serve at first
Have you ever had the feeling that you were meant for something more? That’s because you were! God doesn’t want you to just sit in church. God has called you to serve, just as Christ has served you. At FIRST, our church membership strategy is 1 + 1 + 1. We believe that when you are attending 1 hour of worship, plugged into 1 hour of life group, and spending 1 hour of volunteering each week, you will begin to experience and see God more than ever before.
When you allow God to fill you up through His Word and then let him overflow from you in service, your relationship with Him begins to look and feel different. We don’t want you to just attend church, we want you to get plugged into God’s major plan for you!
IMPACT FAMILY
RESOURCE CENTER
We currently serve approximately 400+ families a week through the drive thru pantry, a mobile market at Valley View High School, Community Meals, on-site engagement at local hotels, support at area senior centers and more.
As we serve our neighbors, we are not simply giving out food, we are giving away our very selves and pointing to life in Christ. When we share tables at the Community Meal with our neighbors, when we linger to pray at the car window with families collecting groceries, when we serve coffee and cookies to friends at the hotel and give them our ears, when we make sure teenagers have food and toiletries and welcome them as we restock shelves to chat, we are seeing relational and “faith gaps” close, even as we help to close the dinner table gaps of families in our community.
Our mission as a church is to embody the Great Commandment and the Great Commission…To Know Christ and Make Christ Known. Loving our neighbors is at the heart of who we are as a church.
serve the world
global missions
In Luke 10 we find a great interaction between Jesus and a man who is really trying to live life as God intends. Take a look at how their conversation unfolds:
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Who is my neighbor? Our answer to this question has radical implications for how we live and connect to what Christ is trying to do in and through us.
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations..."
-Matthew 28:19-20
At FIRST, we are really trying to redefine and love our neighbors well. We don’t simply talk about who we share a fence with anymore. We are drawing our circle wider and trying to love our neighbors near and far. Some days that means serving people in our community by meeting basic needs, sharing meals, and partnering with other local church partners to connect in their neighborhood. Other days, that looks like reaching out to build bridges of faith in multicultural, global cities across Canada or assisting marginalized communities in Nicaragua with housing and shelter.
What we are trying to do is intentionally place ourselves in neighborhoods and communities and then work to bring about change that resonates with Jesus Christ.
Our God is a God who sends and actively engages people. At FIRST, we are doing our best to be a community that reflects that same spirit. We are trying to live as a people sent into our community and around the world to share the love of Jesus Christ.
There are many ways to get involved in serving our global neighbors near and far. Contact Pastor Matt Sprink to learn more.