A New Name for the Merged Church
Fellow Members of North Fayette and Friendship UMC:
Last Sunday we officially installed our new Pastor and leadership for our newly merged church. Our next step is to select a name for this new church that will carry on the legacy of both North Fayette and Friendship. That is a strong legacy, dating back to 1890 for Friendship and 1984 for North Fayette, that we must now build on to continue the mission to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.
In the fall of 2021, we announced several times in our services that we were discussing new names and asked for inputs from the congregations. At our leadership summit on February 12th, we discussed all the names submitted and how they would support our vision to serve as the church ‘destination’ for our surrounding community. Of the names, four options came to the top of the list:
- Mosaic Community Church
- New Beginnings Community Church
- New Fellowship Community Church
- New Faith Community Church
So, what of our legacy “North Fayette” and “Friendship” names? We plan to create a more extensive historical display in our sanctuary and other areas of the church to tell the story of each legacy church. We also discussed renaming “The Grove” to “Friendship Hall” and other actions to hold on to our history while building for the future.
You input is important as the Board of Servants prepares to vote on a new name at the February 28th Board meeting. We will hold a church ‘Town Hall’ immediately after our service on Sunday February 27th to answer questions and to receive your comments. You can also email or call Rev. Adamson (pastor@nfumc.com, 770-789-8529) or myself (stevejustice@bellsouth.net, 770-964-5323) to provide your feedback. And our Board meeting on Monday February 28th at 7pm is open for any member to attend.
Working together we will continue to expand our ministries to our community to positively impact people’s lives by sharing the love of God to all.
Yours in service,
Steve Justice
2022 Chair – Board of Servants
NFUMC Video Sermon – Dec. 12th
We continue the Advent season with Rev. Jamine Jones’ latest video sermon on “Joy and Receiving The Gift”. Everyone is invited to join us this Sunday for the Choir’s Christmas Cantata and on Dec. 24th at 7pm for our Christmas Eve service.
Posted by North Fayette United Methodist Church on Friday, December 17, 2021
School Supplies Drive 2021 – A Big Thank You!
To the Congregation of North Fayette and Friendship UMCs,
We have faced challenges this past year and a half that most of us have not experienced in our lives. In the face of all this, the congregations of North Fayette and Friendship UMCs have responded with extraordinary generosity, continuing a long tradition of supporting the needs of our school children and their families. You – the members of this fellowship working together – have joined in the most inspiring outpouring of caring I have ever seen.
Your donations have already provided our students with school supplies, food, shoes, clothing, hygiene supplies and much-needed medication, and the depth of the funding will help to sustain these efforts.
Bill and I have always felt that we belong to the kindest, most caring church around. You prove this all year long with numerous outreach programs. But the support our school children receive from you is above any other I know. We are honored and proud to call all of you friends!
On behalf of all the people in the Fayette County Schools, I thank you for your caring spirit and generous heart!
— Kim Bryan, Member of North Fayette United Methodist Church and School Social Worker for the Fayette County Schools.
Board Notes – July 2021
The transition of pastors from Rev. John Tomlin to Rev. Kimberly Dugger proceeded well through June with Rev. Dugger officially introduced to the congregation at our July 4th service – our first in the sanctuary since March 2020. We are slowly ‘dusting off the cobwebs’ as we adjust to being back in the sanctuary and, as happens with any pastor change, Rev. Dugger adding her own imprint to our worship.
As part of the dual appointment of Rev. Dugger to both NFUMC and Friendship UMC along with discussions of a merger between the two churches, we will adjust our July services to allow our congregations to get to know each other better. We will hold one service each Sunday with the Friendship congregation to join us at NFUMC on three Sundays, while the service on Sunday July 18th will be hosted by Friendship UMC. We also plan to have our Southwest District Superintendent Rev. Susan Landry to join us after the service on Sunday July 25th for a Q&A session. Your Board will also be there to answer questions. Everyone is encouraged to attend.
Your Board and our other volunteer leaders are working hard to address maintenance issues across our buildings including repairs to air conditioners, roof, lighting and A/V. The good news is that your giving continues to be strong which allows us to make these needed repairs, but we are in a slight cash deficit for the year to date. We have done very well even in the midst of the pandemic and the Board continues to work hard to reduce our costs even as we seek to expand our ministries. We are also in talks with outside groups to use The Grove for special music and arts events to bring in people, and some additional revenues, to our church.
This is an exciting time for our church as we welcome a new pastor and hold talks to merge with Friendship UMC. It will be a challenging time, but worthwhile for both churches. Essential to our future is your continued faithful participation in the life and ministries of our church through your prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness. Together we have the opportunity to grow our ministries to the local community to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Yours in Service,
Steve Justice – 2021 NFUMC Board Chair