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AmityUnited Methodist ChurchBelieve . . . Belong. . . Become. . . |
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Worship | Fellowship | Outreach | Missions | United Methodist Women | United Methodist Men | Senior Ministries | Altar Flowers | Ministries Summary | Pledge Card | History We need volunteers in the church nursery to assist our paid staff on Sunday mornings. Please contact Wendy Riggsbee (wendyleeriggsbee@hotmail.com, home 919-537-8494) to help.
At Amity’s Sunday Worship Service
beginning at 11:00 a.m. you will find: Beloved
traditional hymns on organ and piano (complemented by the occasional praise
song); anthems by the Chancel Choir; Children’s Time during the service, a warm,
diverse, inclusive
congregation open to all; and superb Biblically, community service, and outreach
based preaching. Return
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Fellowship opportunities abound at Amity -- Amity is active in reaching out to our community IFC | Prison Ministry | Community Appeals The Inter-Faith Council (IFC) provides shelter, food, direct services, advocacy and information to people in need. Various Amity ministries serve dinner in the Community Kitchen at 100 W. Rosemary Street, Chapel Hill on the 4th Friday of the month. Return to top Soup Kitchen Serving Schedule | IFC Web Page
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Prison Ministry (Orange Co. Prison Unit
in Hillsborough) 3/29,
6/14, 9/27, 12/13 (7:30 p.m.) Orange Correctional Center requires
advance notice of those who plan to participate in the prison ministry. Please call or email Roger Shumate (732-5378, rcshumate@cs.com). Community Appeals The
Family Violence Prevention Center of Orange County
needs GIFT CARDS– to grocery stores and multi-purpose stores (such as Wal-Mart
or Target) to provide clients with personal care items, and GAS CARDS– *to
assist us in getting a client to safety. To help, contact Colleen at
vccoordinator@fvpcoc.org or 929-3872. Missions Dominican Republic Mission Trip Operation Christmas Child Details of Mission Trip to Dominican Republic
"Water
for Life" DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC MISSION TRIP Report to Congregation What it was all about Thanksgiving
Week 2009 Demonstrating faith through works, Amity will be sending a mission team to
the Dominican Republic the week of Thanksgiving. We will be improving a school house and helping provide free,
safe drinking water for the men, women, and children who toil in sugar cane
fields. The American sugar
company that owns these fields pays pitifully poor wages, provides substandard
housing, and charges for trucked-in drinking water.
Report to the Congregation, Sunday, February 7 @ 12:15 pm. Bring your own sandwich.
Pitiful
Wages and Dirty Drinking Water
I
Can’t Go But Still Want to Help
Can
you find it in your heart to support us with your prayers and donations? Can
you be an Angel at one of the following levels?
Make your check out to Amity
UMC God
bless your generosity! Sincerely, Amity's Mission Team Members Update Report Financial: Funds received to date are $12,809 with a goal of $19,000! Cash donations are still being gratefully accepted.The mission team is collecting and
gratefully accepting Tylenol, Advil,
hydrocortisone, and Neosporin to take with us to the Dominican Republic. We can
also take new and gently used shoes, (particularly tennis shoes/sneakers) as
well as summer clothes for men, women, and children. Please be sure all
clothing is appropriate for tropical climates. Please give your donations to
any member of the mission team, and thank you for your generosity. All
donations of items to go to DR must be left at the church by Wednesday,
November 18. From the Step-by-Step With Jesus Blog: PREPARING FOR NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER MISSION WORK TEAMS! Here's their Facebook Page. Team on a Mission News Update: 11/23/09
Dear Amity family,
Below is an email I received from Pastor Mark Lykins in the Domincan
Republic. I hope this news will bring joy to your heart and a smile to
your face as you realize that it is by your prayers and financial
support "Amity Water" will be shared on a daily basis to those who
are thirsty. Let us continue to keep the Amity team and the people of
the DR in our thoughts and prayers.
I am so thankful for you, individually and as a faith community. Thank
you for making room for me as your pastor, and thank you for bearing
witness to the love of God in this world.
Love and blessings -
Tuck
And Jesus said, "For I was thirsty, and you gave me something to
drink..." The righteous replied, "When did we see you
thirsty and give you something to drink?" "Whatever you did
for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Matthew
25:35-40
Hola Pastor Tuck,
I'll tell the team what you said tomorrow. They are one of the best of the 31
teams that I've had here...really! They are amazing. Roger really "got
it" today regarding learning that it was more important to build
relationships than the walls. I was so proud of each and every one of
them...really. And, the pastor at the church where they are building the room
on the second floor of the school decided to call the Purifiied, free water
porject "Amity Water" (in Spanish it's "Agua de Amistad -
Amity") as a way to give the team and your church honor for helping with
this project. The folks at his church made a sign that said that and put it up
today. So, every bottle of water (and there are 3,000 bottles given every day)
will be "Amity Water" bottles. Pastor Isidro was impressed with your
people on this team too. Everything is going so well on this team. I'll let
them know we talked again tonight. Blessings, Marcos.
Return to Missions Top
Return to Missions Return to top Operation Christmas Child
THE OPERATION WAS A SUCCESS! 69 BOXES IN 2009 COMPARED TO 55 IN 2008 Many thanks to all who helped make Operation Christmas Child such a success this year: To those who lovingly packed their individual boxes (45 boxes), To those who donated items and participated in the packing party on November 15 (24 boxes). And a special thanks to Carol Lucas for organizing it all! What a wonderful way to start the holiday season, being blessed ourselves as we reach out to make a difference in the lives of children in need around the world. Return to Missions Return to top
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The most recent Senior Outing was on May 29, 2009 to the Raleigh Farmer's Market. We had a wonderful breakfast outing filled with fun and fellowship. All eleven attendees needed to walk a bit afterwards, so we had a leisurely shopping stroll through the market for produce and other goodies. Many thanks to all who attended . . . especially our subperb chauffeur, Lindy Sparrow! Return to top
If you missed
April
26, 2009 What a wonderful celebration we had,
Sunday, April 6, 2008!
HISTORY
OF AMITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH As
the result of the new church building spurt of the 1950’s, the Rev. A. Mickey
Fisher was selected by the NC Conference to build a new Methodist church in the
north Chapel Hill area. The Rev. Fisher and the NC Conference acquired a
parsonage at the then numbered 18 Williams Circle where he held services in the
basement of the parsonage. The
new church was first called the North Chapel Hill Methodist Church. “United”
was not added until the merger with the United Brethren Church in 1974. As the
initial membership grew, the fledgling church decided on the permanent name of
Amity United Methodist Church. The name Amity, which means “friendship” or
“friendly”, was recommended by charter member Lois Farrell. Amity
received its charter on April 6, 1958 when the membership grew to 31 members. Rev.
Chancey D. Barcliff, the Durham Superintendent, preached the organizing sermon.
Methodist churches in Orange County were in the Durham District at that time. The
new church purchased six acres of land at the current address, 825 North Estes
Drive and built a cinderblock chapel in 1958-1959.
This building, called the “Tree House,” is used for service-type
activities of the church, including scouting and YMCA after-school programs.
Since
its inception in 1959, the annual Christmas Tree Sale has provided funds for
many worthy purposes. The Halloween “pumpkin patch” at Amity is also a popular
Chapel Hill tradition. Amity’s
caring, loving congregation has continued to grow under the fifteen pastors
following Rev. Fisher. A sanctuary and classrooms were added in 1968, and a
fellowship hall and additional classroom in 1993. In 1989, a parsonage was
purchased at 503 Tinkerbell in the Colony Woods subdivision of Chapel Hill. Following
Jesus’ great commission, the members of Amity are reaching out to make
disciples of Jesus. In addition to our small Bible Study Groups, the
congregation helps the hungry at the Interfaith Shelter, conducts a prison
ministry at the Orange Correctional facility, supports Habitat for Humanity,
Forty Boxes of Food, and have taken advantage of many other mission
opportunities. ********* Amity
is proud to count the Rev. Vernon Tyson as a former interim pastor here.
Our former
interim pastor,
Rev. Vernon Tyson, was honored by the North
Carolina Council of Churches on Tuesday, May 13, 2008.
He is one of three men who received their 2008 Distinguished Service
Award for leadership roles in working “sacrificially for the dignity and
equality of all God’s children and for the full inclusion of all in church and
in society.” Following
the ceremony, Rev. Tyson returned to Shelby, NC where filming continues of the
movie based on the book by Rev. & Mrs. Tyson’s son Tim, “Blood Done Sign
My Name.” This autobiographical
account recalls the 1970 racial murder of Henry Marrow, the racial unrest that
followed the acquittal of three white suspects, and Rev. Tyson’s ministry of
reconciliation during that period. Gastonia
native Jeb Stuart, son of a minister himself and screenwriter of “Die Hard”
and “The Fugitive,” is writing, directing, and producing the film. Rick
Schroeder, whose credits include “Silver Spoons” and “NYPD Blue,” is
playing Rev. Tyson. Click here
for a side-by-side picture of the two. The
Shelby Star has an excellent series of
articles about the filming of the movie, which can be accessed by clicking here. Click
here for press release. Return
to top Combining mission with fellowship, Amity is proudly hosted movie night with "The Great Debaters" in our fellowship hall on Sunday, September 21, at 5:30 p.m. This event raised an additional $1112 for for Operation Sharehouse! We welcomed (and transported) a group of youth from Pine Knolls Community Center who enjoyed dinner and watched this historic film with us. Flier
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Our
Dominican Republic Mission Team Presentation will immediately follow the
service. Join us in the Heiser Fellowship Hall. Drinks and light snacks will
be provided. You will be enchanted by a slide show and personal story sharing
about all the good work being done in La Romana. The presentation is expected
to last about an hour – you will get home in time for the Super Bowl. Please
invite your family, friends, and neighbors to come and hear and see all about
Amity's Amazing First Foreign mission team to the Dominican Republic. We look
forward to sharing!
Our
missions team will assist with providing the most basic of needs; pure, safe,
and clean drinking water in the Water for Life Project. Sugar cane
operations in the Dominican Republic hire Haitians to work at slave wages,
providing no food or clean water sources. A water purification system
has been donated to provide water; however, it needs to be set up. The
plan is to renovate a school, by moving the school upstairs and placing the
water purification system on the first floor. Our work would therefore
improve school facilities as well as provide clean water to those who
currently have none. Children with swollen bellies from malnourishment
and unsafe drinking water are a common sight in this locale. We will provide
much needed relief from this situation.
Senior Fellowship Outing is a great way to
enjoy companionship and travel in "style" (Amity's bus) to a variety
of local attractions. Watch this space to learn about each
adventure, which will also be posted with a sign up sheet on the hall bulletin
board and mentioned in the weekly bulletin insert.
