Home ~ First Methodist Church Winnsboro

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watch past Sunday services and/or devotionals.

CLICK HERE to go to YouTube for

past Sunday services and/or devotionals.

Sunday Mornings

10:50 a.m.

Worship on FACEBOOK LIVE or In-Person

CHILDREN’S CHURCH in the FAMILY LIFE CENTER

except on the 1st Sundays

Kids in 1st-6th grades … CLICK HERE for details.

10-25-18 FUMC Updates

Posted on Oct 24, 2018 in HomePage |

Where has everyone been? Church attendance has dropped, Wednesday night dinner has dropped … IT’S NOT THE SAME WITHOUT YOU! Wouldn’t it be AMAZING if everyone who called First Church home could all be together? We’d be bursting at the seams and God would be smiling “out loud”! I hope to see everyone back this week!

WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR THE CHRISTMAS SEASON?

I’m almost afraid to say it but …… Christmas is only 61 days away! I know we still have Halloween and Thanksgiving to enjoy but, the truth is … the Christmas season actually BEGINS the week after Thanksgiving so I’m already hard at work on ADVENT! That being said … I want your feedback please …

– Will you attend the Hanging of the Greens service on 11/25 at 4 PM?

– What day would be best for YOU to attend a 4 week Advent Bible study?

– What time do you think the Christmas Eve service should be?

– Our Christmas outreach offering will be to the Children’s Advocacy Center – would you rather make a donation or shop for a specific child?

PLEASE TAKE THIS ANONYMOUS ADVENT SURVEY NOW by clicking HERE

I’d rather plan this important season around what works best for you so please, it should take you less than 2 minutes! This is an ANONYMOUS, short term survey that will CLOSE on Monday, 10/29 at MIDNIGHT so please do it now!

WEDNESDAY NIGHT FELLOWSHIP DINNERS ... thanks to all the hard working kitchen crew and dessert makers who make our delicious dinners every week, and thanks to all of YOU who are generous with your love offerings! SEE YOU TONIGHT! (Just a reminder … THERE WILL BE NO DINNER, or ALPHA, ON HALLOWEEN, October 31st.)

MANY THANKS TO OUR CRAFTERS! Christmas in the Park is Saturday, November 10th, 9 am – 3 pm … thanks to everyone working hard to get all your wonderful things delivered and priced for this terrific craft event! Be sure to mark this date on your calendar and come have LUNCH with the Methodist Men too!

WILL YOU HELP ME MOVE A PIANO?

I have been honored to serve on the CULTURAL ARTS DISTRICT BOARD in Winnsboro … did you know that Winnsboro is one of only 40 cities in the entire State of Texas that has this prestigious designation? One of the projects we are working on is “re-inventing” old pianos that have been gathering dust and artists are creating beautiful masterpieces with them! After they are finished, we’ll place them around town in various places for people to enjoy sooooooo … Ken Atkins has let me borrow an AMAZING dolly but I need some muscle! Please email me if you can help!

EAST DISTRICT CHARGE CONFERENCE: Sunday, November 11th, 3-5 PM, Wesley UMC, Greenville … join our District Superintendent and all the other churches in the District for a “year end” worship celebration and business close-out of the Charge Conference.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Hebrews 10:24-25

Debbie Lyons, Pastor

First United Methodist Church Winnsboro

301 Church Street, Winnsboro, TX. 75494

CLICK HERE for our Facebook

Posted on Sep 26, 2018 in HomePage |

What an amazing weekend it was for our high school juniors and seniors who went to Glen Rose this weekend … in spite of some rain, they had an INCREDIBLE experience and I can’t wait for them to tell us about it on Sunday!

I am also delighted to welcome Jim Marshall and Danny McMahon as new members at First Church! It was a joy to celebrate their renewed passion for Christ with them as they remembered their baptism on Sunday.

NO 5^th SUNDAY POT LUCK on 9/30:

The Church Council has voted that next year, our 5^th Sunday Pot Lucks will be replaced with invitation Sundays and we have some GREAT ideas for those Sundays coming up so if you’d like to be part of that planning, let us know!! Instead, we are having the Wesley Hall consecration service after church on SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14^th.

REQUIRED MINIMUM DISTRIBUTION?

I had a wonderful experience today … someone came by my office to make a generous financial gift toward the upgrade of our projectors in the sanctuary. As you know, because you ALL probably have HD TV’s in your own homes, technology changes rapidly and we’d like to upgrade our projectors next year. The person that came by the office said they were required to receive a MINIMUM DISTRIBUTION from their IRA account but, if that distribution is directly given to the church, NO TAXES ARE OWED. This generous person thought their church deserved the money because otherwise, the money is just “gone to groceries before you know it”. As you prepare for your year end accounting, think about the way God might use YOUR gifts in the future.

VOLUNTEER SAFETY TEAM UPDATE:You may have heard that a small group of people in our congregation has accepted the responsibility to establish and maintain the safety of our church as much as feasible. So far this year they have:

-Written Emergency Policies and Procedures Guide

-Fire safety and severe weather procedures review with Winnsboro Fire Dept

-Emergency exit door bars for the Sanctuary building

-Security camera system

STAY TUNED FOR MORE INFORMATION COMING!

ALL SAINTS DAY: Sunday, October 28th

All Saints Day is a beautiful opportunity to give thanks for all those who have died and gone before us in the previous year. It is a time to celebrate our history, what United Methodists call the tradition of the church, and the “great cloud of witnesses” who surround and encourage us. We will automatically include those directly connected to our church (members/regular visitors), but if you would like to come forward that day and remember a family member who died in the last year as well, please let us know by October 22^nd, the name of your family member who died, and the date they passed away, and we will be happy to include them on the memorial page in the bulletin on October 28^th.

YOU’RE INVITED TO THE ANNUAL CHARGE CONFERENCE:

As we look back at 2018, and begin looking ahead to 2019, I want to invite you to our ALL CHURCH CHARGE CONFERENCE, and I want to encourage you ALL to please come …

Monday, October 15th

6:30 PM … Wesley Hall

(All professing members of the church are members of this Conference but everyone is invited to attend.)

Commit your work to the Lord,
and your plans will be established. Proverbs 16:3

An annual Charge Conference is designed to report the business of the church (budgets/finances, membership numbers, professions of faith, baptisms, etc.) and also discuss future business goals and decisions. This year, church members will, for example, vote on creating a ENDOWMENT with the money from the Milner Estate.

Here is some of what our Book of Discipline says:

¶ 246. General Provisions-1. Within the pastoral charge the basic unit in the connectional system of The United Methodist Church is the charge conference. The charge conference shall therefore be organized from the church or churches in every pastoral charge as set forth in the Constitution (¶ 43). It shall meet annually for the purposes set forth in ¶ 247. It may meet at other times as indicated in § 7 below.

The membership of the charge conference shall be all members of the church council or other appropriate body, together with retired ordained ministers and retired diaconal ministers who elect to hold their membership in said charge conference and any others as may be designated in the Discipline. If more than one church is on the pastoral charge, all members of each church council shall be members of the charge conference.
The membership of the charge conference shall be all members of the church council or other appropriate body, together with retired ordained ministers and retired diaconal ministers who elect to hold their membership in said charge conference and any others as may be designated in the Discipline. If more than one church is on the pastoral charge, all members of each church council shall be members of the charge conference.

¶ 247. Powers and Duties-1. The charge conference shall be the connecting link between the local church and the general Church and shall have general oversight of the church council(s).

The charge conference, the district superintendent, and the pastor, when a pastor has been appointed (see ¶205.4), shall organize and administer the pastoral charge and churches according to the policies and plans herein set forth. When the membership size, program scope, mission resources, or other circumstances so require, the charge conference may, in consultation with and upon the approval of the district superintendent, modify the organizational plans, provided that the provisions of ¶ 243 are observed. Such other circumstances may include, but not limited to, alternative models for the conception of a local church, such as coffee house ministries, mall ministries, outdoor ministries, retirement home ministries, restaurant ministries, and other emergent ways in which people can gather in God’s name to be the church.
The primary responsibilities of the charge conference in the annual meeting shall be to review and evaluate the total mission and ministry of the church (¶¶ 120-124), receive reports, and adopt objectives and goals recommended by the church council that are in keeping with the objectives of The United Methodist Church.

Debbie Lyons, Pastor

CLICK HERE for our Facebook

9-18-18 FUMC Updates

Posted on Sep 19, 2018 in HomePage |

I am so excited about what’s happening on Wednesday nights at FUMC!! We’re feeding LOTS of people (upwards of 80+!) and and enjoying amazing fellowship, and more than 40 people are staying for ALPHA, an enriching discipleship walk that leads to AMAZING faith conversations! Kids, Kindergarten through 12th grade, are also enjoying the experience and we are so thankful that we have found a WONDERFUL elementary teacher for our K-5th grade kids and I thank the donors who made this possible.

If you still want to join an ALPHA group please let us know by tonight as we begin going deeper and deeper you’ll want to be connected. This will be the LAST week the groups are shuffled … this means, the groups this week will be together through the end!

THANKS TO ALL WHO HELPED CLEAN-UP WESLEY HALL:

First, a special thanks to Joanna and Wayne Horton and Danny and Amy Moss who have spent COUNTLESS HOURS overseeing the work in Wesley Hall! We were able to do a LOT of work on a “shoestring” budget but we could NOT have done that without the hours and hours of work that have been donated to the project! Many of YOU donated time and energy to this work TOO, and I am so grateful to those of you who were able to help!

CONSECRATION of WESLEY HALL: Sunday, October 14th, NOON:

Please plan to stay an extra 15 minutes after church on October 14th as we recognize what God has done in Wesley Hall and we consecrate the building to His service. We’ll try to finish up a little early so it won’t be too late when you leave.

A MESSAGE FROM THE TRUSTEES: as you know, the Trustees are responsible for the asset management of the church … keeping buildings and grounds safe and secure, managing utilities and associated costs, maintaining functionality of space and rooms, etc.

– we have very limited storage space and are trying to think ahead about using space efficiently, so in cleaning out closets, rooms and storage spaces in the last few weeks we have come across things that we no longer have use for but MAY be things you could use. The Trustees have placed these recycle able items in the FLC and you are welcome to take things you might want … a basket will be on the table for a love offering for the next 2 weeks before things are donated/disposed of.

– because the heavy brown tables in Asbury Hall were extremely difficult to move in a room that was being used for more and more things, an anonymous donor has made it possible to replace the tables with lighter and more updated tables.

– we are working hard to update and renovate our buildings and in the process have noticed a lot of damage to walls and woodwork from things being stapled, hung and taped to walls. Please do not staple, hang or tape things to wall … All the rooms in our church are used my MULTIPLE groups and if everyone hung what they wanted and where, no one would be happy! If you have things you want displayed or hung, stop by the office and one of our Trustees will help.

– right now, we don’t need any furniture, wall hangings, decorations or artwork but as we make further plans and find we need things we’ll put the word out.

– there will be announcements coming soon on updates for emergency procedures so stay tuned!

WEDNESDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY STARTS BACK, 9am …all women are welcome to attend the community Bible study, a wonderful group of women from churches around WINNSBORO led by Linda Suche.

PRAY FOR OUR HIGH SCHOOL KIDS & LEADERS … The kids are off to Glen Rose this weekend so pray, pray, pray for them as they kayak, hang out, see THE PROMISE and build relationships with God and one another.

CHRISTMAS IN THE PARK IS COMING in NOVEMBER … Do you like to craft things? Are you looking for a way to give back to the church? Would you like a regular place to visit and get to know others who enjoy crafting? Join the crafters on TUESDAY MORNINGS at 9 am, every week! If you’d prefer to make things for the big sale at home and bring them up to the church, that would be great too!

PRAYER QUILT MINISTRY TOUCHES LIVES: if you can cut or iron fabric, or design or sew lap quilts, come EVERY OTHER TUESDAY mornings 9-noon, for fellowship and time to share your creativity. Our prayer quilts have blessed MANY people so be a part of the power of prayer.

DO YOU KNIT, CROCHET or NEEDLEPOINT? Come join the ladies from the community who visit and stitch together, 1-3 pm.

THIS SUNDAY our worship series, FAITH IN FILM, continues and if you have missed the message on Forest Gump or Les Miserables, you can listen on the website. Our next film is SCHINDLER’S LIST and it’s a difficult story, but a story of how LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING.

Debbie Lyons, Pastor

First United Methodist Church Winnsboro

301 Church Street, Winnsboro, TX. 75494

CLICK HERE for our Facebook

ALL CHURCH CHARGE CONFERENCE: October 15, 6:30 PM

Posted on Sep 17, 2018 in HomePage | Tags: Charge Conference

On November 1st it will be one year since I was appointed to serve as your Pastor and I have loved getting to know you, learning about the DNA of the church, getting involved in the community and exploring ways we can share the love of Christ with those who do not know His love! As we look back at 2018, and begin looking ahead to 2019, I want to invite you to our ALL CHURCH CHARGE CONFERENCE, and I want to encourage you ALL to please come …

Monday, October 15th

6:30 PM … Wesley Hall

(All professing members of the church are members of this COnference but everyone is invited to attend.)

Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. Proverbs 16:3

Here is some of what our Book of Discipline says this:

2. The membership of the charge conference shall be all members of the church council or other appropriate body, together with retired ordained ministers and retired diaconal ministers who elect to hold their membership in said charge conference and any others as may be designated in the Discipline. If more than one church is on the pastoral charge, all members of each church council shall be members of the charge conference.

¶ 247. Powers and Duties-1. The charge conference shall be the connecting link between the local church and the general Church and shall have general oversight of the church council(s).

2. The charge conference, the district superintendent, and the pastor, when a pastor has been appointed (see ¶205.4), shall organize and administer the pastoral charge and churches according to the policies and plans herein set forth. When the membership size, program scope, mission resources, or other circumstances so require, the charge conference may, in consultation with and upon the approval of the district superintendent, modify the organizational plans, provided that the provisions of ¶ 243 are observed. Such other circumstances may include, but not limited to, alternative models for the conception of a local church, such as coffee house ministries, mall ministries, outdoor ministries, retirement home ministries, restaurant ministries, and other emergent ways in which people can gather in God’s name to be the church.

3. The primary responsibilities of the charge conference in the annual meeting shall be to review and evaluate the total mission and ministry of the church (¶¶ 120-124), receive reports, and adopt objectives and goals recommended by the church council that are in keeping with the objectives of The United Methodist Church.

Debbie Lyons, Pastor

First United Methodist Church Winnsboro

301 Church Street, Winnsboro, TX. 75494

CLICK HERE for our Facebook

CLICK HERE for our website

9-11-18 FUMC Updates …

Posted on Sep 11, 2018 in HomePage |

I hope you enjoyed week 1 of our NEW 4 week worship series on FAITH in FILM … there’s nothing like watching a good movie, getting caught up in the story, sitting on the edge of your seat. If you want to laugh—there’s comedy. If you want to cry—there’s a chick flick. Thrills, action, drama—everything we long for, because we love stories, we long for adventure, we want to escape. Next week, we’ll be looking at Les Miserables, one of the greatest historical novels of all time, and we’ll be hitting the concepts of GRACE vs. LAW head on. This will be a terrific Sunday to invite friends because this is NOT your typical sermon series!

WEDNESDAY NIGHT FELLOWSHIP DINNERS ARE BACK! 5:45 pm … We’re having hamburgers this week so don’t miss it! Your love offerings are welcome!

ALPHA IS UP AND RUNNING! Wednesdays, 6:30 – 8 PM … I have heard so many great comments from everyone and I’m so excited to know you all sense what I sense about this amazing ministry! It will really help us if you let us know you’ll be staying after dinner so we can get you connected to a group … you can find details HERE and register there also, or just reply to this email. ALPHA is an “all inclusive” course so it’s hard to drop in and out so please try to come this week and see what you think – I don’t want you to miss a thing!!

THIS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15th … WE’RE CLEANING UP WESLEY HALL!! 9/15, 9am – NOON, donuts and coffee … Yeeee haaaa!! The hard work is coming to an end and that means we can move back into Wesley Hall – but we need ALL HANDS ON DECK to help us get our space spic and span! Won’t you PLEASE join us this Saturday morning -we’ll be cleaning windows, wiping down walls, putting furniture back, dusting blinds, etc. etc. Please bring:

– a roll of paper towels and all your favorite cleaning supplies, especially windex

– long arm dusters and Swiffers

– step stools

– mops and dust brooms

FUTURE UPDATES PLANNED … Please remember, the money that has been used for the Wesley Hall project did not come out of our normal operations maintenance budget (which we have yet to build up to be able to DO these long overdue maintenance projects). This money was made possible from a generous bequest from the Virginia Holly Estate following her death. The trustees have worked EXCEPTIONALLY hard to be EXCEPTIONALLY good stewards of that incredible gift and I can’t thank them enough! We will be working toward Asbury Hall updates in the new year as funds are available, so stay tuned to be amazed by God! We know we have some foundation repairs to be made and we’re researching those costs now.

HIGH SCHOOL KIDS: FIELD TRIP TO GLEN ROSE and THE PROMISE … Saturday, 9/22-23.

The high school kids are going to see THE PROMISE, and they’ll be RAISING THE MONEY for this exciting experience! (STAY TUNED FOR DETAILS) Parents … Ken will be sending the details and the permission slips that you’ve all been communicating about but here are the BASICS … thanks to KADE MARTIN who will be going along to chaperone!!

9/22 …7:30 AM … MEET AT Family Life Center … departure

Kayaking the Brazos River (bring snacks, sunscreen, etc.)

Going to see THE PROMISE at 8 pm

9/23 … 12:30/1pm … BACK AT FLC

UMW MEETING: Thursday, 9/13 … 10 am … all women are invited to attend and find out more!

Find other ongoing events on the calendar!

Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. John 1:16

First Methodist Church Winnsboro

We’re easy to find in Winnsboro!

10-25-18 FUMC Updates

9-18-18 FUMC Updates

ALL CHURCH CHARGE CONFERENCE: October 15, 6:30 PM

9-11-18 FUMC Updates …