Community Outreach

This year for Lent we encourage our folks to not give something up, but to start the practice of giving something away through an outreach we call AlreadyPaidForYou.com.  Here is how it works.  We had a local graphics artist design a logo for the program then had cards printed with the logo which said, "Somebody did something nice for you today; totally unexpected and undeserved.  To find out why, go to www.alreadypaidforyou.com."  Then on Ash Wednesday we distributed the cards to our congregation and asked them to participate at least once a week by annonymously paying for someone's lunch, coffee, groceries, or whatever, then have the cashier/clerk give the card to the recepient.  

We then set up a website by the same name which explains that their gift came from a person at Dalton First United Methodist Church who believes in following the ways of Christ and living generously.  There is also a page that explains salvation through Christ.  Finally, the site offers a place for folks to share their story of either giving or receiving an AlreadyPaidForYou.com gift.

The response as been amazing!  One family even received a house full of new furnitiure from someone who participated!  Our congregation has liked it so much that we are continuing past Lent.

As a result we have seen people in our congregation become more aware of our community and neighbors, the folks in our community have become more aware of the ministry of our church, the cashiers and clerks get excited everytime they see a card knowing that they get to be a part of it, but best of all, people are hearing about the good news of Jesus Christ.