All-Church Meeting (1hr) to Review Listening Post Session Summaries
Twelve facilitated Listening Post Sessions were held in March 2026 involving 86 participants.
6 questions were asked: (paraphrased) 1) Why are you part of our faith community? 2) What do you need from that church in your life? 3) Describe a time when you were uplifted or helped by this church? 4) Difficulties experienced? 5) Road to a healthy present and future for our church community?) 6) Recommendations to come even closer together as a community?
Bottom-Line: The answers were by and large filled with Hope and point to a bright future as we transition this coming July to a new Pastor and an ever-improving dynamic faith community!
Purpose of this meeting will be for Karen McClintock and the facilitators to share the take home lessons from these meetings and prepare us all for the Saturday All-Church meeting on May 16th 10am-3pm. Please come all my friends as we put our hearts and minds toward our community bonds and our Love into Action!
Welcome Pastor April Sousa
We are delighted to Welcome our New Pastor April Sousa starting July 1, 2026.
(from Elk Grove United Methodist Church Website)
April Sousa started her pastoral ministry journey in 2015, saying yes to a nudge that had been present for a while. She started by becoming a Certified Lay Minister (CLM) and serving the Church of the Joyful Healer from 2016-2023, first as a CLM for four years, followed as a Licensed Local Pastor for 3 years. Pastor April attended Claremont School of Theology from August 2019 to December 2022 and graduated with a Master of Divinity degree in May 2023. In June of 2023, she was commissioned toward ordination in the United Methodist Church.
While at the Church of the Joyful Healer, she began the Saturday Gathering, an outreach ministry for the unhoused. As an advocate and ally, she walked with the Joyful Healer Church to become a reconciling ministry church in 2018.
In 2022, Pastor April served the California-Nevada Annual Conference as the Interim Associate Director of Certified Lay Ministry and Lay Church Planting. She continues to serve the Department of Leadership Development for the CA-NV Annual Conference as a member of the CLM Advisory Committee and the Lay Leadership Development Board. She fully believes that the laity is the lifeblood and future of the church, and chooses to invest her time in empowering and mentoring laity leaders.
Pastor April began her appointment with Elk Grove United Methodist Church on July 1, 2023. She and her spouse, Justin, have two adult children, Quinn and Xavier, and a menagerie of pets (as of her 2023 appointment, this includes 1 dog, 3 cats, and 2 bunnies).
We welcome and include everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, age, economic status, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Through our actions, we encourage the community to do the same. Our doors are open. Our love is unconditional.
We minister to the whole person to nurture a faith that works in real life through worship, education, fellowship, service, and justice. We walk with each other on our journeys with God and in following the way of Jesus.
We create a spirit of belonging through Christian care-giving, fellowship, and service. We foster collaboration both within our congregation and throughout our greater community.
We work, educate, and advocate for social justice locally and globally through our actions, prayers, and financial resources.
We use our time, labor, and other resources to respond to the needs of our local, national, and global communities. We encourage everyone to serve.
UWF Monthly Thrift Shop
UWF Monthly Thrift Shop
Come shop the amazing deals at our renowned Thrift Shop event. The best part is UWF is dedicated to affordable prices as well as donating proceeds to local, meaningful and socially conscious organizations and projects.
Donations are welcome Wed/Thurs and the Thrift Shop is open Friday 9a-3p and Saturday 9a-12:30p
Inclusive Ministries Sing-a-long & Dinner
Inclusive Ministries Ham Dinner and Sing-a-Long Sunday April 19th at 3-5pm (worship service to follow if interested)
Come join one of our absolute favorite monthly event serving a segment of our marginalized and excluded population from local group homes and care facilities. This is a powerful chance to connect and share time and joy with our larger community. Volunteers needed to help with the potluck, transportation, set-up, clean-up, nametags, photo fun, singing and much more! See Vicki Ono for details.
Redding First UMC Photobook Picture Day this Sunday 4/19/26
Photobook Pictures are entering their 3rd Sunday of Individual and Group Picture Days!
Don’t miss out on this wonderful opportunity to be part of our photobook directory to join in our the larger faith community we cherish and enjoy. If your like me, you would like to be better with names/faces…or maybe you just want to memorialize this exciting time in our church!
This is the third of three days of photo shoots and already we have some amazing images of our diverse and lovely community. We are using member volunteers (my thanks to Liz, Rhesa, Janice, Mary & Lynne for their efforts) to keep costs down and green screen technology. This means we can make subtle adjustments as needed, maximize versatility and still create a wonderful printed photobook for 2026 (more to come about this mid-summer around the time of the arrival of our new Pastor April Sousa July 1, 2026.
See Tim or Liz if you were unable to participate in these early shoots, or would like to retake your picture, and we will arrange that at your convenience. The photobook team wants group pics as well so if you lead or chair a group (choir/bell/music/media/friendly visitors/ inclusive ministries/staff/ scholarship/ UWF, ARTF, youth, endowment, Trustees, SPRC, etc)….please take a landscape group photo and send to Tim!
PS: If you would like a fun AI altered image of your picture, see Tim and tell him “I saw this on the website announcement and would like a pic of me/us as a _________ (snowman, gopher, pilot, astronaut…anything).” and he will create and send you a fun digital version of your individual or family photo to you to keep! See our preservice announcement or Tim’s April fools “ mandatory uniform” joke on our Facebook page for inspiration!
Scholarship Deadline April 20th 2026
Scholarship Committee has been accepting applications for any affiliated individuals looking to advance their education or enter a new field or trade. See Sally Chaney for details
All Church Meeting with Dr. Karen McClintock
All-church Meeting Sat May 16th 2026 10a-3p
-Come learn healthy communication habits for you church, workplace and family
-Explore ways to increase joy and hope in you work as a church and community leader
-Come away empowered to stop shame, negativity, gossip, and other behaviors that limit church growth
-Prepare for a new pastor by learning ways that an active church grows in spiritual abundance and in outreach into the community
Lunch will be ordered from outside vendor ($15 donation appreciated but not necessary)
A Joyful, Jazzy Christmas
Join us for a special family-friendly Christmas Eve service filled with the joyful sounds of jazz and the warmth of holiday tradition. All are welcome to join us as we celebrate the birth of Jesus with music that will lift your spirits and warm your heart. Our family-friendly service is designed to engage children while remaining meaningful for adults.
Praying In Color Workshop
Praying In Color
Workshop Based on the book by Sybil Macbeth
Do you struggle to pray?
Does your mind wander?
Is your prayer life feeling rote, stale, or dull?
Come learn a new way to infuse creativity into your prayer time! We will be drawing and coloring while praying! (YES, it’s for Adults!) You do NOT need to have “artistic skill”
Presenter: Tara Macy, Pastor Shasta Lake UMC
Join us: Room 10/1
Letter Writing to Voters
Please join us September 19th from 3:30 to 9:00 PM in the Fellowship Cafe to write letters to voters. Let's encourage everyone to get out and vote!
Come any time and leave when you want. Please sign up in the Welcome Center or Social Hall.
This event is coordinated by Church & Society and ARTF.
1946 Film Screening
Join us for a free screening of 1946: The Mistranslation that Shifted Culture on Saturday, April 27 at 6:30 pm at First United Methodist Church of Redding. Sponsored by the Anti-Racism Task Force of Redding United Methodist Church and Shasta Cascade Service Center Council.
4th Monday Book Club - March
Join the 4th Monday Book Club in the Fellowship Cafe at 2 p.m. on the fourth Monday of every month. In March, join us for Still Life by Louise Penny.
Interested? Contact Kathy Byars at 530-215-8968 or email her at kbyars47@gmail.com.
March Thrift Shop Open
Our team has been hard at work curating incredible deals and one-of-a-kind treasures just for you. By shopping with us, you're not only treating yourself but also supporting a meaningful cause. Join us the first Saturday of every month from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
March Thrift Shop Open
Our team has been hard at work curating incredible deals and one-of-a-kind treasures just for you. By shopping with us, you're not only treating yourself but also supporting a meaningful cause. Join us from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
4th Monday Book Club - February
A Painted House by John Grisham
Join the 4th Monday Book Club in the Fellowship Cafe at 2 p.m. on the fourth Monday of every month. In February, join us for Porch Music by Kathy Maresca.
Interested? Contact Kathy Byars at 530-215-8968 or email her at kbyars47@gmail.com.
February Thrift Shop Open
Our team has been hard at work curating incredible deals and one-of-a-kind treasures just for you. By shopping with us, you're not only treating yourself but also supporting a meaningful cause. Join us from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
February Thrift Shop Open
Our team has been hard at work curating incredible deals and one-of-a-kind treasures just for you. By shopping with us, you're not only treating yourself but also supporting a meaningful cause. Join us from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
4th Monday Book Club
A Painted House by John Grisham
Join the 4th Monday Book Club in the Fellowship Cafe at 2 p.m. on the fourth Monday of every month. In January, join us for Painted House by John Grisham.
Interested? Contact Kathy Byars at 530-215-8968 or email her at kbyars47@gmail.com.
Dr. Martin Luther King Day of Service Celebration
NEW LOCATION FOR 2024!
The annual King Holiday Observance is a time that we celebrate, commemorate and honor the life, legacy and impact of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Events
MLK Day of Service Celebration Program & Performances: 11 AM - 12:30 PM
Information Booths: 10 AM - 11 AM
Lunch provided by Asphalt Cowboys: 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
March from Sequoia Middle School to City Hall: 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Prayer/Praise Circle
Rain or shine!
Film Screening: Rising From the Rails - The Story of the Pullman Porter”
Please join us for a free showing Saturday, January 13 at 6:00 p.m. in the First United Methodist Church Sanctuary
"A valuable window into a long-underreported dimension of African American history."—Newsday
When George Pullman began recruiting Southern blacks as porters in his luxurious new sleeping cars, the former slaves suffering under Jim Crow laws found his offer of a steady job and worldly experience irresistible. They quickly signed up to serve as maid, waiter, concierge, nanny, and occasionally doctor and undertaker to cars full of white passengers, making the Pullman Company the largest employer of African American men in the country by the 1920s.
In the world of the Pullman sleeping car, where whites and blacks lived in close proximity, porters developed a unique culture marked by idiosyncratic language, railroad lore, and shared experience. They called difficult passengers "Mister Charlie"; exchanged stories about Daddy Jim, the legendary first Pullman porter; and learned to distinguish generous tippers such as Humphrey Bogart from skinflints like Babe Ruth. At the same time, they played important social, political, and economic roles, carrying jazz and blues to outlying areas, forming America's first black trade union.
Drawing on extensive interviews with dozens of porters and their descendants, Larry Tye reconstructs the complicated world of the Pullman porter and the vital cultural, political, and economic roles they played as forerunners of the modern black middle class. “Rising from the Rails” provides a lively and enlightening look at this important social phenomenon.
January Thrift Shop Open
Our team has been hard at work curating incredible deals and one-of-a-kind treasures just for you. By shopping with us, you're not only treating yourself but also supporting a meaningful cause. Join us from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
January Thrift Shop Open
Our team has been hard at work curating incredible deals and one-of-a-kind treasures just for you. By shopping with us, you're not only treating yourself but also supporting a meaningful cause. Join us from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Blue Christmas at St. James Lutheran
We will join other local congregations, to celebrate our Blue Christmas service. We celebrate this meditative and meaningful service on the longest night of the year, the Winter Solstice.
When: Tuesday, Dec. 21 at 5:30 pm
Where: St. James Lutheran, 2500 Shasta View
Christmas Caroling
Nothing makes the holidays more special than caroling for our beloved shut-ins and those too ill to come to worship with us in person. Join our merry band of elves as we travel to various care facilities and homes to bring Christmas cheer!
Meet in the Social Hall at 12:45 pm after church on Sunday, Dec. 17. We will be carpooling and will return to the church by 4 pm. Use the sign-up sheet in the Welcome Center to let us know you can come!
Wreath & Greet
Nothing says “celebrate” better than a fresh wreath! Wreath n’ Greet 2023 is a free community event offering all ages an opportunity to make a fresh holiday wreath while visiting with members of your community! Natural materials and wreath backing will be provided, and the rest is up to your creativity! We hope you will join the fun on Sunday, December 3, 2023, and ignite the spirit of the season!
Questions? Contact Reannon at 530-243-2403
December Thrift Shop Open
Our team has been hard at work curating incredible deals and one-of-a-kind treasures just for you. By shopping with us, you're not only treating yourself but also supporting a meaningful cause. Join us from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Become a Volunteer
We’d love to have you join us! Contact us below for information about becoming a volunteer.