Our ushers will offer you a printed order of service.  For the sanctuary services it will include page numbers for the hymnal, which is located in the pew rack, and for readings from the Bible, which is located under the pew.  In the Good News Celebration service, these words are projected onto a screen.  We usually stand when we sing and recite the liturgy and creeds.  We sit to hear announcements and the sermon, as well as during prayer times.  On the first Sunday of every month and on some special Sundays we celebrate the service of Holy Communion.  We practice “open communion,” meaning that one does not need to be a member of our congregation or a Methodist in order to participate.  Our liturgy says “It is the Lord’s table, and you are welcome.”

Children of all ages are welcome in all of our worship services. Some parents and guardians feel more comfortable placing infants and small children in our nursery. The nursery, staffed by trained volunteers and paid staff, is located in the children’s wing of the Trinity Building and is available during all of our Sunday morning classes and worship services. You may enter the nursery through the far northwest doors (near the playground) or through the two large wooden doors on the east side of the Trinity Building and continue through the Great Hall.

For more information about First United Methodist Church, please see our weekly e-Witness and our monthly magazine, The Witness.  You may subscribe to receive the e-Witness each week on e-mail by contacting Colleen Holt at cholt@conwayfumc.org.  You may also check out our church Facebook page at www.facebook.com/conwayfirstumc.

To cultivate faithful and fruitful disciples of Jesus Christ.

To be a growing congregation of faithful and fruitful disciples who are alive int he grace of God, rooted in love of Christ, and who branch out to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

As a congregation, we value graciousness, generosity, and growth.  With God’s guidance, we strive to cultivate the virtues of compassion, respect, hospitality, and a commitment to bear the fruit of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Faithfulness, and Self-Control.

To GATHER for weekly worship.  To GROW through the Means of Grace.  To GO into the world equipped to share the good news and to live as faithful and fruitful disciples of Jesus Christ.  To GLORIFY God through it all.

We cultivate faithfulness and fruitfulness through:

• Inspiring Worship
• Growth-Producing Ministries for Children, Youth, and Adults
• A Variety of Opportunities to be a Blessing in the Congregation and the Community
• Gracious Care and Support for One Another

(We Gather, Grow, Go, and Glorify)

As part of the worldwide and diverse community of Christians, we believe in one God, the source of all goodness, truth, and love.  We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s presence made flesh, who reveals the way of forgiveness, justice, love, and life.  We believe in the Holy Spirit as the divine presence in our lives, empowering us to bear the fruit of God’s blessings.  We share a common conviction that God’s life-giving grace is for all people.  We grow in the grace through the disciplined practice of the “means of grace,” or the “methods of Methodism,” which include worship, prayer, the reading of the scriptures, holy conferencing and conversation, giving, and service.  We trust that God is with us, in life, in death, and in life beyond death and that nothing can separate us from God’s love.  We see the Bible as God’s inspired guide for faithful and fruitful living, to be used together with the resources of tradition, reason, and experience.  We celebrate the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion as instituted by Christ and offer an “open table” where all are welcome.  We believe God’s blessings always come to us on their way to someone else.

We are a community of open hearts and open minds, built upon the love of God as revealed through Jesus Christ and cultivated through the continuing work of the Holy Spirit.  We accept people wherever they are on their faith-journey and believe that a variety of perspectives helps all of us to grow.  We come together, not to agree on everything, but to learn how to love, forgive, bless, and honor one another.  In this way we practice for our place as citizens of God’s expansive kingdom which is always bigger than our finite perspectives.  While we proclaim the core doctrines of the Christian faith as given to us through the scriptures and historic creeds, we are also willing to ask questions of interpretation, to struggle with difficult issues, and to engage one another with respect and compassion.  As John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement once said,

“As to all opinions which do not strike at the root of Christianity, we think and let think.”