Home Missions and Outreach

Missions and Outreach

Serving the Community
Missonaries

The following organizations and missions are supported by our church through countless volunteer hours and financial support. Contact the church office to see how you can help.

Family Promise of Irving

Homelessness can seem like an overwhelming problem. Many people wonder what one person or congregation can do to truly make a difference.

The Family Promise Network provides a way for churches to work together to help homeless families. Each congregation participating in the Network provides overnight lodging and meals for three to five families (up to 14 persons) for one week every two or three months on a rotating basis. Network “guests” stay in each congregation from 5:00 pm to 7:00 am daily. Each morning, guests are taken to the day center where they meet with the Network director, care for pre-school children, make phone calls and seek housing and employment.

The Family Promise Network enables us to meet important basic needs of homeless families. Families with children make up the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. Usually, over half of the guests in the Network are children, and most of the children are under the age of six. Nationally, over 5,000 congregations participate in Family Promise Networks with literally thousands of volunteers who help families regain their independence.

Volunteers are the foundation of the Network. There are many ways that you can help. Whether you provide a hot meal, arrange activities for children, or stay overnight, you can make a difference in the lives of families who have suffered the ordeal of losing their home. Contact Rod Alleman or Connie Baker for more information. You can also read more about the Family Promise Network by clicking here.

Many Helping Hands

Many denominations of churches uniting to meet the needs of Irving’s homeless through clothing, hot meals, and spiritual guidance in order to demonstrate Christ’s love and compassion.

Each Thursday evening, a local church hosts a warm environment with a home-cooked meal open to all those in need. This is made possible through the support and help of 15 separate churches in the Irving area. Each week a different church prepares a meal, and offers Christ-like love and guidance as well as hair cuts, books, counseling, and some essential clothing and hygiene needs. A Bible study is also offered at 5:30 PM. Click here to get more information about Many Helping Hands. Contact Rod Alleman or Marni Monty to see how you can help. Volunteers are needed to help open up the building, make coffee and set up for the evening activities as well as to help prepare a meal when it’s our turn to feed.

Irving Cares

Founded by a group of concerned citizens in 1957, Irving Cares is committed to providing essential services to Irving, Texas residents in need.

Irving Cares strives to meet those needs with caring volunteers and staff that guide our clients through their crises. They offer proven programs that are efficient, effective, and measured for productivity.

Irving Cares Services includes a food pantry, an employment services program, and information and referrals to name a few. Irving Cares programs are about more than paying the bills — they’re about self-sufficiency, offering a hand up, not a handout, for those in need.

Through generous contributions from the congregation, First United Methodist Church is able to support this wonderful organization. Click here for more information about Irving Cares.

Partners in Education

Partners in Education at Paul Keyes: Be a Mentor, or a Lunch/Reading Buddy for a needy elementary student for an hour/week at a time that best fits your schedule. Sign up NOW for the spring semester. Contact Rod Alleman for more information.

Great Days of Service

Repair the homes of elderly Irving residents who cannot afford the cost – work days for 2018 are April 6-7, 13-14 from 8:30 to 2pm.

Here are many ways you can get involved!

Volunteer to become a member of a work crew.
Help move materials to worksites.
Prepare food for lunches on work days.
Deliver food for lunches on work days.
Become a work team captain.
Organize a work team from your congregation, group or organization.
Let us know of a house in need within your congregation or neighborhood.
Become part of the organizing committee.
Contribute money and/or encourage your congregation or organization to give.
Pass the word – tell others.
Pray for the success of Great Days of Service, that it will be a blessing to those who volunteer and those who are helped — that it will show God’s love and draw us closer as a community.

Click on this link for more information GDSIRVING.org

Missionaries – The following missionaries and organizations are supported by our church.

Darrow & Vicki Frasier (Cadence International)
Skip & Amy Bayles (Maghreb Partnership)
Dr. Stephen Patrick (Guatemala)
2022 Mission Team
Scott and Vicky Satre (Wycliffe Bible Translators)
Jay & Teri Whitten (East Asia)
Nueva Vida (Santa Maria de Jesus, Guatemala)
Paul & Dawn Cox (One Mission Society)
Charles & Becky Jackson (India)
Mark & Kristen Carter (Western Asia)

Missionaries from our church have gone on an annual foreign mission trip for many years. Since 2016, we have traveled to Guatemala to serve the people in Santa Maria De Jesus. We have hosted Vacation Bible School, built structures for the Monte de los Olivos Church and painted at the Nueva Vida School. We are grateful for the opportunity to work alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ. Our ongoing relationship with the Mount of Olives Church has been a blessing.

In the past we have also had mission trips to- Mexico, Peru, and Eleutheria.