|
|
 |
Location Maps We are located at 801 West Avenue B in Garland, between
Glenbrook and Ninth Avenue.
|
Welcome to First Church
First Church is part of the United Methodist Church with over 35,000 congregations nation wide and more than 8.5 million adult members in the United States. We are located in the heart of Garland, Texas that is the 12th largest city in Texas and on the eastern side of Dallas County. Garland shares a common city boundary with Dallas and Richardson to our West, Mesquite to our South and Plano to our north. We are surrounded by one of the fasted growing areas in Texas and continue to shape our ministry and worship to meet the needs of folks moving into our area.
Our focus is to bring the good news and hope of Jesus Christ to those who hunger for the love of God. Our worship style is designed to ensure people new to worship feel immediately comfortable. Our purpose is to provide an exciting, healthy, Christian environment where people from all over the community can come to learn, fellowship, and enjoy all that God has for them.
First Church is celebrating 150 years of ministry in Garland and 100 years at its current location. In the fall of 2005 we completed a 4000 square foot addition that includes an elevator, entrance, multipurpose garden room and chapel. Our future plans call for the addition of an Activity Center and Education Building as we continue to develop space for the growing numbers of folks seeking a loving community in which to live out their ministry of discipleship.
A Brief History
1855 — Organized on Duck Creek by
18 members meeting in a log school house.
1904 — Purchased current church site and
moved the white frame sanctuary onto location.
1924 — Completed new sanctuary on the corner
of 9th and Avenue B, downtown Garland
1952 — Completed three story education
building
1956 — Added Schreiber Hall
and second floor children’s wing.
1962 — Sanctuary built in 1924 burns beyond
repair.
1963 — Current Sanctuary is completed, seats
700 with basement choir room and classes.
1971 — Grace Ashley joins the staff
1984 — Asbury Hall is completed with
classrooms and modern office complex.
1994 — Pastor Mike Haynes leads a capital
campaign that inspires the congregation.
1995 — Pastor Clay Womack joins the staff for
the second time.
2001 — Pastor Gene Wisdom is appointed by the
bishop as senior pastor.
2005 — New addition finished with elevator and
multipurpose Garden Chapel.
2006 -- Pastor Caroline Noll joins the staff as Director
of Children and Family Ministries
2007 -- Kitty Williams joins the staff as Director of
Music Ministries.
What We Believe
As United Methodist we affirm these truths about the God we worship and serve:
We affirm God as the creator of the universe. God is loving, compassionate, just and kind. God desires to live in a loving relationship with all people.
Because of God’s desire to live in relationship with us, God, in Jesus Christ, has come to us, born among the poor of his people. Jesus taught and lived an exemplary life and calls us to follow his teachings. Jesus died because the people rejected his way of love and forgiveness. God raised Jesus to new life that we might believe in God’s love. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and therefore, by faith in him we are claimed as the family of God.
The Holy Spirit is the presence of Jesus Christ alive and at work in our world. It is this Spirit of Christ that calls the Church into existence and empowers its members with gifts of ministry. It is this Spirit that comforts us in hard times and reminds us that we are never without the presence of God.
The Bible is a source of how God speaks to us through the history of Israel’s relationship with God, through the Gospel stories of Jesus’ life and through the letters to the early Churches that were deemed sacred by the Church. The Bible is sufficient for us to know God, to know how God wants us to live, and to find in these words a means for redeeming us in the midst of life.
The Church is the community of people called by God to be a fellowship of believers who represent Jesus Christ to the world. The church is the Body of Christ living in the world. The Church is called to worship God in Christ and to serve God and one another.
As United Methodist we observe two sacraments, Holy Communion and Baptism. Both Sacraments are a means of grace and symbolize to us the outward and visible signs of the inward and spiritual grace of God working in us. Baptism is God’s gift to us. Baptism is something that God does for us through the Church. Baptism is first and foremost a symbol of God’s love that declares the truth that we belong to the family of God.
Holy Communion is also the outward and visible sign of God’s love and forgiveness. Communion reminds us that we belong to God and that nothing in life will ever separate us from God.
We affirm the sacred worth of all people for we are created in the image of God. Our worth is not fixed by what we accomplish in life but rather by who we are: God’s children. In Jesus Christ we see how God values us in that Christ died to prove God's love for us.
Though we affirm human value we also acknowledge that our human efforts fall short of what God has created and called us to be. It is only because of God’s forgiveness made real in the life of Jesus Christ that we are restored to life in God.
In Jesus Christ God has triumphed over everything that takes
away from life, both now and in that life that is yet to come.
Therefore we believe that God intends this life to be full and
complete and will keep us even into eternal life.
Back to top
Staff Areas of Ministry-
Click on staff name to contact by e-mail, or general inquiries
can be sent to
staff@fumcgarland.org or call 972-272-3471.
Gene
Wisdom — Worship, Pastoral Care, Adult Teacher,
Trustees, Finance, Staff Parish Relations, and Building
Committee
Clay Womack
— Pastoral Care, Missions, Communications, Welcoming Committee,
Men’s Ministry, Volunteers In Missions
Caroline Noll
—
Adult & Children's Ministries, Pastoral Care, Children Sunday School, and
Vacation Bible School
Armando Alvarado- Intern Pastor - works in the areas of ministry practice — worship & preaching, pastoral care, evangelism, Christian education.
Cindy Gillis -- Day School, Mother's Day Out, and Summer Mother's Day Out
Kitty Williams — Chancel Choir, Pure Joy! Youth Choir, Adult and Children’s Hand Bells, Children’s Choirs, Communion, and Worship Committee
Betsy Henderson — Children’s Choirs
Nicole Benson — Youth Director
Glenda Rhodes — Administrative Assistant, Building Use, Wedding Dates, Publications and Mailings
Dianne Mood
— Membership Records, Meeting notification, Mailings
Harriette Chavez --
Financials, Giving Statements, Accounts Payables, and
Finance Committee