Our classes in 2026-27 include:

Adult Sunday School – Sundays at 9:00 AM 

Sunday School classes are on recess for the summer. Classes will resume in the fall and be posted on our webpage. We will meet each Sunday at 9:00 in the Resource Room. Contact Lee Eisman at leeandlinda@verizon.net for more information. 

Wednesday Morning Bible Study – Wednesdays at 10:00 AM

Wednesday morning Bible Study is on recess for the summer and will resume in the fall. We meet each Wednesday  at 10:00 am in the Resource Room and on Zoom. Email Rev. Yun Kim at yunkim@vaumc.org  for the Zoom link once we resume.

United Methodist Women

Women of Vale Church are encouraged to become active members of the United Methodist Women (UMW), a group dedicated to nurturing faith, participating in missions, and supporting fellowship among each other.

The UMW’s primary focus is missions.  We support the United Methodist Family Service, Christ House, Embry Rucker Shelter, Hospice of NoVA, Second Story, The Closet, FACETS, Food Pantry, mission outreach to West Virginia and Southeast DC, and the youth scholarship program.  We also carry out special projects, such as collecting books for Project Transformation, a children’s literacy program; assembling baskets of toiletries for victims of domestic violence; maintaining an ongoing relationship with our local police and firemen; and joining the Vale Club to send care packages to our military serving in areas of conflict around the world.

The UMW participates in a number of yearly activities, including making handmade chocolate Easter eggs, hosting a luncheon for the ladies of the church, and providing leadership for the church yard sale and fall festival.

The UMW serves whenever and wherever we find a need in our community or within the Vale family.  We invite all women of the church to attend our meetings held the third Thursday of each month (September through May) at 1:00 p.m. in the Resource Room.  For more information, please contact the church office at (703) 620-2594.

United Methodist Men

The Vale Men’s group meets for fellowship every other Monday. For more information contact the Vale church office at office@valechurch.org.

Coffee Hour Fellowship

Coffee fellowship is a gathering time after the worship service for visiting with old friends and welcoming new ones. Join us every Sunday at 11:00 to engage with the Vale community! If you would like to help provide snacks, please sign up here.

Book Club

The Vale Book Club meets the second Tuesday of each month, September through June at 10:30 am via Zoom. Each year our group has gotten larger and our book selections have become more diversified. The Book Club is open to church members and the community. We invite you and your friends to join us. For questions, contact Mary Morran at mmorran01@gmail.com or Terri Lowry at tlowry2003@gmail.com.

Prayer Shawl Ministry

The Prayer Shawl group meets on the first Saturdays of each month at 10:30 am in the Resource Room to knit and crochet for ministry. They make hats and scarves for our military through Operation Gratitude, shawls and lap blankets for those going through illnesses or in need of comfort, and baptismal and baby blankets for our newest members. All experience levels are welcome, and lessons are available for those that need it. For more information, contact Margie Koller at kollermargie@gmail.com

Adult Chancel Choir

The Adult/Chancel Choir practices every Wednesday night from 7:30 to 9:00 PM. The choir sings regularly at the 10:00 AM Sunday worship service, and provides special music during the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter. They are always looking for more members! For more information, contact our Music Director Jan Smith at music@valechurch.org or (703) 732-2750. 

Flute Choir

The Flute Choir, which is comprised of both Vale and non-Vale members, holds rehearsals on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month from 7:30 to 9:00 PM. The choir performs during Sunday worship services six times a year (on the third Sunday of alternating months) and occasionally plays at other churches. Participating in the flute choir gives flute players, who may not have many opportunities to play, the chance to hone their skills and just enjoy their instruments. The repertoire includes sacred, secular, and classical music. The choir has a bass flute and an alto flute so that full choir arrangements can be performed. All participants are welcome to play the bass and/or alto flutes.

Contact Linda Allardyce at lallardyce@aol.com or 571-445-3735 for more information.

Adult Handbells

The Handbell Choir rehearses on Sundays from 12:15-1:15 PM and plays for worship services falling on the third Sunday, every other month. The choir also presents a special dessert concert in the Spring. Anyone who can count can play handbells; there is no requirement to have any musical background or experience. The church has five octaves of handbells and an extensive library of handbell music, including secular, sacred, and classical. For more information, contact Norm Dietz, at njdietz@verizon.net for more information.

Vale is joining with Good Shepherd UMC. Oakton UMC, Hunters Wood PTA, and the Fox Mill Giant to address hunger in our local schools. We are partnering with the communities of Fox Mill, Hunters Woods, Oakton and Vienna. We will be working to decrease the debilitating effects of food insecurity on children in our community by packaging and providing meals for breakfast, snacks, and weekends. [Shepherd: Eileen Koefoot, Stan Ellis]

Every other month, in partnership with FACETS – a nonprofit organization in Fairfax – Vale prepares and delivers 80-100 hot dinners to homeless men, women, and children living on the street and in motels along the Rte. 50 corridor in Fairfax. [Shepherds: Mary Morran]

Learn more at their website.

Every winter, Vale partners with FACETS and the Interfaith Community in their effort to prevent deaths from hypothermia. Vale provides dinners, lunches, and volunteers to support two local churches in feeding and sheltering homeless men and women overnight. Also, in conjunction with the Lamb Center – the day shelter for homeless people in the area – we host one of the picnics held during the summer to build on the relationships formed with homeless individuals during the shelter program. [Shepherd: Vicki Alonzo]

Learn more at their website.

Transforms the lives of children and youth, helping them stay safe, make positive decisions, achieve educational success, and overcome personal crisis. Vale provides a monthly dinner (4th Tuesday of the month) to this emergency shelter that is part of a comprehensive crisis intervention program. [Shepherd: Jan Feeney]

Learn more at their website.

Working with families in the Highlands public housing community in SE DC, this ministry focuses on:

Sponsor/Mentor Program – which matches SE DC kids with members of Vale to provide school supplies and Christmas and Birthday gifts. We also mentor and advocate for the youth through their school years and entry into college/the workforce.

Food Pantry – Vale collects food donations and grocery dollars to provide supplemental food to our Highland Community neighbors. Each month volunteers deliver the food items as available to the food pantry [Shepherd: Mary Morran]

This nonprofit thrift store sells gently used clothing & household goods. Income over expenses are returned to various local charities. Vouchers are given by local Social Services to those in need of clothing and other items. Vale provides two volunteers to The Closet once or twice a month. [Shepherds: Nancy Abramson]

Learn more at their website.

Vale has been working in Guatemala for the past 13 years. Every summer since 2006, Vale has sent a mission team to the Highlands of Guatemala with the goal of diminishing poverty through empowering indigenous Mayan people. We work largely with women, collaborating on projects of their choosing that teach them skills and help to improve the lives of their children and families. We welcome participants from within and outside of the congregation, including children, teens and their families. [Shepherd: Deb Cohen]

Vale UMC works together with Rise Against Hunger, a global nonprofit organization that focuses on feeding hungry school kids in developing countries. Starting in 2012, Vale has hosted an annual meal packaging event, usually in January, in which hundreds of volunteers of all ages from the community have joined church members to package a total of over 1 million meals to date. The ingredients for these meals (about 75,000 per year) are paid for entirely by Vale Church, using the net proceeds from selling Christmas trees in December. In fact, many of the volunteers at the meal packaging event are the same people who bought their Christmas tree at Vale only weeks earlier! The meals are sent to developing countries and distributed to school children, often in the wake of major disasters. [Shepherd: Mike Martin]

Learn more at their website.

Vale Church since 2008 has hosted an annual Christmas tree sale to raise money for fighting hunger “near and far.” Staffed by Vale Church members, scouts from Troop 1983, and volunteers from the community, the sale kicks off on the first Saturday after Thanksgiving and stays open typically until the last weekend before Christmas or until all the trees have sold, whichever comes first. The event has grown steadily and now sells more than 800 trees each year. It provides a festive opportunity for Vale members to interact during the holidays with our neighbors in Oakton, Vienna, Reston, Herndon, Fairfax and other parts of northern Virginia. Shopping for trees and wreaths at Vale Church is a fun family activity that many area residents have made a part of their Christmas traditions. Because Vale spends the net proceeds from every Christmas tree on our anti-hunger initiatives; our slogan is “Buy one tree, feed 100 kids.” Most of the funds are spent on buying ingredients for our annual meal-packaging event, held every February with nonprofit organization Rise Against Hunger, detailed above. Vale Church also donates additional Christmas tree sale proceeds to local organizations that feed hungry people right here in Virginia.

How to Get Involved: There are MANY ways to support the Christmas tree sale — besides buying your tree at Vale! Lots of volunteers and helpers are needed. Stalwart workers are needed to help unload the beautiful trees, which are delivered on big trucks starting on the Friday morning after Thanksgiving. It’s a fun way to burn off some Turkey Day calories! During the sale, volunteers help by staffing the Christmas tree lot, aiding shoppers in picking out trees, trimming the trees and tying them onto the roofs of cars. Tree lot hours are: Saturdays from 9 am to 6 pm; Sundays from 11 am to 5 pm; and weeknights from 6 pm to 9 pm. (Remember: Even if you don’t want to lift or carry trees, you can still work as a cashier or other kind of helper. We want you!) Still more volunteers help by promoting the tree sale, e.g. by putting up signs, hanging flyers in coffee shops, distributing flyers to neighbors, or posting about the sale online. Other church members help out by donating “free cookies and apple cider” that people enjoy at Vale while hunting for their perfect tree. You don’t have to be a church member to volunteer; all are welcome! If you would like to volunteer to be part of the annual Christmas tree sale, please contact Mike Martin at mike.vumc@yahoo.com, or check the church’s Sign-Up page, where sign-ups are posted starting in early November.