Welcome to the website of the First Presbyterian Church of Galesville, Wisconsin. We are a caring congregation committed to helping others discover the love and grace of God through Jesus Christ.  We are the size where everyone can be known and can get to know others.  We are a welcoming congregation with outstretched arms embracing those who are familiar as well as the visitor. Children and youth are welcomed and involved alongside adults. Worship is important to us. Bible study and Christian education for all ages is, as well. 

First Presbyterian Church has been serving the Galesville community and region since 1859.  Church members maintain a healthy respect for the past, while forging ahead with a contagious energy and enthusiasm about the future.  Our building is fully handicap assessable.

Pastor’ Corner

The following is an article from The Anglican Digest.  I thought the information it contained was valuable in light of the possibility of visitors to the congregation in the summer months and throughout the year.

Has this Ever Happened to You?

As you leave church, as you come into the coffee hour, as you stand in line at the parish dinner, you see someone you don’t recognize, and you think, “What happens if I ask this person if they are visiting and they tell me they have been a member here for 20 years?  I’ll be so embarrassed.”  And so you pass them by with perhaps a nod?

Part of being a parish family is the willingness to greet others whom we don’t know, whether they have been members here longer than we have or not.  Here is a suggestion:  Don’t approach and ask, “Are you visiting?”  or “Are you new here?”  unless you are absolutely sure they are.  If “you” is the operative pronoun, it shifts responsibility from you to the other person and can possibly produce a defensive answer.

Try this, “I don’t believe we have met.  My name is…”  Or “I’m not sure I have met you.  I’m…”  If the pronoun is “I,” then I take responsibility and the other person doesn’t feel put on the spot.  Your answer is the truth – you don’t remember having met the other person, and if they have been a member for 20 years, you still haven’t met them, so no one should be embarrassed.

Making visitors welcome is an important part of being a church family and not one of the “frozen chosen.”  All of us were new somewhere, sometime, and would have liked a friendly smile and greeting.  It is perhaps the easiest evangelism we can do.

Pastor Mike