Welcome to First Community

First Community brings people together, shares space as a community resource, and works alongside others for the common good.

First Community welcomes all people from all backgrounds and orientations – wherever you are in your faith journey. We are home to a growing family of non-profits, community groups, social enterprises, spiritual followers, and artistic performance groups. We are located in the heart of Salmon Arm and invite you to come and experience First Community for yourself.

By Barb Brouwer, Contributor to the Salmon Arm Observer - June 9, 2026

Jenny Carter is leaving First Community (United) Church with a happy heart.

After serving as minister to the church for 11 years, she says her decision to retire now was the right one.

“It feels good to be me today,” she said, acknowledging the outpouring of love shown by the many who attended her last service as an officiant left her with a bit of an emotional hangover on Monday. “It made me weep; I cannot overstate the joy it brought me.”

Carter said a church full of people she has come to know over the past several years had been her only wish and remembering the amazing response continues to raise goosebumps.

“Sometimes you feel seen and sometimes you don’t,” she said. “People understood me; most people don’t get to have that, and I got it on Sunday.”

It was a full house for the barbecue and accolades following the service as well – a gathering of well-wishers from within and beyond the church congregation. Heartfelt accolades were interspersed by music and skits.

Eleven years ago, Carter had no intention of coming to Salmon Arm – until she met people who mirrored her hopes and dreams. Following her interview with the church board, she felt a deep connection and belief that she could help carry out the stated mandate.

“I knew I was coming to help build something that was faithful to our beliefs but also built connections to the wider community,” she said of the mutual desire to make a difference for people both within and beyond the church. “And I knew I would have to go after we had built it.”

Carter said the weekly Community Lunch Program was developed in response to the congregation’s desire to do something to “meet the neighbours.” She remembers an incident in its early days when a couple of city councillors shared a meal with some of the city’s unhoused population.

“Unhoused people are our neighbours and this is why we do this, so people come together and meet each other as people,” she said, pointing out the weekly lunch and other opportunities to cook for people has been a cherished aspect of her ministry. “It’s intentional community, a bunch of people who come together in the same place and feel welcome.”

Describing the community lunch program as a true gift to everyone involved, Carter praises the volunteers who step up to help every week.

Hospitality and volunteer coordinator Debbie Hewitt was part of the congregation when Carter arrived and offered accolades of her own.

“She presented how all churches are dropping in numbers and gave us the option of continuing as we were and end up closing, or developing a bit,” Hewitt said, noting members of the then-small congregation voted for getting new life. “She is amazing, she was the one who visualized what community needed and has put so much time and energy into creating it.”

Hewitt said Carter is tireless, makes great food and pitches in to help anywhere it is needed. The result is almost always a full house at the Wednesday Community Lunch program, with many people expressing that it is their favourite part of the week.

The program will continue, and thanks to her willingness to share her recipes, volunteers will be able to include “Jenny food” on the menu.

First Community Church board chair Jane Harding said the warm welcome mat will also continue to be in place.

“We do really consider people who come into the building to be members of the community of faith – you don’t have to believe to be part of who we are,” she said, pointing to the many community partners, such as the radio station, intergenerational choir, rotary, jazz club and bridge club who call the place home. “There’s lots of action here and we feel we are modelling what it means to be a Christian in a modern society.”

Harding described Carter as a seasoned and successful minister who taught the church’s community of faith wisdom they might not have had before she arrived.

“She’s so loving and so wise and kind,” Harding said. “She and I used to talk about a permission-based culture. We’d say yes and then later on figure out how to do it.”

While she leaves her ministry at First Community, Carter has no intention of saying goodbye to the “amazing” community of Salmon Arm, a place she describes as being more friendly and socially conscious than any other community she has lived in.

Over the next few months, she plans to rest, recreate and regroup, believing that her next “building project” and who she can work with will present itself.

“I think I have more to offer the world and the community of Salmon Arm and there’s work I can do outside the church,” she said, noting that as she ages, she considers her religion to be kindness. If she could leave one message to the folks she leaves behind, it is to look at the best in other people.

“This community has given me a place to be myself, to know what joy is and a sense of hope as a society and what the world can be when good-hearted people meet together to do good-hearted things.”

Sunday Worship

Every Sunday at 10:30 AM
Refreshments and fellowship after

FIND US AT
450 Okanagan Avenue SE
Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Canada

1-250-832-3860
office@firstcommunity.ca

The office is open:

• Monday & Wednesday 9:00am - 3:00pm

• Tuesday & Thursday 12:30pm - 4:30pm

Office hours do not reflect all program and event times