We Feed People and More

Prairie Grove is a wonderful community. It has an active group of helpful citizens, beautiful parks, and multiple churches to choose from. It’s no surprise that our little community is growing by leaps and bounds. Who wouldn’t want to live here?

With so many newcomers to the area, I thought I would do an article on our ministries. After all, one of the key benefits of living here is that there is so much to do, but it can be hard to know where to start. As Christians, we believe that we should spend our lives focused on two things: loving God and loving others. And one of the best ways we know how to show love is by getting involved with our neighbors and helping out where we see a need.

If you are new to the area, new to your faith, or a local that is just looking to get more involved, I highly encourage you to start at PGFUMC. We have many opportunities available to become an active participant in helping serve the community and showing love.

You can learn more about our church mission and vision by checking out our about page here. As good Methodists, you will see that many of our ministries focus around feeding people. It’s actually our slogan. #WeFeedPeople.

You’ll see below that our church does a lot of things. I’m not sure everyone that visits us on Sundays are even aware of it. I feel like we are doing more these days than we have in years past and I’m not sure if it’s because there’s more to do, more people that have needs, or if our church is just in a season of activity. Regardless, there’s so much going on that we are actively recruiting members of our church and community to help. I’ll include some contact information below if you want more information on any of these ministries.

Prairie Grove First United Methodist Church and it’s members actively participated in the following ministries so far this year (or items that are coming up):

• Sunday Worship at 9:30 am (Ushers, ministry moments, sound and light techs, band, choir, nursery staff)
• Sunday School at 10:30 am (Teachers, nursery staff)
• Book clubs and other ad hoc classes to get equipped in ministry
• Annual Men’s Retreat
• First Sunday of every month is a Men’s Breakfast at 8:30 am
• Wednesday night youth program during the school year (Kitchen, teachers, and nursery staff)
• Vacation Bible School in June annually
• Freshman Praise Team (performing Sunday, August 4, 2019!) for those that are looking to learn a new instrument or practice singing in front of people
• Nebraska Fundraiser that raised over $8,000 for flood relief (funds ended up being directed to Arkansas flood relief at the request of our partners in Nebraska)
• Samaritan’s Cupboard (Feeding families in the summer that are food insecure)
• Backpack Program (feeding kids in the school year that are food insecure)
• Partnered with Appleseed Academy daycare to provide child care in our facilities during the week
• Sewing ministry (has yard sales to support itself and teaches kids the skill of sewing. Most projects get donated to ministries in need.)
• Life Ministries partnership (Our church actively donates money and supplies to this ministry that was actually started decades ago by PG Methodists)
• Partnership with Bright Futures Prairie Grove to meet needs in our community
• PG Free Pantry partnership (Our church members sponsor that and constantly fill it with food and hygiene products)
• Our church members hold the majority of seats on PG City Council
• Our church members are leaders in the PG Chamber
• Middle School Mania after school program in the spring
• Apple Tree back to school supply drive (Starting now!)
• Feeding people at the Clothesline Fair
• Feeding families at the Ronald McDonald House
• Feeding foster families through The Call
• Feeding the community with the police departments Trunk-or-Treat event (Over 2,500 hot dogs!)
• Delivering food with Meals-on-Wheels
• Feeding the PG High School sports teams
• Adulting series teaching life skills to teens in the spring
• Halloween party and trailer rides to trick-or-treat Sundowner every year, with free food
• Free meal for the community for those affected by the government shutdown in January 2019
• Angel Tree partnership with Junior Civic League for Christmas Gifts

We do all of these things with volunteers and gifts from our small church. Not to mention that our members take care of cleaning the church, mowing the lawn, maintaining the facilities, folding church bulletins, and more. Thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours each year are donated freely by our members to make an impact in our community and to show the love of Christ.

If you are looking for a way to get involved in Prairie Grove and just need a group to lean on for support and communication, consider attending PGFUMC. Sunday mornings are filled with worship, prayer, and teaching. Also, they are filled with announcements and meetings by our many groups that are involved in these activities.

There are three ways to get plugged in:

1. Come to church on Sundays at 9:30 am and talk to an usher or anyone on our staff about our ministries and what you are interested in. We will put you in touch with the right people.
2. Call the church office at 479-846-2232 and ask about how to get involved in any of the above ministries.
3. Email us at pgfumc@pgfumc.com with your questions and we will get back to you with all the information you need.