First Christian Church

   Last year we had a wonderful service and dinner celebrating our 135th Anniversary. This year we want to continue this tradition on a smaller scale. On Sunday, October 3, we will have a Homecoming Sunday. Invite friends living in Birmingham who once attended First Christian to come back to renew friendships and celebrate precious memories.

   The service will be led by Edd and Mary Pat, with special music led by Jan and the Sanctuary Choir. Also, October 3, is World Communion Sunday, and we will lift up the moment of communion with the words of communion shared in different languages. This will help us symbolize the unity we have with Christians around the world.

   Following the service, Fellowship Mission is providing a great dinner of: turkey & dressing, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, deviled eggs, green beans, turnip greens and a few surprises. Also, for dessert, there will be a variety of Holiday pies.

   The cost for the meal will be $7 for adults, $3 for children 5-10 years old, and children under 5 are free. Please make your reservations on the envelopes in the pews.

     So, invite someone you know that has attended First Christian in the past. Come and celebrate Homecoming and our 136th year of sharing the Lord with Birmingham.

We are going to have a new pictorial directory for our church family. The directory will help us connect names with faces.

    For the next several weeks, on the Sundays of September 19, and 26, and on Sunday, October 3, you can make your appointment for your portrait. There will be a sign-up table in the narthex with someone to help you make your appointment.

   The schedule dates for photography and portrait viewing are October 14-16 and 18-19.

   If you have any questions, please contact our Membership Chair, Lisa Burdette.

Back by popular demand, George “Pete” Stewart, former Director of the Birmingham Library, will join us Monday evening, September 27, to bring us the “rest of the story”.

Pete will pick up where he left off beginning with the early 1900’s as to what Birmingham looked like.

Yes, both men and women are invited, so be sure to sign up so Steve Pasky and the James Gang can prepare enough food for everyone.

This special evening might be a good opportunity to invite a friend or neighbor to church. After all, that’s what this is all about, “Christian Fellowship”. 

All men of the church & their friends are invited.

On this Sunday we are all encouraged to take a student out to eat after worship. This could be a high school or college student. Consider participating in T.A.S.T.E. Sunday – Take A Student To Eat, another way to establish new relationships within the congregation.

If you need the name of a person to take out to eat, contact Edd or Mary Pat.

The Reconciliation Ministry Offering is used to fund our church’s mission to become a pro-reconciling/ anti-racist church through experiential education, inclusive worship and intentional dialogue across difference. 

Our special Reconciliation Offerings will be received September 26th and October 3.

Does the riverboat ring your bell? Maverick music comes to mind for me, but this cruise is not for the gamblers such as Britt and Bart…It’s for you and it’s a lunch cruise down the Alabama River on the 1st of September. 

Sign up for a ride on the church bus and lots of fun… oh yes, there’s a short side trip after the cruise to the historic First White House of the Confederacy. 

A fun day for all Young at Heart and their friends. We will meet at the church 9:00 am.

Please sign up soon in the Narthex by the 21st. Let’s go down the river together... Janet

Going back to school is exciting. It is a time to see those you haven’t seen in three months and, of course, it’s a time to get back to serious studying. So have a great time and get settled in. Then on Sunday, September 12th, come and bring your old and new friends at 5:00 as we begin our youth groups again. That’s right - 5:00 PM.

We will be beginning at 5:00 - and meet until 6:30- with our snack supper at 6:30. This time change will help the younger ones get home earlier and get to bed. The older youth will still have time to do their homework.

Well, the resurrection of the Busy Believers Sunday School class has been, in a word, under whelming (probably because of the teacher). But we’re not giving up! And we need your help. 

We are having a get together Friday, September 10th at 7:00 pm at the Spencers’ home in Highland Lakes. 

The purpose of our gathering will be two-fold. First, and most important, fellowship! We rarely get an opportunity to catch up with each other given our BUSY lives! Second, we will spend a little time discussing the class and your ideas about how to make it work (even if that means finding a new teacher).

We are asking everyone to bring a snack, and if you need a sitter for your kids, we will arrange to have someone at the Church so you can drop them off on the way to Edd and Mary Pat’s. 

Just let us know by calling 991-5000 and making a reservation for your child by September 7th. I look forward to seeing all the Busy Believers at the Spencers’ on September 10th. 

The Fellowship Mission will provide light refreshments of fruit, cookies, coffee, and juice between Sunday school and Worship.

The refreshment table will be located in the Narthex by the church office.

Stop by between 9:45 and 10:15 to enjoy refreshments.

Also, this is a wonderful opportunity to meet our guests and welcome them to First Christian Church.