Upcoming Events

Please join our Wednesday Morning Women's Bible Study at First United Methodist Church as we begin our fall class on Wednesday, September 11. We will be reading Fire by Night: Finding God in the Pages of the Old Testament by Melissa Florer-Bixler this fall.

What do we do with the Old Testament? How do we read words written in a world so different from ours, stories so ruthless and so filled with grace? In Fire by Night, pastor Melissa Florer-Bixler invites readers to marvel at the Old Testament. Page after page, in stories and poems and prophecies, the Hebrew Scripture introduces us to a God who is unwieldy and uncontrollable, common and extraordinary, and who brings both life and death.

The group meets at 9:00 a.m. every Wednesday in room 213 and is facilitated by Pastor Anna, Maggie Roth, and Leah Ostwald. Books are available in the office and at the meeting. Can't make it every week? Drop-ins are welcome. All women are encouraged to attend this dynamic group. Nothing required… just show up and have an open heart. Questions? email mthurmanroth@gmail.com.

**Childcare is provided, but please contact the church office to confirm number of children you will bring. We want lots of moms to come and have the freedom to study with us. We want the children to come and receive the best attention while away from the adult in their life. Please call the church prior to Wednesday to confirm.

We are delighted to announce that the world famous African Children’s Choir will be performing at DGFUMC on Wednesday September 25 at 7:00 p.m. This family friendly, immersive experience will leave you inspired as the Choir performs your favorite hymns with African cultural sounds in their new program.

The children melt the hearts of audiences with their charming smiles, beautiful voices and lively African songs and dances. The program features well-loved songs, Gospel spirituals and contemporary favorites. In spite of the tragedy that has marred their young lives, the children are radiant with hope, musically gifted and wonderfully entertaining.

The primary goal of the African Children’s Choir is to raise awareness of the need of destitute children in Africa and to raise funds for continued development and support of the African Children’s Choir programs. The Choir’s international educational endeavor provides unique training for the children. With a focus on education as a means for change, the Choir is currently caring for underprivileged and destitute children throughout Africa. These are children who could have lost all hope, but have overcome their circumstances and now are making a positive impact on society. Once Choir members have completed a concert tour, they
will return back to Uganda with the tools necessary for bettering their future.

The African Children’s Choir has been working with the most vulnerable children in Africa for over 30 years, raising awareness of the plight of Africa’s vulnerable, but also showing the beauty, dignity and potential of each African child. They perform throughout the world bringing hope and joy to everyone they meet. They are a voice for the millions of children suffering in Africa. The African Children’s Choir has performed thousands of community concerts around the world and has been welcomed for special performances at such places as The United Nations, Royal Albert Hall, The White House, Carnegie Hall and the London Palladium. The Choir has performed for U.S. Presidents, the Queen of England, and Nobel Prize laureate Nelson Mandela.

For more information, contact DGFUMC member Jenny Kirkpatrick at jjkirk@comcast.net. 

This service of hymns, prayers, scripture readings and a sermon is held in the Sanctuary, with music performed by the high school Chapel Choir. All children from Kindergarten through 6th grade start in the Sanctuary for worship. After the Moment for Children, 1st-6th graders may go with Pastor John to Sunday School. All 1st-3rd graders need to be signed-in on the sheets located just outside the sanctuary. Children may be picked up in rooms 212-218 following the service.

We will be holding Town Hall Meetings to receive input about issues related to full inclusion at DGFUMC soon. Letters were mailed to each home in late August to inform members. Now that the Town Hall Meeting dates have been set, we would like to provide additional information for you.

Why Town Hall Meetings? 

Since the vote that took place at the Special Session of the General Conference of the UMC in February of this year, in which we found our denomination stretched to polar ends regarding the issue of full inclusion of those in the LGBTQ community, there has been uncertainty in the UMC concerning which direction the UMC will go. The final count ended up with the delegates in support of the Traditional Plan. That meant there would be neither full acceptance nor full inclusion of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex siblings worldwide in the UMC denomination beginning in 2020.

A Northern Illinois Conference Task Force was formed in June to carefully review all of the options that are available to each local church set forth from both The Book of Discipline and others recommended by the Northern Illinois Council on Finance and Administration and the Task Force jointly. The NIC Task Force will be ready to submit their findings to us no later than November 16, 2020, at the NIC Budget Special Session of Annual Conference.

In the meantime, to make sure that, as members and friends of Downers Grove First United Methodist Church, we are moving in the right direction as a local congregation, the only thing we can do is to be clear about who we are as a church. We should decide who we are and where we stand as a local church regarding being a fully accepting and inclusive church for every person of every kind that God has made, including those of the LGBTQI community.

Our Congregation's Input

The pastoral and church staff, along with the Administrative Council, are preparing to take an opinion poll of the entire congregation to allow the worshiping community here at DGFUMC to express their will as to where one stands on the issue of full acceptance and inclusion of all people of every kind and to express their will about supporting same sex marriage and the ordination of people who identify as being LGBTQI into the ministry.

This opinion poll will not be a vote to determine whether our congregation remains in the Methodist denomination. The purpose of the vote is to inform the congregation and its leadership where the congregation stands on the issues related to inclusion as stated above.

First, we will hold Town Hall Meetings to receive our congregation members input. Please plan to attend one of these sessions scheduled for the following dates: 

Sunday, September 29 at 1:00 p.m. 

Monday, September 30 at 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, October 6 at 1:00 p.m.

For more information, contact Pastor Claude at claude@dgfumc.org.