Faith in Action
Faith in Action is a program designed to act out our belief that we as a community are responsible for the welfare of our environment and the people within it. Our slogan is Don't Go to Church — Be the Church which means we don't just pray for the people in need, but we assist them as we are able.
At First United Methodist Church, we affirm that faith isn’t just a set of things we say we believe. Instead, faith is following, obeying, and imitating the one who saves us. We hang on to this idea, even though some churches have decided that faith is only about a list of beliefs and a happy feeling in worship.
Faith in Action is a great way to invite someone to come with you to church. What a great way for someone new to get to know some new friends, than to work together! And what better way to show off the character of church, than to see our faith in action! A lot of people will find it less intimidating to come and work than to come and worship. If they have skills, that’s great; if not, that’s great too.
What Will We Do This Year?
In the past, Faith in Action was a single day, a Sunday. For 2011, we will again put our focus on the community of Albion itself but do so for two days, Saturday, November 19, and Sunday, November 20.
Just as it was last year, the major project for both Saturday and Sunday will be to seal windows with plastic to cut down heating costs for those who need this help. We expect to have help, as we did last year, from people sent by Michigan Works. On Sunday we will have additional projects for those who are not comfortable climbing ladders. These projects may include leaf raking, making cards and packing cookies for those who are less mobile, visiting members who do not get out much, and cleaning the KCLS manikins.
We would like to have projects for everyone and we welcome suggestions.
Remember, that on Sunday we will start with a combined worship service at 9 am. We will then pack our lunches, select our projects, and get started on them. We will come back together at 5 pm for a soup and salad supper, pictures, and sharing of our experiences.
What Have We Done in the Past?
In the past we have done projects including working on
- Cleaning work at the Forks Senior Center (read their Thank You letter)
- Cleaning up local parks and downtown areas
- Completing small repair jobs on local home
- Habitat for Humanity houses
- Insulating windows with plastic
- Making cards and sending them with tasty treats to people who are too ill to leave their homes or those living with financial challenges
- Preparing flood buckets
- Quilting for the Linus Project
- Raking leaves for those who are unable to
- Sorting items for donation at AIM (read their Thank You letter)
- And Church Youth have prepared shoe boxes filled with toys for Christmas
Comments? Questions? Ideas?
If you have ideas about projects to add to our work list pass your idea along to Pastor Jeremy. Alternatively, you may use the Contact Form on this website. If you do the latter be sure to include "Faith in Action" in the Question/Comment box of the contact form.