Students in the 6th through 12th grades are invited to join us on Sunday nights for Sunday Night Gatherings from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Youth Center (“The Fish Tank”), located on the 1st floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center. Sunday Night Gatherings include great dinners, fun games, amazing worship, inspirational and relevant messages and life-changing small groups.

Our schedule for the month of December is:

• Sunday, December 22nd: Sunday Night Gathering at 5:30 p.m. in the Youth Center (“The Fish Tank”);
• Sunday, December 29th: No Sunday Night Gathering (Christmas/New Year’s break).
  

Our schedule for the month of January is:

• Sunday, January 5th: Sunday Night Gathering at 5:30 p.m. in the Youth Center (“The Fish Tank”);
• Sunday, January 12th: Sunday Night Gathering at 5:30 p.m. in the Youth Center (“The Fish Tank”);
• Sunday, January 19th: Sunday Night Gathering at 5:30 p.m. in the Youth Center (“The Fish Tank”);
• Sunday, January 26th: Sunday Night Gathering at 5:30 p.m. in the Youth Center (“The Fish Tank”);

Please click on YOUTH MINISTRY for more information.

Questions? Please contact Rev. Min Lee, Director of Youth Ministries, by e-mail at mlee@duluthumc.org.

Noon - Family Christmas Eve Service in Hinton Hall

• The Family Christmas Eve Service, with candlelight to close the service, will be held in Hinton Hall.
• Music, featuring Christmas carols, will be led
  by the Contemporary Worship Praise Team.
• The service will be live streamed on the Duluth First UMC Contemporary Worship page on Facebook.
• Christmas Sweaters and Cookies on Christmas Eve:  If you are planning to attend the Family Worship Candlelight Service on Christmas Eve - Tuesday, December 24th at noon in Hinton Hall, we invite you to wear your favorite Christmas sweater or outfit.
  We also invite you to bring a plate of your favorite Christmas cookies to share with others during a time of fellowship before the worship service. Our time of fellowship will begin at 11:30 a.m. and the worship service will begin at noon. Hot cocoa, juice, and bottles of water will be provided.
  

4:00 and 6:00 p.m. - Candlelight Services in the Sanctuary

• The Christmas Eve Candlelight Services will be held in the Sanctuary.
• Music, featuring Christmas carols, will be led by the Chancel Choir.
• The services will be live streamed on the Duluth First UMC Worship page on YouTube.
  

NOTE: Children, newborn through pre-Kindergarten, are eligible for childcare at Duluth First United Methodist Church’s Childcare Corner.

Have you ever wanted to set out on a pilgrimage? A journey just for you to discover something the looms out there, in the unknown, on the edge of a waiting time to change something in your spirit? The United Women in Faith invite you to join them on Saturday, January 4, 2025, to look at the Map you Make Yourself.

We will come together with art, readings, comfort, and challenge to find something of sabbath rest and a map for your pilgrimage to a place of peace. Perhaps there will be something that stretches you to a new place or invites you to think in a direction of uncharted territory for your spirit. We will delight in blessings and prayers, filling bags of joy for others, share in a meal and in conversations of laughter, concern, sighs, and joys.

This very casual retreat is offered by our United Women of Faith as a retreat to relax after all the Christmas activities. We will meet on January 4th from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Dorothy Rainey Fellowship Hall. Coffee and muffins will be available as you arrive. A lunch of soup, salad, and bread will be served as you fellowship with others at your table.

Please sign-up at one of the United Women in Faith tables in the Veterans Memorial Gathering Room and outside of Hinton Hall during December so we know how many to prepare for handouts and lunch. The retreat includes all the readings and art from Jan Richardson for the program. If you would like to bring a donation of $7 it will be sent to Jan Richardson for “Sanctuary of Women” to be shared with the A21 Campaign, an organization devoted to ending human trafficking and providing sanctuary and healing for those rescued from slavery.

We will also be packing feminine hygiene kits for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) as a much-needed item due to all the recent disasters. Items needed for the hygiene kits include:

• One-gallon resealable bags;
• One-quart resealable bags;
• 2 oz. bottles of hand sanitizer;
• 4-gallon bathroom trash bags;
• Travel packs of wet ones;
• Tampons (regular and super absorbency unscented);
• Sanitary napkins (unscented, long super ultra-thin);
• Bath-size soap (no Ivory or Jergens, please do not remove from packaging);
• Flushable wipes (42 count);
• Laundry detergent sheets.

All are welcome to contribute to the hygiene kits. Bins will be located under the sign-up tables.

Blessings and joy for advent as you prepare the way for the Christ child to shine in your heart and for your family. Celebrate all you have done with a retreat together in January.

Boy Scouts of America Troop 419 is holding their annual Christmas Tree Pickup and Recycling event on Saturday, January 4, 2025, from 10 a.m. to noon. The trees are picked up at your curbside and your tax-deductible donation of $10 minimum per tree is greatly appreciated. Please have your tree curbside by 10 a.m. Please remove all tinsel, decorations, flocking and wire that could clog up the chipper and do not wrap trees in plastic. In case of inclement weather on January 4th, the Scouts will pick up the trees on Sunday, January 5th. You can pay:

• At your door. Please leave cash or a check payable to Troop 419 inside a Ziploc-style bag and place it under your doormat;
• Pay online at https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/bsatroop419;
• By mail by sending a check made payable to Troop 419 to Duluth First UMC, Attn. BSA troop 419, 3208 Duluth Hwy. 120, Duluth, GA  30096.
  

You can sign up to arrange Christmas tree pick up by:

• Going to https://tinyurl.com/troop419treepickup;
• Sending an e-mail to troop419fundraiser@yahoo.com.

Come join us for Simply Psalms, a Bible study of the Book of Psalms, led by Rev. Dr. C. Kay Fuino and Rev. Beth Brown Shugart. Each week we will study one Psalm during the one-hour class. The same class will be offered twice a week:

• Tuesday mornings at 10:00 a.m. in room F145, located on the 1st floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center;
• Wednesday evenings at 6:00 p.m. in room F207, located on the 2nd floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center.

On Tuesday, January 7th, and Wednesday, January 8th, we will study Psalm 47.

For additional information, please contact Rev. Beth Brown Shugart by e-mail at bshugart@duluthumc.org, or call 770-476-3776, ext. 128.

The Dinner Belles and Beaus prepare excellent meals at very reasonable prices. Enjoy fellowship around the table with family and friends. The menu for January 8th is encrusted parmesan baked chicken, wild rice, fresh steamed broccoli, roasted Brussel sprouts, roll and dessert. For the kids – chicken tenders and French fries.

Dinners are served from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in Hinton Hall, with to-go boxes available from 6 to 6:30 p.m.

The prices for Wednesday Night Dinners are:

• $10.00 for adults (including seniors and from 11 years up);
• $7.00 for children 10 years and younger;
• $30.00 for family meals (nuclear family members only – husband, wife, their children under 18 years);
• $7.00 for salad bar only, which includes the salad bar, a choice of baked potato or sweet potato, dessert and a drink.
  

Credit/debit card payments, as well as cash and checks, are accepted.

The Wednesday Night Food Drive at Duluth First UMC for the Hands of Christ Duluth Co-Op is our weekly mission project, combined with the many Wednesday evening activities offered at the church. On January 8th we ask that you bring peanut butter and jelly.

A table for donated items will be located outside of the main entrance to Hinton Hall. Join us for a delicious dinner and fellowship in Hinton Hall, pick up a to-go dinner for your family, join us for any of our Wednesday evening activities, and drop off food items to help other families in need. We thank you for your support.

Join us on Wednesday, January 8th, as the following evening activities resume at Duluth First UMC:

• Book Bunch for kids (ages 3 – 4): 6:15 to 6:30 p.m. in The Louise McDaniel Memorial Library, 2nd floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center;
• DuluthKids (ages Kindergarten through 5th grade): 6 to 7 p.m. in the Youth Center, 1st floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center;
• Youth Bible Study (grades 6 – 12): 6 to 7 p.m. in room F149, 1st floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center;
• Parent Connection Group: 6 to 7 p.m., room F145, 1st floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center;
• Adult small group studies - “Simply Psalms”: 6 to 7 p.m. in room F207, 2nd floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center;
• Yarn Arts Ministry: 6 to 7 p.m. in room F205, 2nd floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center;
• Happy Sacks: 6 to 6:15 p.m. in room F152, 1st floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center.

The GriefShare Support Group, led by the church’s Stephen Ministers, will walk alongside you through the loss of a loved one. Our next session of weekly classes will start on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, and continue through April 2nd. Meeting from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in room F153, located on the 1st floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center, you will gain access to valuable GriefShare resources to help you through your grief. GriefShare also offers Bereavement Candlelight Services and a “Surviving the Holidays” class every year before the Thanksgiving holiday.

For more information, please visit the GriefShare website at griefshare.org, or contact Tracy Brinker, Bereavement Coordinator, by e-mail at tbrinker@duluthumc.org, or call 770-476-3776.

We are excited to announce plans to enhance the worship experience at Duluth First United Methodist Church by upgrading both our sound and visual technology. We are looking to upgrade to new speakers in the Sanctuary, providing clearer, more immersive sound for those attending the in-person services.

Additionally, we are looking to upgrade our cameras in both the Sanctuary and Hinton Hall to improve the quality of our livestreams and create a more engaging experience for our online congregation.

The installation of new speakers is a high need, as the current speaker cluster is original to the building (1990). As we approach the Christmas season and the end of the year, please consider an additional gift to your regular giving toward this $75,000.00 worship technology upgrade project. Thank you for your support.
 
Johnathan Ancell,
Director of Worship Technology

The members  of the Yarn Arts Ministry have a new project and they are going to be making scarves for the Hugs for Soldiers ministry to distribute. They can be any color with any kind of yarn. The deadline for the scarves is Wednesday, January 29th.

‘Tis the season for summer camp registration! Early registration for Summer 2025 at Camp Glisson, is now open for members of North Georgia United Methodist churches and returning families of Summer 2024 campers.

Glisson Camp & Retreat Center offers Summer Camp in the forests surrounding Cane Creek Falls near Dahlonega, GA. Since 1925, this place has become holy ground as thousands have had their faith strengthened through God’s presence there in creation and Christian community. Camp Glisson is part of the North Georgia Camp & Retreat Ministries of the United Methodist Church’s North Georgia Conference.

Registration is open to everyone. To see the schedule and/or register, please go to https://glisson.org/register.

The Enneagram is growing in popularity as a personality typing tool, but it is so much more! In fact, the Enneagram is a wonderful tool for spiritual formation. Learning our Enneagram type can help us identify specific ways in which we are invited to share God with the world, the patterns that get in the way of our doing that, and the spiritual practices that return our focus to God and our true calling.
 
Join us as we explore this fascinating tool at the “A Path to God: The Enneagram as Spiritual Practice” class which will meet on Sunday afternoons at 4:00 p.m. beginning February 9th and continuing through March 16th. The class will be led by Kristen Vincent, an award-winning author, speaker, and artisan whose passion is spiritual formation.

Registration is required to ensure that you have the needed materials. The deadline to register is Friday, January 31st. To register, please contact Tracy Brinker by e-mail at tbrinker@duluthumc.org, or call 770-476-3776.  If you need childcare, please let her know.