But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8
Tucker First UMC is an Acts 1:8 church, which means the church has pledged to follow the outline of the Bible verse and craft our mission program, finances, and witness based on those words.
Tucker First UMC is an Acts 1:8 church, which means the church has pledged to follow the outline of the Bible verse and craft our mission program, finances, and witness based on those words.
FAITH PROMISE
Our mission programs are funded through a special campaign initiative called, Faith Promise. By pledging your gift to this program, your pledge enables our mission ministry to expand the mission of the church. If you would like to make a pledge to Faith Promise, if you have any questions or would like to volunteer for a mission group, please email [email protected].
Our mission programs are funded through a special campaign initiative called, Faith Promise. By pledging your gift to this program, your pledge enables our mission ministry to expand the mission of the church. If you would like to make a pledge to Faith Promise, if you have any questions or would like to volunteer for a mission group, please email [email protected].
Jerusalem was the city where the disciples were when Jesus gave them the Acts 1:8 command. Our witness to Jesus Christ and His saving power begins at home in Tucker, GA and DeKalb County, GA. We are tell our friends and neighbors about Jesus. We are to seek to meet the needs of people and minister in Jesus’ name.
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American Red Cross – Tucker First hosts monthly blood drives each year for the American Red Cross. 382 pints of blood were collected at 12 American Red Cross Blood Drives held at Tucker First in 2023 and 135 pints of blood have been collected so far in 2024!
American Red Cross Blood Drive | Thursday, May 23 | 2:00 – 7:00 pm. Blood donors can sign up at http://redcrossblood.org and use site code TUCK1UMC. Volunteers are also needed to help with the blood drive. You can sign up at https://tinyurl.com/blooddrivevols. Great Day of Service -Annually, the church gathers for one large, single day of missional outreach to our community. In 2023, over 140 volunteers participated in projects such as painting fire hydrants (150), washing cars (33), greeting cards for Atria Senior Living, and making toiletry kits for Dekalb County Police to distribute to the homeless. Volunteers also served at FODAC, NETWorks Clothes Closet, Dabney-Shumate Cemetery and Longleaf Hospice.
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English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
10 Years of ESOL at Tucker First!
Venezuela, Mexico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Vietnam, and Taiwan. It has been an immense blessing to get to know these sweet families and to have them as part of our church. We serve a real need in the community. Many students have circumstances that do not allow them to come every week or stay with us for more than a year or so. Still, when they move on, we know that they are better equipped for life in the USA than when they first came, and they are grateful to have had the opportunity to learn with us. Leigh Andersen Registration for the 2024-2025 school year will begin in August! We also offer a Sunday School class for people who want to work on their English while learning about the Bible. This class meets in Room 212 at 9:45 each Sunday morning. No registration is required for this class. Contact Karen Clear [email protected] or Claire Wheeler [email protected]. |
Children First is an initiative to focus our mission efforts on the children of the Tucker community.
Backpack Buddies of Metro Atlanta
Our Children First Ministry partnered with Backpack Buddies of Metro Atlanta in Feburary 2023. The program provides non-perishable food items for weekend meals to foodinsecure children at Brockett Elementary.
Every Friday in the school year, Tucker First volunteers pick up our food order at the warehouse and bring it to our Activities Center where the food is unloaded and setup. Volunteers assemble 12-14 items in each of 50 bags, load the bags into a vehicle and deliver them to Brockett Elementary.
Backpack Buddies of Metro Atlanta
Our Children First Ministry partnered with Backpack Buddies of Metro Atlanta in Feburary 2023. The program provides non-perishable food items for weekend meals to foodinsecure children at Brockett Elementary.
Every Friday in the school year, Tucker First volunteers pick up our food order at the warehouse and bring it to our Activities Center where the food is unloaded and setup. Volunteers assemble 12-14 items in each of 50 bags, load the bags into a vehicle and deliver them to Brockett Elementary.
- 2/3/23 - 5/19/23 = 13 weeks x 50 bags = 650 bags
- Children served - 650
- Each bag provides 6 meals × 650 = 3,900 meals
- Tucker First Volunteers - 17
- Total Volunteer Hours - 105
Wellroot Family Services -In 2023, our Children First Ministry partnered with Wellroot on the following programs.
- 18 Easter Baskets-Provided 18 Easter baskets that were distributed to foster children throughout the Atlanta Metro area. Each basket contained a faith-based or devotional book, a chocolate bunny, a toy, and a summer hat or sunglasses.
- Summer Lunches & Learning Program-Provided lunches for one week for 7 families with 14 children in the Family Housing Program.
- 120 Books Donated-Tucker First donated approximately 120 books to distribute to children of all ages in Wellroot’s various programs throughout the Atlanta Metro area.
- Foster Parent Training Session-Tucker First members assisted with childcare during a November Foster Parent Training Session.
- 19 Gifts for Wellroot Family Christmas-Provided 19 gifts for the secret shopping experience for Wellroot foster parents and caregivers. They could personally select gifts that were wrapped and ready for Christmas morning.
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Did you know that the Tucker Mission Garden is the seventh-largest food donor to NETWorks Community Outreach?
363 lbs | 2022 950 lbs | 2023 950 pounds of vegetables were donated to the NETWorks Ministries food pantry in 2023!
The Tucker Mission Garden’s hydroponic greenhouse and garden are growing more than ever! Tomatoes, beans, peas, squash, collards, cabbage, onions, strawberries, garlic, and much more! Thanks to many enthusiastic gardeners in the congregation, we held six workdays during the year to plant, weed, harvest, and then repeat.
Dozens of young and old folks help Farmer Neil with garden tasks.
The Mission Garden team held their second annual veggie plant sale in March and raised $1,100 to fund the garden and greenhouse all year! Let's keep growing together!
363 lbs | 2022 950 lbs | 2023 950 pounds of vegetables were donated to the NETWorks Ministries food pantry in 2023!
The Tucker Mission Garden’s hydroponic greenhouse and garden are growing more than ever! Tomatoes, beans, peas, squash, collards, cabbage, onions, strawberries, garlic, and much more! Thanks to many enthusiastic gardeners in the congregation, we held six workdays during the year to plant, weed, harvest, and then repeat.
Dozens of young and old folks help Farmer Neil with garden tasks.
The Mission Garden team held their second annual veggie plant sale in March and raised $1,100 to fund the garden and greenhouse all year! Let's keep growing together!
Tucker First Christian Women's Fellowship Christian Women's Fellowship is a community of women whose purpose is to know God and experience freedom as a whole person through Jesus Christ; to develop a creative, supportive fellowship; and to expand concepts of mission through participation in the global ministries of the church. Our two Tucker First UMW circles participate in the following missions throughout the year:
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Tucker First
United Methodist Men- Our United Methodist Men meet twice a month for fellowship and Bible study. They also assist in service projects for the church and work with youth and children on many outreach activities in the community. Checkout the Spotlight for the latest schedule.
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Bags to Blankets
Help create a soft resting place for the homeless in our community. Bags to Blankets upcycles plastic shopping bags by knitting them into durable sleeping mats. Join us! 4th Thursday of every month 10:00am in Jenkins Hall. No experience necessary. Questions? Call Joyce Harrison 404-633-0756. |
NETWorks Cooperative Ministry -A cooperative of churches in Northlake, Embry Hills, and Tucker. The ministry provides food, financial education, and financial assistance to people in our area living below the poverty level. In addition to supporting the ministry financially, the members of Tucker First serve by packing bags and helping to distribute food.
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Tucker First Youth-During their annual youth week in July, our youth serve many local missions. In 2019, they provided over 400 volunteer hours during youth week.
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Salvation Army Ringers-Every year in December, our church members “ring the bell” for the Salvation Army. This happens at multiple sites in the Tucker community on different days.
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Judea was the province where Jerusalem was located. The disciples were to take the message outside the city. We are called to take the message of Christ to the State of Georgia and the southeast region of the United States. It is a large, growing and spiritually lost population. Through our missions efforts we seek to strengthen and encourage the work of the church along with meeting the needs regionally and statewide.
Appalachian Service Project-Appalachian Service Project (ASP) is a Christian home repair ministry through which volunteers repair homes for low-income families in rural Central Appalachia. Construction skills are not required to participate in this mission. Work teams consist of 5-7 adults and most mission trips are three days (Thursday – Saturday). Tucker First sends a team in the fall every year. You may check out ASP online at www.asphome.org.
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Celebration Singers Youth Choir Tour-Our youth, as music missionaries, spread God’s Word through music to churches and nursing homes annually in June.
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Samaria was a neighboring province that many in the early church avoided because they did not know that community or the people were “different.” The call to Samaria reminds us of our responsibility to not just reach people similar to us, but to go further and reach all people with the Gospel. Like the Samaritans of the first century, our *Samaria* may include those who are near to us but different from us economically, racially, spiritually, or culturally.
Cold Weather Shelter Ministry Finishes Its Sixth Year
The Shelter was open for 10 nights between November 2024 and January 2024 and served 117 guests. The lowest number of guests was 7, and the greatest number was 17. When the Shelter was open, it took 35 volunteers (many volunteering on multiple nights). Also, each night the Shelter was open, 1 to 2 families with children were generally housed at the Knights Inn at the Shelter’s expense. Because of the opening of other shelters in Dekalb County for the first time this winter, transportation was also provided as needed by some of our Shelter volunteers for some guests to Chamblee Senior Center (where Dekalb County provided further transportation) on nights that our Shelter was not open because the temperature did not meet our criteria. |
Tucker Shower Ministry
Hearty meals, a hot shower, and a load of laundry for anyone who wants it every Sunday (1pm - 6pm). Our neighbors in need depend on us for these basic needs that most of us take for granted. Last year, we served an average of 12 guests every Sunday, and this year, we are providing up to 20 guests with these basic needs. The ministry has 1 large ADA shower, 2 high-capacity washers, and 2 dryers. Visit HERE to sign up and Volunteer!! |
Trinity Big Bethel House T.E.A.M. (Together Everyone Achieves More) Dinner-Trinity Big Bethel House is a thirty-six bed transitional housing program that serves men who are homeless and disabled and/or in recovery. To these men, the recovery program is a lifeline, providing support services that lead back to employment, personal responsibility, and reunification with their families. Tucker First volunteers provide a meal on the fourth Sunday of every month for the men of Trinity House. Volunteers take the meal to the men and eat with them. Additionally, as the men graduate from the recovery program, Tucker First has established four scholarships for graduates to provide them with the tools to give them a fresh start (textbooks, specialized tools, etc.).
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Trinity Table Community Kitchen-Trinity Table, a soup kitchen, is located in Downtown Atlanta. Once a year, Tucker First provides a meal for the soup kitchen. Due to the pandemic, Trinity Table is no longer serving hot meals as part of their ministry. This year, Tucker First provided 150 to-go bags, which were handed out on the first Sunday of February 2022. In addition, our congregation donated socks to be distributed with the to-go bags.
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God has given each of us a responsibility for our world coming to know Christ. We are committed to missions around the world. We can give and we can pray in support of those who go into the mission field, but we can also go ourselves. We seek to involve members of our church in our missions’ ministry around the world in personal ways.
Honduras Outreach International
Tucker First sends a group of missionaries to Honduras annually. This mission team work on projects in different villages (e.g. communal fountains, latrines, painting, general repair, etc.). They also offer a Vacation Bible School for the children. Inspired by the adult mission trip, Tucker First sent its first youth missionaries to Honduras in 2019.
Tucker First sends a group of missionaries to Honduras annually. This mission team work on projects in different villages (e.g. communal fountains, latrines, painting, general repair, etc.). They also offer a Vacation Bible School for the children. Inspired by the adult mission trip, Tucker First sent its first youth missionaries to Honduras in 2019.
Our Tucker First Missionaries
Florence Kaying
Florence is a Global Ministries missionary in Mozambique working with women and children. Tucker First, through the UMC General Board of Global Missions, has established a covenant relationship with her. Additionally, our United Methodist Women also support Florence Kaying. You can watch a video about Missionary Kaying here - https://advance.umcmission.org/p-1645-kaying-florence.aspx 
Kathryn Wurst
Kathryn Wurst serves with the Globalscope campus ministry team Unterwegs in Tübingen, Germany. This is the same location and organization that Tyler and Shaynn Crawford have been serving for many years. Tucker First Connection - Kathryn is the granddaughter of Tucker First members, Jim and Gail Cook! The information below is from Kathryn's bio web page. You can also click on her photo for more information about her ministry. Kathryn grew up in a Christian home in the Atlanta area and was a part of the Christian Campus Fellowship (CCF) while a student at Georgia Tech, where she caught a glimpse of how God can use campus ministry to bring people of different backgrounds together to explore faith in a loving community. As a senior, she visited the Globalscope team in Germany and fell in love with Tübingen and the students who are searching for meaning and belonging in a place with few resources for exploring faith. Kathryn enjoys connecting with the students, modeling what it looks like to love Jesus, and helping the community that has been changing students’ lives for the last ten years continue to grow. |
Kabila Mukuni Claude A Mujil
Kabila is a ministerial student attending Katanga Methodist University in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Tucker First is sponsoring Kabila and his family while he attends classes at the University. He is 29 years old and has BA in French and African Languages. His wife is Rose Mwange and they have two children, Blanchard Kayemb Ngwej and Catherine Mbind. While on campus at Katanga Methodist University, the children are able to attend school and his wife can enter the Woman’s School that helps her prepare to be a minister’s wife. Kabila is also a rock crusher to help feed his family. The Seminary students are supported through a minimum scholarship of $100 per month which often leaves the families short of food at the end of the month. Kabila is from the South Congo Annual Conference |Galilee/Lumbrumbashi District |Salem/ Kasapa UMC. He is president for intercession for the district and president for evangelism of the local church. Katanga Methodist University was established in 1951 and originally began with the Seminary. It rose to a University in 2002 and now has 900 students. It is located in the southern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The need for seminarians in the Congo is great as the Methodist Church had about 20,000 members in 1950 and now serves 2.6 million today. The seminarians live on campus with their families for two years and can get a PhD in Theology in an additional year. |
Special Offerings –End of the Earth-Through your Faith Promise pledges, Tucker First is able to support the following ministries of the United Methodist Church (UMC).
Katanga University Ministerial Scholarship – Katanga is a United Methodist University
UMC Annual Human Relations Offering
UMC Annual World Communion Offering
Katanga University Ministerial Scholarship – Katanga is a United Methodist University
UMC Annual Human Relations Offering
UMC Annual World Communion Offering
Tucker First UMC was a recipient of the 2021 Church of Excellence in Outreach award from the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church. There are 1,000 churches in the North Georgia Conference and Tucker First was one of six churches recognized for mission work completed in 2020.
The criteria for this award are numerous and the church must excel in many areas (Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the Ends of the Earth). For Tucker First to accomplish this feat is great, but to maintain a high level of mission excellence, even during a pandemic, is beyond words. Congratulations Tucker First for your commitment to mission excellence.
The criteria for this award are numerous and the church must excel in many areas (Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the Ends of the Earth). For Tucker First to accomplish this feat is great, but to maintain a high level of mission excellence, even during a pandemic, is beyond words. Congratulations Tucker First for your commitment to mission excellence.