What is Discipleship?
Discipleship is....
Your journey will take you down the following path:
- Letting the Holy Spirit open your heart to letting Christ in. Then, through worship and study and fellowship with other Christians, you get to know and love Jesus Christ and want to follow him.
- Baptism: When you are ready to make a commitment to Christ (or to make the commitment for your child), you can request the sacrament of baptism by sprinkling or by immersion. If you were baptized in another church and want to recommit, we will renew your vows.
- Confirmation: Baptism holds the promise of new life, but some of us were not yet ready to live it. Confirmation is both a personal study and a public ceremony for youth and adults who want to confirm their faith and receive the blessings of rebirth.
- Growing in Grace: God is not finished with us yet. Even if we are baptized and confirmed, we have a lot of growing to do. So, we have a robust program of small “Growing in Grace” groups and Bible Studies to grow you in your knowledge of Christ and your love of God and neighbor.
- Lay Servant, Lay Minister: If you are called to ministry in the church, you do not have to go seminary. We can nurture that call through a program of lay servant classes and a lay ministry program offered to us through the United Methodist Church.
- Mission and Service: It is in our church’s DNA to show our love for God and our neighbors by being in mission and in service to the world. We engage locally through our food and clothing collections and fundraising. We host a resource center for foster families and provide space for many recovery meetings. We also join with other churches to build houses in Mexico and in disaster areas in the U.S. And we participate in global mission projects through the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
Growing in Grace (GiG) Groups
What are Gig Groups??
Come Grow in Grace with us!
Growing in Grace is a new small-group program here on the North Coast. It is designed to answer the need we all have to think about, talk about, and interact with our faith in our church community. This need is particularly vital in our current social and political climate of total opposition and toxic exchanges. In the church, we have the opportunity to come together in ways completely different from the rest of society, because we are united in the love of Jesus Christ despite any other differences we may have.
So how does Growing in Grace work?
We meet in small groups, of up to 10 people, once a week. Those groups can be online or in person. Usually, the leader sends out a topic of discussion a few days in advance so everyone can be prepared.
Questions we’ve used include topics such as:
- “How can I make better decisions in my life?” or
- “How can I make my faith known to others?” or,
- “How do I know that God loves me as I am, and what does that make me do?”
We always begin and end with a prayer. Then the leader does their best to answer the question as best as they can, based on their life and faith experience. Then each person, in turn, takes a try at the question. We’re not trying to fix each other, and their is no right or wrong, so the task of each person in the group is to listen attentively, with an open mind, while others are speaking. After everyone has spoken, the leader might sum up some of the ideas the group has shared. Then the meeting closes with a prayer.
Missions
Make Disciples and transform the world
The Mission of Eureka First UMC
The mission of the United Methodist Church, of which we are proud members, is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. This is coupled with our Annual Conference three-part focus on Thriving in community. Following Jesus. Healing the world.
At Eureka First, we try to address the needs of our city in multiple ways.
- At the most basic level, we provide food through our monthly food drive (with the goal of collecting 100 pounds of food each month), which we make available to those in need through Food for People and on a drop-in basis.
- On the second Sunday of every month we invite everyone to our "Second Sunday Brunch" after our worship service.
- Many of our members volunteer in many locations throughout Eureka, including assisting with the Emergency Homeless Shelter, the Betty Kwan Chin Homeless Foundation, Humboldt Sponsors (which raised funds for youth programs), Food for People, and the Salvation Army.
- We also provide venues for substance and alcohol abuse organizations, a local Zen group, and the Humboldt Foster Care Resource Center, which provides essential supplies for Humboldt County’s foster families.
We are always looking to expand our mission outreach! If you have an idea for a mission project, whether short or long term, talk to us!