Worship with us this Sunday, January 31st online at our YouTube channel at 9:00 AM.

Listen to our services by dialing 717-899-4569. If you know someone who is not online and would like to hear our service, please share this number with them.

This Sunday, January 31 we will look at Jonah 3. The sermon title is “Relenting” and focuses on doing God’s will. Contemporary songs for Sunday: https://youtu.be/Ss3wtg34pi0
Love Come Down  and
Lift your head Weary Sinner 

The sermon texts and topics for the next two weeks:
February 7, Jonah 4 on “Learning”
February 14 we switch it up with John 15:9-17 - “No Greater Love”

Lent
Lent begins Ash Wednesday, February 17th. Our Lenten theme will be “The Road to the Resurrection”. Look for a Lenten devotion USPS mailing coming the beginning of February.

Clothing Ministry - Now that cold temperatures are here the Clothing Ministry needs
Men’s and Women’s Extra-large and bigger winter coats as well as large (1x,2X,3X) men’s and women’s clothing. Bed linens and blankets are needed. There is also a request for a hand mixer and a microwave. If you can donate any of these items, it will be greatly appreciated, To arrange drop off call Carel Fish at 717-264-4354

Virtual Learning - Thank you for making your weekly or monthly contributions to the streaming education taking place at First Church. We continue to host Chambersburg school students and supervising staff from the Boys and Girls Club. We have gained 7 more students this week are at 52. Staffing has increased students are using the Apple place, the sanctuary annex behind the glass doors and the Open-Door room. Your support continues to be very much needed and appreciated!

Firstlights - This Week
Tuesday - Pray with us at 2:52pm on Facebook.
Wednesday - Join us for First Lights Live on Zoom at 6pm.
Sunday - 9am Worship on YouTube. Followed by - First Lights Small Group on Zoom.
First Lights Back to the Bible Challenge
As the new year begins, it's a great time to encourage kids to start a habit of reading their Bible daily or to reward kids who have developed the habit and reinforce it. I want to make sure the kids are given the opportunity to all start off together on our Bible journey, so if your child does not have a Bible or needs a more age-appropriate version, please let our children's minister know. It is a privilege for us to equip you and your child! You can email Brianna at kidsedfumc@gmail.com.

Illuminate Youth Ministry - Look for episodes of Virtual Youth Group on our YouTube channel. We also encourage our small groups to keep meeting via zoom. Be sure to check e-mails from Collin for a specific date and time!
YouTube and website www.illuminateyouth.org.

Confirmation Class meets every other Sunday at 4:00 PM on Zoom. Class meets on Zoom January 31st at 4 PM. Please pray for our 8 confirmands and their mentors!

Grief/Share – Has moved on-line and meets Mondays at 1:00 PM. If you or a friend struggle with grief, come and join others who are walking the same journey. For information or to register please call Gail at 717-263-8491 ext.207.

Hungry Hearts - Thank you all for your faithfulness to our friends and neighbors through your continued support of Hungry Hearts. As we all know, 2020 was not a fun year for anyone, but it was made exponentially more difficult for those who had already been struggling with poverty and food insecurity. As a result of the pandemic, Hungry Hearts saw a drastically increased need from the community, which we were able to meet because our God is so good. Currently we're handing out 150-200 meals every Thursday night and have over 100 families a week relying on our food pantry. In the food pantry in 2020 we saw over 5000 families, composed of 16,231 individuals and we gave them 191,105 pounds of food. Again, we want to offer our deepest appreciation and gratitude to everyone who donated or who has volunteered to help at any time throughout this past year! We couldn't do all this without you. Thank you for making this ministry possible. – Dan Renshaw

Haiti Ministry - Second semester tuition checks for students attending our School of Hope in Haiti are needed now. The amount is $132.00 per student. Checks can be made out to FUMC- Haiti Missions and School of Hope should be written in the memo. Thanks so much for your supporter of the School. These beautiful children are counting on us!

Blood Drive
First United Methodist Church, Chambersburg will be sponsoring a blood drive for the Central Pennsylvania Blood Bank on Monday, 02/15/21 from 11:00 am - 7:00 pm. The Registration Area and the Donation area will be the Family Life Center. Look for a link to make an appointment in the first Eblast of February.

Endowment Fund Status - 31 December 2020
The total principal (market value) is $1,357,045. This is an increase of $78,203 from last year (2019). The fund currently has interest earned (available income) of $210,72. This is the amount we can spend. The amount by category is as follows; General $82,546 Music $37,576 Bldgs./Fac $37,342 Missions $15,882 Scholarships $37,366 Note: $20,000 has been returned to the General Category. This amount was set aside to pay staff salaries, if funds were needed because of the effect of COVID-19 on giving. Thankfully, it was not needed.

In 2020 the Fund has supported - • the farm house for our orphans in Haiti, • taping and streaming equipment for on-line services, •apple phone and video camera for streaming,• Sierra Leone Initiative (5 yr commitment) help pay pastor salaries • Paid for a staff member to attend a workshop that will help people on their spiritual journey, to discern God’s voice, to serve as a spiritual director, and teach on the spiritual disciplines. In 2020 we received contributions of $14,341 and had disbursements of 7,426. Note: Starting in December 2020, any funds received for Endowment that are not specifically designated to a category, will be deposited as principal to the Mission category. Mission’s receives the most requests for disbursements.

PRAY - One of the goals of FUMC has always been to be a praying church. As Pastor Steve shared in his last eblast, we have an even greater need to be prayerful in this new year. Our weekly 1stprays email will continue to be updated with new or ongoing requests that the congregation sends. We certainly want to continue that tradition. However, scripture also calls us to be people of PRAISE and THANKSGIVING. So as we continue to pray for the needs of one another, we would like to start sharing the praises of our lives, the answers to prayer that we have seen and also add prayers of Thanksgiving. You can send your contributions to the PRAISE & THANKSGIVING email at these email addresses. 1stprays@gmail.com or Director of Congregational Care at parishvisitorfumc@gmail.com. If you are not already receiving these 1stprays emails and would like to be added to the list, please notify Gail (717-263-8491 ext. 207). Let's try to get as many prayer warriors as we can!