FUMC News
Stay up-to-date on our latest news
First Word from Pastor Taylor – Black Lives Matter to God and to Us
Last week, we hung a banner on the Family Life Center that reads, “Black Lives Matter to God and to us.” The banner hangs at a time when fewer people are driving by our building than ever before, thanks to the Coronavirus. So why hang it? FUMC has been on a...
August Mission Emphasis – English as a Second Language (ESL) Ministry
English as a Second Language (ESL) classes are offered at no cost on Mondays and Thursdays. Guests can practice their English conversation skills and develop friendships to support them outside the classroom. Imagine you know a language only literally. What would you...
UMW Circle Up Receives Grant Funding
Circle Up, a subgroup of United Methodist Women at First United Methodist Church Austin, has received a Just and Resilient Communities Grant offered through the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church. Circle Up was formed in 2018 to focus...
First Steps Registration Form
We are so happy you have chosen to participate in First Steps to learn more about FUMC, our pastors, and the United Methodist Church. Please tell us some basic information about yourself and/or family. This information is confidential for church records....
The Joy Circle Welcomes You!
Our United Methodist Women (UMW) Joy Circle invites all interested ladies to join us as we discuss the UMW Mission Study, Finding Peace in An Anxious World, beginning this week. Please contact Elizabeth Lerner at earendlerner@yahoo.com or at (512) 589-6305 for more information or with questions.
Living the Parables
"God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble." -Psalm 46:1Barnabas, The Encourager Meet Barnabas, the FUMC Staff Encourager. This “son of encouragement” (Acts 4:36) lives to encourage people through challenging times. When Pastor Taylor mentioned a...
Transformation Beyond Our Walls
Stories from people building community and fulfilling the mission of the church in new ways during the COVID-19 pandemic.
July Mission Emphasis – Emergency Assistance Fund
Jesus said, "Which of these three...was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” [The man] said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” – Luke 10:25-37. This year’s July Mission Emphasis will support ministry...
A Strong Connection
My story begins with an introduction to Conneen Sanders, a homebound senior. I was delighted to meet her as she was one of the sweetest eighty-year old ladies I had ever encountered besides my own precious mother. She truly was a joy to visit. I always looked forward to knocking on her door and being greeted by her happy smile and little barking dog. She lived in a beautiful garden home and was self-sufficient in the beginning of our friendship. We would sit on her couch and share stories of growing up in Austin.
First Word from Pastor Taylor – Will we ever get there?
Will we ever get there? One part of traveling that I do not miss is the nearly-constant barrage of questions from the back seat, all centered around the same theme: Are we there yet? Children have a different sense of time--I’m not quite sure I’ll ever figure it out!...
First Word from Pastor Taylor – The Wounds of Racism
Dear Church, Part of the nature of providing virtual worship is that everything is completed several days in advance, in order to allow time for post-production editing and uploading to the platforms where you can view and participate in the worship service....
First Word from Pastor Taylor – New Video Worship Service
"...Let us go to the House of the Lord." -Psalm 122 Dear Church, Things are moving and shaking around FUMC! We are gearing up for our summer worship series, summer Bible and book studies, summer programs for children and youth, and a new website (coming soon)...wow!...
June Mission Emphasis – Justice for Our Neighbors
This offering supports the peace and justice work of Austin Region Justice for Our Neighbors (ARJFON), a United Methodist-affiliated immigration ministry that welcomes refugees and immigrants into our communities by providing free, high-quality immigration legal...
Bolder than the State of Texas: Stories and Conversations on Living Faith
In 2018, FUMC launched a community autobiography project, Bolder than The State of Texas: Stories and Conversations on Living Faith. Drawing on our congregational value of Storytelling, this project gathers narratives of the people of First United Methodist Church. We want to hear your story.
First Word from Pastor Taylor – Spiritual Practice of Worship
Fasting. Service. Giving. Now, worship. At times in this series on the spiritual disciplines, I worry that I am just nagging you, trying to get you to do the things that you “should” do. Perhaps the better approach is that these practices are the windows of your spiritual life. Opening them creates an opportunity for the fresh wind of God’s spirit to blow through your life, and opening more than one creates a cross-breeze that can even change the temperature of the house.
Alternative Gifts for Father’s Day
Order Deadline: June 15 Fathers can be the hardest to shop for when gift time comes around. This Father’s Day, we are encouraging gifts to be used by fathers across the globe as an alternative to the usual standby tie or some other gift item you might purchase. An...
First Word from Pastor Taylor – Reopening
Dear Church, I want to share with you that our leadership is hard at work developing guidelines and protocols that will govern our approach to reopening the FUMC building in the future. Our approach is cautious; we are taking very seriously the call to “Do no...
Conference Safety Training
As part of the Rio Texas Conference Child, Youth, and Vulnerable Adult Safety Policy, all clergy, staff, and volunteers in ministry with these populations must be certified every two years by following these three steps: TRUSTed con Confianza...
3rd Grade Bible Presentation
Children's Ministry "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me..."Studying Scripture is one of the most important ways we learn about God. FUMC presents personal Bibles to each third grade student as a statement of their growing faith...
Grief Groups Now Forming
We are living in such an unprecedented time that almost everyone is struggling with grief and loss, whether it's the loss of health and safety, the loss of a job, the loss of community, or the loss of normalcy or a daily schedule. Add to that the grief that you may...
First Word from Pastor Taylor – Spiritual Practice of Service
I’ll be honest. When deciding which of the spiritual disciplines to lift up in this Eastertide series of sermons, we intentionally decided not to do a sermon on Service. Truth is, service is an area in which First Church excels; when others ask me about our church, I am always quick to note that this is a church where we don’t just write checks—we get our hands dirty in the actual work of serving others. It’s one part of our “personality” that I appreciate the most. I’d like to lift up a distinction that may be helpful for us in consideration of service, and that is the distinction between service carried out as an act of love and care for another and service taken on as a spiritual discipline. These aren’t mutually exclusive—hopefully all service is done with a measure of love for others, and really any service can help us to grow spiritually, but I invite you to consider what might be different about a practice of serving for the purpose of training your spirit.
May Mission Emphasis – Mobile Loaves & Fishes
The Mobile Loaves & Fishes downtown Austin truck (based at FUMC) is still serving meals to the homeless and working poor in our community - even during the pandemic - and we are needed now more than ever! Last year our MLF truck provided over 26,000 hearty...
First Word from Pastor Taylor – Spiritual Practice of Solitude
We’ve set out to explore the Spiritual habits and disciplines that can help strengthen us during times of trial. With a six-week worship series, we are unable to cover all of the many spiritual disciplines practiced by Christians over these thousands of years, so I’ll use these messages for the next several weeks to reflect on some of the practices we will miss in the worship series. Perhaps the strangest one to talk about right now is the Spiritual Discipline of solitude.
Taylor’s Weekly Pastoral Letter – Spiritual Disciplines
We will spend the next six Sundays exploring the Spiritual Disciplines in our new worship series, “A Strong Spirit in Troubled Times: The Practices that Sustain Us.” Each week our podcast and live worship will be focused around one discipline, with sermon, music, and prayers centered on that theme. We’ll skip some of the more obvious, traditional disciplines and delve into a few you probably haven’t tried, at least not intentionally, and we’ll pay particular attention to the ways that God might use these disciplines to sustain us through this particular moment in history.
Ways to Help During COVID-19
During this COVID-19 pandemic, there are opportunities to serve one another and our community.
First Word from Pastor Taylor – “Yes, and…”
I have always been taken with the idea that the Christian life is one of improvisation. We take the model we are given—through what we see of Jesus and other disciples in scripture, through the witness of the saints—and we improvise on that. We adapt it to new circumstances, a different time, and we add to it, using creativity driven by necessity and the ever-generative Holy Spirit.
Easter Egg Donations Found a Good Home
Thank you to everyone who donated Easter eggs, candy, toys, and time to prepare for the Easter Egg Festival this year. Although we were disappointed this event was cancelled, we were able to put the candy eggs to good use! Your egg donations went to marginalized children and families at Posada Esperanza, SAFE Alliance, Foster Village, Helping Hand Home, and the Settlement Home for Children. We are so grateful for the opportunity to serve these families and appreciate your support in being able to make it happen. Happy Easter from the Children’s Ministry!
Holy Week Bags
FUMC Staff has prepared some ideas to help our church family observe Holy Week while we are physically apart. We hope these activities will be a blessing—and perhaps a new tradition—for your family.
Manna Bags Needed
We are seeking assembled Manna Bags to hand out to our hungry neighbors on the street. Officer Shelly, our officer from the Feed My People Breakfast, is helping distribute the Manna Bags where they are needed the most. Completed manna bags may be dropped off at the Family Life Center.
First Word from Pastor Taylor – Gift of Simplicity
Perhaps one of the gifts available to us in these days is simplicity. I need regular reminders that not everything has to be complicated! In this crisis times, even small things—the things we would usually take for granted—make a big difference. Think of the scenes of thousands of New Yorkers out on their balconies cheering for the medical workers who are selflessly caring for so many right now; simple applause, and yet it is deeply moving. One day this week, I received two cards—two!—from members of our congregation offering their thanks and encouragement. I wept then, and I’m weeping again now, just thinking about it.