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21 Jan

January 21, 2009 |

Imagine This LLC in Grand Ledge, Mich., held its second annual Kid’s Shop for Christmas on Saturday, December 13, from 1-4 p.m. The local paper covered the event both before and after, and the congregation distributed flyers (download a copy) during the town’s Christmas parade. The idea was to help financially-burdened families by underwriting and providing quality gift items that children could buy for family members. This enabled children to enter into the true meaning of Christmas–giving–while preserving the family’s budget.

Here are some elements of Kid’s Shop.

  • Parents dropped their kids off at the church (located on the town’s main street), along with a budget and a list.
  • The kids shopped for gifts for family members, choosing from a selection of over 800 gifts.
  • Nothing cost over $2. (In fact, they kept gifts to 50 cents).
  • Volunteer adults helped kids shop, if needed.
  • Wrapping was included.
  • After the kids finished shopping and had their gifts wrapped, they went downstairs to watch a Christmas movie until their parents returned.

Kid’s Shop was held the same day Grand Ledge’s downtown businesses held a special shopping day for adults. Coupons were available so parents could go shopping at local downtown businesses while their children were doing Kid’s Shop.

About 140 children attended. They selected from gifts geared for siblings, parents, grandparents, and others. Donations from local enabled them to keep the cost down.

Some other holiday activities at Imagine This:

  • They hosted a Bible Actors Production of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” on December 6, with a very large turnout.
  • The children’s ministry Christmas performance of the birth of Jesus occurred on December 21 in both the morning and evening services.
  • They held a Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at 7:00 p.m., with walk-in communion beforehand from 4:00 – 6:30 p.m.

13 Jan

January 13, 2009 |

On Sunday, January 11, the people of imagine this LLC (Life, Love, Community) entered into a partnership project with each other. After hearing a message focused on the parable of the faithful servants, each person was been given the opportunity of returning an increase from the resources entrusted to them, the Pastor Gordon Kettel challenged them to be that most faithful servant.

The challenge is to raise enough money to purchase an ark of animals from the nonprofit organization Heifer International. The cost of a project like this is $5000 per ark. These animals will be sent to a variety of locations across the world, wherever the need is the greatest. The range of animals consist of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, ducks, chickens, lamas, oxen, alpacas, and even bees.

Each person in attendance was given $20 to invest and use as seed money for the next 90 days. During that time, people can turn in money, and the amount will be posted on one of the large windows facing Jefferson Street in downtown Grand Ledge, so that everyone–whether part of the church or not–can see the progress. All the money will be used to buy as many arks of animals as possible.

When asked to explain the passing out of money to individuals, Pastor Gordon stated, “In the past when there has been a call to the faith community to stretch and demonstrate a deeper commitment, we have put all the risk on the individual. Today I wanted to show the faith community that it’s important for the church to take risks and trust the hearts of the people, even first-time visitors. I’m excited to see what God will do.”

The community is encouraged to get involved also, as this gift of animals will be coming from the Grand Ledge community, not the people of imagine this LLC.

12 Jan

January 12, 2009 |

Josh Kesler, pastor of Good Shepherd UB (Huntington, Ind.), reports: “As a break from the normal and an opportunity to combine our two services into one for a celebration of Christ’s birth, Good Shepherd rented the North Star Civic Center for our December 12 Christmas service.
“Weather was rough, but the Spirit was strong. It was a powerful service where two people made decisions to become followers of Jesus Christ for the first time. Nineteen other people made decisions to place Christ first in their life once again. It was an exciting time in the life of our church.”

12 Jan

January 12, 2009 |

Darwin Dunten, pastor of First UB (Findlay, Ohio), sent this Christmas-related information.
Findlay First UB gave out gift packets to the local prisoners in the county jail. The gift packets included socks, a pocket New Testament, a small candy bar, and a stamped Christmas card to send home to their family.
We also adopted a single mother who had cancer.
After Christmas, (the 26th) a group headed to Mexico to celebrate the Mexican Christmas with boxes filled with clothing, toys, and school supplies. They returned January 3.

12 Jan

January 12, 2009 |

Al Carter, pastor of West Pleasant Hill UB church (Rockbridge, Ohio), reports: “The youth at our church presented a short play called “Not the Last Straw.” It lead into a sharing of the Lord’s Supper. We had (by my count) at least 12 people who were normally not in our services.
“We also met at Pastor Al and Linda’s house for the New Years cellebration where we ushered in the new year with a candlelight and prayer vigil.”

08 Jan

January 8, 2009 |

MaryAnn Hancock of New Hope Church (Camden, Mich.) sent the following:
For the past three years we have given the teachers at Camden-Frontier school (next door to the church) construction paper Christmas ornaments. The teachers write items that they need for their classroom. We hang them on a tree in the church and attendees pick one and purchase the items requested.

Gifts are presented to classrooms along with a candy cane for each child just before Christmas break. We enjoy thanking our teachers for the contribution they make to our community. An added blessing is the thank you notes received from the teachers and many times the children.

07 Jan

January 7, 2009 |

Jim Pryor, pastor of Richfield Road UB (Flint, Mich.), sent the following about Christmas activities at his church.
This Christmas our women’s ministry team really thought out of the box. They planned an outreach event focusing on one of the women’s shelters in the community. This shelter is for recovering addicts and abused women. These women stuggle with identity and issues of self-worth.
Our women’s ministry set up a spa day for 25 women. The women were treated and pampered for four hours with massages, hair styling, make-up, manicures, and pedicures. They were also treated to a meal at the church and door prizes, and sent home with gift baskets full of items these ladies could use.
It’s funny–we were told by the director that the ladies didn’t want to come to the church because of perception issues on both sides. But by the end of our time together you saw how powerfully the love of God breaks down barriers and builds the bonds of relationships. These women, who didn’t want to be touched or to touch, were crying, hugging, laughing, not wanting to leave. In fact, this coming Sunday we expect a number of them to come worship with us.
I am so proud of the team here at Richfield Road Church and their willingness to reach out and minister to these women who have such needs in their lives. What a way to minister in our community during the greatest time of outreach that the world has ever known. It made the days of Christmas a little brighter and a little lighter, and many here were touched in ways like never before. We thank God for allowing us to play a part in HIs plans for our community.

06 Jan

January 6, 2009 |

Eric Self sent this report from Mt. Zion UB church in Junction City, Ohio. Eric is the senior pastor.
We kicked off the season by participating in Franklin Graham’s Christmas Shoebox ministry. This was the third year we gathered boxes for this ministry. We gave 30 boxes this past Christmas, which was an average of almost one box per person in attendance.

Next, we adopted two families within our church. One is a single father with his two children, mother, and neice. This was accomplished with our own angel tree with ornaments describing a needed/wanted gift. People took ornaments from the tree and bought presents for this family; one couple even did shopping for some of the rest of us! Then we helped the other family with Christmas dinner and some presents.

We also participated in our local community’s food pantry Christmas basket program with ten bags of sugar and 40 boxes of spaghetti. In addition, we gave another family in the community a gift certificate so they could buy Christmas presents for their children.

Our congregation loves to bring Christmas cheer to those in need! At the same time, we have fun and fellowship with each other, including our annual Christmas dinner. The season was concluded with annual caroling and delivery of cookies and fruit to several senior members of our congregation.