Volunteering Your Time and Talents
First Church has earned the reputation in recent years for being a "mission-minded" church. Many of our efforts have been focused on local needs and missions. Here are some of the opportunities for service we offer:
Partnership At McCrary School
First Church was the first to enter into a "pioneering partnership" with a local elementary school. Each week, up to 30 church members go to McCrary School for an hour or more of tutoring children, many with special needs. We also provide a "thank you" breakfast for teachers and staff twice a year, and conduct a drive before school starts to gather school supplies for children whose families cannot afford them.
Room-In-The-Inn
This is a ministry to the homeless in Randolph County, sponsored by the Christians United Outreach Center. First Church volunteered to be the first church to host this caring ministry, and we continue to serve as hosts at least four times a year. As many as 80 or more of our members have been involved.
Victory Junction Gang Camp
On a regular basis, volunteers from First Church go to Victory Junction Gang Camp near Randleman to change bed linen and do other chores at this special camp for sick children. We typically go on Wednesday mornings.
Central Boys And Girls Club
This is an after-school ministry to ethnic minority children in our community. It involves tutoring and planning some fun activities.
 Project 5000
Each year during Lent boxes of food are collected for distribution to the needy. This is a ministry started by First Church in 2003 and now involves several other churches. Up to one thousand boxes are collected each year, each box to feed a family of four for two days.
Prayer Shawl Knitting
A number of church members gather on an afternoon at least once a month to knit prayer shawls. These are blessed at the alter and then taken to the hospital or hospice to be distributed to those who are seriously ill. It is also a great time of fellowship for those who come together.
Work Teams
Each year we recruit and send work teams to places that have been touched by disaster or live in poverty. Past teams have gone to Puerto Rico and South America. Recently, 14 church members spent a week in Theodore, Alabama, as part of the on-going relief effort in the gulf area after Hurricane Katrina. We are planning for another team to go to the area in the fall.
Other ministries our church supports and which offer opportunities to volunteer are:
- The Human Race - A walk to raise money for local missions each March
- Relay For Life - Support for Cancer Research in May
- Prison Ministries
- Salvation Army Bell Ringers
- Christians United Outreach Center
- Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen
- Food Distribution
- Many more...
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