relationships in our city, country, and world.

What’s your story of transforming relationship? When has your mind been changed by relationship? When has relationship with God transformed your heart? How have relationships in church transformed you?

This Spring, let’s share stories of transformation in worship. Let’s open our hearts to new and deeper relationships. The world needs transforming love, and it is our call to tell the good news that love transforms in relationship.

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MONEY MATTERS by Gretchen Engle, Finance Team Chair

$23 a week would make a big difference!

The Church Council passed our 2015 budget at our last meeting. I have to say, as a new Finance Chair, it was a

little scary. That’s because we do not have enough money coming from our tenants and our members to meet

our expenses. This is not a new situation. It happens almost every year. But it is very new for me, and makes

me feel a bit insecure. Is it possible for regular giving to increase so we can live within our means?

I calculated our shortfall per month and divided that amount by our church attendance to figure out the

amount per week that each person would need to give to make ends meet. It came out to $23 per week

per person (in addition to what people are giving now).

Like most churches and other organizations, our largest budget items by far are our building (mortgage and

maintenance) and staff salaries. We rely on our building to bring in almost half the money we need to operate

our ministries (see image below), but we should be covering the rest ourselves. I invite you to ask yourself

some questions: Have I thought about my giving to my church? Is it an afterthought, or do I plan on it each

month? Is the money I give equal in importance to me as my car payment, house payment, electric bill, etc.?

The money we give (or not) says something about our priorities. I believe each of us must ask ourselves if we

are “sacrificial givers”.

Sacrificial giving is what results when we make a deliberate choice to dedicate our time, resources or life to

something or someone.

Sacrificial Giving involves five things:

1) Planned: The degree of planning that goes into our giving reflects the importance of our commitment to

give. For most of us, unless we plan something, it doesn’t happen. Unless we consciously incorporate the

amount of our giving into our regular budget, it becomes an optional expense and may be lost in the

financial shuffle. Planning our giving enables us to give the first fruits to God, rather than some amount left

over after “more important” obligations have been satisfied.

2) Proportionate: How much should you give? Start by looking at the amount you give now. Does that

amount adequately reflect your gratitude for God’s generosity? There is no “right” amount. It’s easy to get

caught up in playing games with net versus gross income or looking for loopholes that will exempt that

unexpected windfall. Your pledge is your return to God of a proportion of the gifts God has given you,

which you share with your church and other ministries. It reflects your gratefulness to God for the gifts you

have received.

3) Sacrificial: One of the most important aspects of giving is the impact it has on the giver. If you can give

your gift and not notice, it isn’t a sacrificial gift. The element of sacrifice is present when something about

your life has to change in order for you to be able to give the gift. You re-order your priorities, you

reconsider your values.

4) A Prayer of Thanksgiving: We like to separate

our giving from other more “spiritual” aspects of

our lives. The commitment to giving is one of

the most important expressions of what our faith

means to us.

5) A Gift: The motive for giving is not the

expectation of getting something back. A

sacrificial gift has no strings. It is a response to

the generosity of God.

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Service Opportunities: Is this you, or someone you know?

Are you good with details? We need a housing coordinator for the Youth Choir from Colorado. They will

be arriving Saturday, June 6th to perform at 7pm for the congregation. We also need volunteers to house

the group. Do you have a spare bed or two? There will be about 37 teens and 9 adults. Potluck offerings

are also needed. Please contact liz@fumcot.com if you can help with this.

PRIDE Coordinator - Are you passionate about PRIDE? This is your chance to be in on the planning and

coordination of this yearly event. Because Alana and Eva have had to step down from being the point

people (see below) we really need someone to head up the coordination effort. Please contact Tom

Fairchild if you can do this.

Upload sermons (mp3 file) to our website (if you can attach a photo to Facebook, you can do this). This

helps potential visitors know what sort of gospel is preached here, and also gives people who were away

on Sunday another chance to hear the message. Time commitment: 20 minutes a week. Please talk to

Pastor Ann if you can serve in this way.

Congregational Care - are you interested in helping care for our congregation? Through prayer, cards,

emails, and monthly check-ins, we can be channels of God’s loving presence for one another. Please

contact our Lay Leader Amanda Lucas if you would like to be a part of this team.

ADULT ENRICHMENT OPPORTUNITY

A SMORGASBORD OF OPPORTUNITIES

The month of May will bring a variety of enrichment opportunities to those whose who are able to arrange

their Sunday schedules to stay around for an extra hour after worship and fellowship time. What follows are

the offerings for adults at 11:00 a.m.

May 3 – Breck Lebeque will share his faith journey.

May 10 – Vince Hart will present the story of “The Mother of Methodism.” John and Charles Wesley’s

mother Susannah was a truly remarkable woman, whose faith and way of raising her many children had

a profound influence on the two sons who shared deeply in the founding and shaping of the Methodist

movement and our subsequent United Methodist Church.

May 17 – Those who practiced Easter Hospitality in April will meet again to design a congregational

Town Meeting to extend the Hospitality dynamic to the whole congregation.

May 24 (Pentecost) is the anniversary of John Wesley’s greatest transforming experience—the very

root of all that became “Methodism” in the rich diversity of Christian faith communities. Vince Hart

will return with a close look at the great themes of the Wesleyan-Methodist heritage, beginning with

the “warmed heart” of a living faith in God.

May 31 – Congregational Town Meeting.

Children’s Ministries

This Spring, a team of people passionate about chil-

dren’s ministry will be making plans for the fall. We aim

to have clear plans by the time we get to the end of July,

so that we can invite folks coming to Church Day Camp

(formerly called Vacation Bible School) the second

week of August.

How can you be involved with this ministry of our

church? Please pray for this ministry!

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Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

The noisy offering

is taken on the second Sunday of each month. The May offering

is for Imagine No Malaria

N-A Meets M-F @

Noon, & Sat. @ 12:00 am. Al-Anon Meets

Weds. @ 5:30 pm. G-A Fridays @

5:30 pm.

7:30 pm Choir

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2 Noon 15 Now 4:00 pm 15 Now

3 9:30 am Worship &

Communion 11 am Chr. Ed. 5:30 pm Lights,

Camera, Faith

4 5 pm Pantry 4 pm Tent City 6:30 pm Trustees

5 2 pm Bible Study?

6 10:30 am READ

NWDC Book Project

7 6 pm Pantry Fund-

raiser 7 pm UfPPC 7:30 pm Choir

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9 11:30 am Bible

Study? 4:00 pm 15 Now

10 Mother’s Day 9:30 am Worship &

Noisy Offering 11 am Chr. Ed.

11 6:30 pm Church

Council

12 2 pm Bible Study?

13 5 pm Finance

Team @ Hob Nob

14 7 pm PFLAG 7:30 pm Choir

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16 11:30 am Bible

Study? 4:00 pm 15 Now 4:30 pm Micah

Project Meal Prep

17 9:30 am Worship 11 am Chr. Ed.

18 5 pm Pantry 4 pm Tent City

19 2 pm Bible Study? 6 pm SPPRC

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21 7 pm UfPPC 7:30 pm Choir

22 Office Closed

for Memorial Day Weekend

23 11:30 am Bible

Study? 10:30 am Pantry 4:00 pm 15 Now

24 Pentecost 9:30 am Worship 11 am Chr. Ed.

31 9:30 am Worship 11 am Chr. Ed.

25 Memorial Day Office Closed 3 pm Moment of

Silence 7 pm Micah Proj.

Meeting

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28 7:30 pm Choir

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First United Methodist Church

May 2015

Pastor Ann @ Bishop’s Symposium, in LA

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Birthday Boy’s Gift

At the end of last month, Yesce Dillehay and his

mother stopped by to donate some food and clothing

to the Pantry. He also brought with him $53 he had

collected from friends. Yesce had requested money

for the Pantry in lieu of birthday gifts. We love

seeing young people being generous. The money

will be used to purchase food for a hot meal.

Cooks Move on

The Stortini Family has been preparing hot

meals for the Pantry since we opened in 1999. In

recent years they have faithfully come the first

Monday of the month to do the prep work for the

evening meal.

It has become difficult for several of the family

members to do the necessary work and so they have

decided to retire.

Bruce Bade has also decide to retire from

cooking at the Pantry. Bruce began coming with

members of Sunrise UMC. Their team would

prepare and serve the Saturday hot meal. Bruce’s

specialty was pancakes, which we would plan for

several times during the year. Other Saturdays, we’d

have soup, sandwiches or leftovers from Monday

meals.

We will miss both cooking teams. We have

appreciated their commitment to volunteering here.

New teams have formed and are being trained in

Pantry cookery.

Postal Service Food Drive

The Postal Service annual food drive is May 7th.

Postal workers will pick up bags of non-perishable

groceries from your front porch on that day.

Winter Clothing Give-Away

When: Wednesday, May 20th

Time: 11am to 3pm

What: Winter clothes give-away

Why: Make room for Spring/Summer Items

The Pantry Clothing Bank will be closed on

Saturday, May 23 for transitioning to Spring/

Summer Items.

Pantry Patter By Martha Curwen

Council Notes Here are a few of the highlights of the April 20th

Church Council meeting.

Budget: The council approved the budget for 2015

(See Money Matters article on page 3)

SPRC: The Conference has a new background

check provider and abuse awareness training

program. SPRC is in the process of determining who

should take the training and/or have background

checks done.

Upcoming Dates:

May - Exploring membership class

June 6 - Youth choir from Colorado will be here. We

need a housing coordinator and potluck coordinator

for their visit.

June 14 - ELUMC celebration

June 25-27 - Annual Conference in Pasco.

July 11 - PRIDE

August 4 - National Night Out

August 6-9 - RMN Convocation in San Antonio

August 10-14 - VBS

We voted to move our meeting from the third

Monday of the month to the second Monday. Our

next meeting will be on May 11th.

As always in Church Council, there was a good

discussion around finding our church’s identity and

mission.

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Noisy Offerings Through the Year

Noisy Offerings are a special time in this

congregation, when children bring around metal

bowls to collect your change for specific purposes.

The kids love it, and it seems the adults to as well.

Where does the money go?

So far this year:

January – Human Relations Day

February – Missionary Covenant Relationships

March – One Great Hour of Sharing

April – Native American Ministries Sunday

Coming up:

May 10 – Imagine No Malaria

June 14 – Peace with Justice Sunday

July 12 – PRIDE (Oasis & Rainbow Centers)

August 9 – UMC Advance Special (Tacoma

Community House)

September 13 – FUMCOT Programs (My Sister’s

Pantry & Micah Project)

October 11 – World Communion Sunday

November 8 – United Methodist Student Day

December 13 – Advent Offering (Pastor’s

Discretionary Fund)

Sunday, May 10th – Mother’s Day

Please give to Imagine No Malaria!

On Sunday, May 10th the Pacific Northwest Conference and FUMC of

Tacoma will be engaged in a united effort to ask people to dig deep and give

to the campaign, “Imagine No Malaria”. This campaign is raising money to

eradicate malaria in Africa and other parts of the world. Our Conference

goal is ½ million dollars, and we can do our small part to help out. Each week we will visit the theme of

Imagine No Malaria during the children’s time in church. Collection boxes were passed out on Sunday, April

26th. If you didn’t receive one, there will be giving envelopes for INM on Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day is our

second Sunday Noisy Offering, and our kids will be collecting the boxes and envelopes, so start saving those

nickels, dimes, quarters and bills for this worthy cause!

Thank you and Farewell from Alana and Eva

Eva and I have started our new jobs. The issue we face is that we both work on Sundays now; I go in at

10:30 and she goes in at 11:00 on Sundays. Our days off are Mon/Tuesdays, so this changes a lot for us when

comes to First UMC. After looking at our situation carefully we realize we’re going to have to find another

UMC close to home or we won’t be able to attend services at all.

We are sad to not be a part of the 1st UMC congregation in Tacoma any longer, we truly loved be there, we

felt welcomed and learned a lot of valuable take-away information. Thank you to everyone at (FUMC), we

really appreciated everything. I’m sure we will see you all around and wish you the very best.

Alana Lamkin & Eva Davis

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This newsletter is a monthly publication of First United Methodist Church of Tacoma,

located at 621 Tacoma Ave South, Tacoma, WA 98402.

To update your contact information or remove your name from our mailing list, please contact us at:

outreach@fumcot.com or call 253-627-0129.

Pastor

Ann Adkinson annadkinson@fumcot.com

Office Hours:

Tuesdays and Thursdays, by appointment

Friday: Sabbath Day (no email; only emergency phone calls )

Church Administrator

Liz Johnson liz@fumcot.com

Monday-Thursday 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Friday 9:00 a.m. to Noon

Music Ministry

Ryan Enis, Choir Director ryanjamesenis@gmail.com

Norm Seidel, Accompanist seidelnorm@gmail.com

Worship Every Sunday at 9:30 a.m.

Visit our website www.fumcot.com

Office Phone 253-627-0129

Church Lay Leadership

Lay Leader: Amanda Lucas

Church Council: Jim Weis, Chair; Gail Garnas, Secretary;

Amanda Lucas, SPPRC; Maurice Lacunza, Trustees;

Gretchen Engle, Finance; Ann Adkinson

Finance: Gretchen Engle, Chair; Sylvia Summers, Treasurer;

Martha Curwen, Secretary; finance@fumcot.com

SPPRC: Matt Patera, Amanda Lucas, Jim LeGro, Sarah

Roemer, Claire Rowe; spprc@fumcot.com

Trustees: Samara Dienst-Philipson, Co-Chair; Maurice

Lacunza, Co-Chair; Robert Summers; Jason Searls;

trustees@fumcot.com

CHURCH CONTACT INFORMATION

We Offer our Prayers to God for:

Our World: For victims of the earthquake in Nepal. For victims of terrorism throughout the world. For a just

peace in Israel and Palestine.

Our Nation: For our President, Governor and all elected officials that they may make wise decisions. For true

reconciliation, justice, and healing from the violence of racism and prejudice. For communities and

police working together for the dignity and safety of all. For our troops and their families. For a humane

and moral solution to the refugee crisis at our border.

Our Community: For members of Epworth LeSourd as they journey through their church’s closure and legacy

to the community.

Our Bishop: Grant Hagiya; Our Superintendent: Cara Scriven; Our Pastor: Ann Adkinson

Our missionaries: Janjay Innis, Sarah Mudge, and Sarah Roemer, TCH and Katherine Parker, Nepal

God’s ministries through our church: Genesis Process leaders and mentors, that God will bless their

preparation to accompany others in healing.

Our Friends and Family: Pray for those who have requested our prayers, including Barbara Prine, Craig

Waterbury, Jonathan R. Kay Hart and Andrea Rhoades who is recovering from surgery on her ankle.

Note: If there are prayers you’d like added to this list, please email liz@fumcot.com. Prayers will remain on

this list for one month, unless an extension is requested.

Happy Birthday! Crestina Marez, May 13

Melvin Woodworth, May 13

Happy 25th Wedding Anniversary

Tom & Molly Fairchild

May 26