Auburn First United Methodist Church sits on N Street SE in downtown Auburn, Washington, a single-level building that opens its doors wide to its neighbors every week. The congregation is known around the King County area for being a Reconciling church, for feeding the hungry through Monday Night Community Suppers, and for gathering children and adults together at a monthly service called Messy Church. Sunday worship blends contemporary and traditional music, and the church has grown a livestream that now welcomes new members who first encounter Auburn First online.
A Sunday Sanctuary Service that Blends Old and New
The main Sunday gathering is a 10:30 a.m. Sanctuary Service held in person and livestreamed. The Crossroads Band, which has led music at Auburn First for more than fifteen years, plays a mix of contemporary songs and traditional hymns depending on the week. During Advent, the Worship Committee experimented with having a small group of band members lead a variety of styles each Sunday, so that newcomers encounter the same congregation no matter which week they visit. The pastor offers a lesson based on Scripture and on current events, and prayer, reflection, and visual art all share space in the service.
On communion Sundays, the bread and grape juice are open to anyone who wants to participate. Ushers guide worshippers from their pews toward the center aisle to receive the elements and return by the side aisle. New communion ware - cups and a plate marked with the congregation's sunrise mosaic logo - was designed and gifted by church member Leigh Starr. Communion Sundays use all five senses in worship: sight through altar banners and a candle dance on Christmas Eve, hearing through music, smell through donated flowers, touch through a Holy Week labyrinth walked barefoot, and taste through the bread and juice.
Worship is supported by a long list of volunteers - scripture readers, ushers, soundboard operators, livestream coordinators, band members, and communion servers - and the Worship Committee is the engine that keeps it all moving. Children are invited to Sunday School after the opening songs and prayer, while infants and small children are equally welcome to remain with their families. Drawing pads and fidget toys are available from the ushers.
Messy Church: Crafts, a Meal, and No Pews
On the second Wednesday of every month at 5:30 p.m., Auburn First hosts Messy Church, an intergenerational service designed for people who would rather not sit in a pew. Doors open at 5:15 p.m. for welcoming activities and snacks, then the group moves into a short message, shares a meal together, and wraps up by 7:30 p.m. Crafts, games, music, and activities fill the evening, and children under 18 are asked to come with an adult. The point is to acknowledge that life and faith are not always clean and orderly, and to invite people of all ages to explore faith in a hands-on way. Reminder emails go out one week and one day before each gathering.
Monday Night Community Suppers and Project Hope
Every Monday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., Auburn First partners with the Auburn Food Bank to serve a free community supper. Guests can eat indoors or take food to go, and the church currently serves around sixty neighbors at the door, with another fifty meals delivered to Ray of Hope's shelter and fifteen to a local rehabilitation center. Project Hope, a food pantry and clothing closet that grew out of a ministry begun in 2016 by a congregation member who had experienced homelessness in Auburn, opens its doors during the supper hour from 4 to 5 p.m. to provide non-perishable foods, clothing, hygiene packs, and household items. Following the November 2025 government shutdown, Project Hope has expanded to meet fresh local need, and donations come from Auburn Food Bank, Food Lifeline, and church members.
Other outreach work includes quarterly American Red Cross blood drives held in the Social Hall from 1 to 6 p.m. (advance registration with the Red Cross is required), diaper drives, Christmas gift collections for families who share the building, and Mission Sundays on fifth Sundays of the month. On the church's first Day of Service, thirty-two volunteers wrote more than forty cards to shut-ins and first responders and assembled over one hundred hygiene kits. The Mission and Outreach Committee, restarted after several quiet years, also organizes the Auburn Clean Sweep, quarterly all-church potlucks, and the small-group ministry called MEET (Methodists Eating Everywhere Together), which sends groups of six out monthly to share a meal and get to know one another.
RIDE.: Reconciling, Inclusion, Diversity, Equity
The RIDE. Committee is one of the most distinctive ministries of Auburn First and grew out of the Reconciling Ministry team that helped the congregation vote in 2016 to become a local Reconciling church with ninety-five percent approval. The acronym stands for Reconciling (affirming the LGBTQIA+ community), Inclusion (all voices heard), Diversity (everyone belongs and is safe), and Equity (promoting fairness and justice). The period at the end of RIDE. is intentional: while not perfect, the committee strives to be the best humans it can be.
The committee is led by Kerry Dolan as Executive Chair, Paula Hills as Reconciling Chair, and Jamie Rettinger as Equity Chair, with about ten members in all. RIDE. celebrates Black History Month with posters, an African American spiritual repertoire that includes Lift Every Voice and Sing, a Little Library book display, and a curated list of Black-owned restaurants in Auburn; marks Stole Sunday on the second Sunday of each month; maintains an inclusive library in the narthex; and hosts a calendar of Pride Month events including the Auburn Pride flag raising, a Pride service, a pancake breakfast and silent auction benefiting Oasis Youth Center in Tacoma, and booths at the Auburn Farmers' Market and Tacoma PrideFest. The committee also passes out ICE whistles after services in solidarity with immigrant and migrant communities.
Children, Youth, and the Crossroads Band
Children and youth ages three to eighteen are invited to Sunday School after the opening songs of the 10:30 service, and young people serve in many parts of congregational life - as ushers, candle lighters, pick-up choir members, altar decorators, sound and livestream techs, scripture readers, and communion servers. Youth Group meets from September through June every other Sunday from noon to 1:30 p.m. for middle school through age eighteen, with a monthly format supplemented by community events.
Music is led primarily by the Crossroads Band, which spends time learning both contemporary pieces and traditional hymns so that every Sunday has a full range of styles. Pick-up choirs for voice and handbells are organized throughout the year with limited rehearsals, and details go out in the church newsletter, The Messenger. A staff pianist leads congregational singing alongside the band.
United Women in Faith and Small Groups
The United Women in Faith circle meets at Auburn First on the second Thursday of every month at 10:30 a.m. from September through May, gathering for spiritual formation, leadership development, fellowship, and education that connects to local and global mission. A weekly Bible Study is held on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. and is open to anyone who wants to dig into the Scripture appointed for the coming Sunday.
What Auburn First Believes
Auburn First describes its life together through three overlapping values drawn from Acts 2:42, Colossians 3:12-14, and John 20:21. Community is life and faith shared, the conviction that faith should not be carried alone. Compassion is love in action, recognizing Christ in each person and responding with care, empathy, and mercy. Commission is living faith through justice, sending the congregation into the world to work against oppression and injustice as God sent Christ.
The congregation affirms that every person is a beloved child of God, that questions are often as valuable as answers, that the church does not have a monopoly on truth, and that true values are expressed through actions rather than words. Following John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, Auburn First strives to go on toward perfection, understood not as moral flawlessness but as a state of love for God and neighbor that empowers transformation rather than conformity.
The church also names a commitment to the safety of children, youth, and vulnerable adults through a Safe Sanctuaries policy that requires two adults in every class or event, national background checks for staff and volunteers, and Safe Sanctuaries training. On Sunday mornings, a Connection Card lets worshippers share as much or as little contact information as they like, and there is no expectation that visitors give money.
A Land Acknowledgement and a Spirit of Welcome
On every printed program, Auburn First acknowledges that its work takes place on the unceded, traditional ancestral lands of the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla and Muckleshoot Tribes, the original stewards of the land past and present. The congregation names the sacrifices and colonial oppression forced upon those peoples and commits to acts of reconciliation and justice in the present and for all time.
An Interim Pastor and a Working Leadership
Auburn First is currently served by Rev. Cara Scriven, who was raised Catholic in Massachusetts, returned to Christianity in a new form after college, and now serves as a trained interim minister after four years as a district superintendent overseeing more than forty churches and pastors in the greater Tacoma area. She and her husband Patrick have three children, and her writing draws on both her faith journey and her experience as a parent navigating the demands of work, family, and older relatives.
Behind the scenes, the church runs on a healthy committee structure: a Finance Committee chaired by Dick Koch that oversees the annual budget, stewardship campaign, and a developing Financial Policy Manual; a Board of Trustees chaired by Phillip Stephens that cares for the buildings and grounds and recently completed a twenty-six-thousand-dollar utilities grant, projector upgrades, painting, and Wi-Fi improvements; a Staff-Parish Relations Committee chaired by Shana Friend that supports staff and prepares for a pastoral transition; a Worship Committee that designs each week's sensory worship experience; a Mission and Outreach Committee chaired by J.D. Drollinger that tracks the church's many ministries; and the RIDE. Committee.
Visiting Auburn First
The church building sits on a single level, and the restrooms are accessible to everyone. The office is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visitors are invited to come as they are, whether casual or more formal. Worship is livestreamed every Sunday at 10:30 a.m., recordings are posted afterwards, and giving is available online. Prayer requests can be sent to the pastor, the prayer chain, or shared with the whole congregation. Newsletter signups, pastor updates, and event RSVPs are all available, and the church can be reached at 253-833-3470 or office@auburnfirstumc.org.