Opportunities to Serve

FirstShine Summer Camp
FirstShine is a traditional summer day camp for young adults in our greater community with special needs. The camp is held at First Baptist Church of Asheville and day activities are geared to the age and interests of each individual, including outings such as horseback riding, bowling, swimming, and more!  This camp is staffed entirely by church volunteers.  Adult and youth volunteers counselors are needed.  (Summer 2026: July 27-30).

Free Market
We are working to gather and utilize essential resources including food pantry items, fresh produce, clothes, and essentials. All of these resources will be free and open to our congregation and the community. Available items will be accessible every Thursday from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. from the Charlotte Street entrance. All are welcome to come and get what they need. As we prepare to welcome our neighbors, we also welcome new volunteers of all ages to serve at the Free Market both in assisting guests, unpacking food items, sorting clothing, and picking up food items on Saturday from Trader Joes.

Helene Recovery Ministryy
As our community begins the long and slow process of post-Helene recovery FBCA seeks to be a source of healing and hope, working collaboratively with friends from near and far. In addition to the Free Market, we have a Helene Recovery Service Team that partners with N.C. Baptists on Mission to complete a wide range of jobs, including flooring removal, drywall repair, and painting. No construction experience is necessary to join any of the volunteer teams.

We also have a Helene Hospitality ministry in which we host out of town groups volunteering through N.C. Baptist on Mission.

Lunch at the Crossroads
Join us every Thursday beginning at 12:00 p.m., for a free, hot meal that is served around common tables. As we prepare to welcome our neighbors to our Lunch at the Crossroads meal, we also welcome new volunteers of all ages to serve the meal, volunteer with the clothes closet or food pantry, or come and eat with our guests around common tables. The meal is served at noon and will be followed by an optional Communion Service in the Chapel at 1:00 p.m. Post-Helene many of our hot meals are donated from Mercy Chefs (mercychefs.com). We are so grateful for their care for our community in WNC.

The Peacemakers Team
The Peacemakers Team is a opportunity for FBCA members to engage in peacemaking. As we build a community of Beautiful Belonging, we will seek to be attentive to challenges that may include, but not be limited to, homelessness, voting rights, refugee settlement, economic and racial inequalities, gender issues, hunger, and the environment. As issues are identified, we will encourage creative involvement in finding solutions through connections with other peacemakers.

The Peacemaker’s Team invites you to a time of prayer for our church, community, and country in the Chapel or out on the Labyrinth each Third Sunday from 9:15-9:45 a.m. We hope to see you there!

Yearly Journeys of Faith, Service, and Partnership
Across a variety of mission opportunities, our church has been blessed to engage in compassionate, relational, and restorative work both domestically and abroad.

Our travels have taken us to the U.S.–Mexico border in Harlingen, Texas, where we partnered with CBF field personnel and immigration lawyer Elket Rodriguez to support refugee families in urgent need, and to Immokalee, Florida, where we worked alongside Rick and Ellen Burnett and Cultivate Abundance to address food insecurity among migrant farmworkers through culturally relevant food distribution and community partnership.

Internationally, our long-standing relationship with Iglesia Elohim, our sister church, in Las Tunas, Cuba has allowed us to share in dialogue, fellowship, worship, service projects, water filtration initiatives, youth pilgrimages, and vibrant ministries such as their summer Vacation Bible School for 50 children. We are planning a trip March 20-24, 2026. We have also served in Puerto Rico, where teams have helped communities still recovering from Hurricane Maria by repairing roofs and offering encouragement amid ongoing structural challenges. In every place, we have sought to honor the dignity of those we meet, respond faithfully to human need, and deepen the bonds of hope, justice, and shared Christian fellowship.