22 Dec Christmas at Our Church: Junction City, Ohio

Joe Leighton (right), pastor, Salem Chapel (Junction City, Ohio)

We have an outreach ministry to teens and children in our area. About 30-40 attend on a weekly basis. At Christmas we have a Sunday night program with fellowship for these kids’ parents, and this year we had a typical crowd of about 130 (our sanctuary holds about 93). We also join the other churches in our township to provide food baskets to about 100 families in our vicinity.

Tell us something special your church did during the Christmas season–events, programs, ministries, anything. You can use this form or send an email.

21 Dec Christmas at Our Church: Columbia City, Ind.

L-r: Fred Scroggs, Santa Jerry Ramsey, and Eagle Quest's pastor, Tim Scroggs.

Christine Scroggs, Eagle Quest Church, Columbia City, Ind.

Eagle Quest Church (Columbia City, Ind.) helped 396 people during the December 17-18 weekend. On Saturday, Dec. 17, members joined the Salvation Army of Whitley County in inviting over 250 families to join them in a meal to celebrate the Christmas season. This celebration was the climax of a very successful food drive called “Feed the Need,” which worked in conjunction with the Salvation Army’s well-known “Toys for Tots” program.

Feed the Need was started to help insure that families who needed help with their groceries would receive enough food to make a Christmas dinner, and hopefully dinners for a few extra days. This year’s program raised enough funds to receive a matching grant, generously donated by the Whitley County Community Foundation. The grant and monies given by the community enabled Eagle Quest to provide 250 food vouchers redeemable at Kroger’s for $25 each!

Here’s how the program worked. As each family received their toys at the giveaway, they also received their voucher and an invitation to the meal at the church. Once they arrived at Eagle Quest, they were greeted by Santa and fed a meal consisting of hot dogs, sloppy joes, baked beans, chips, cookies, and drink.

There was a table with free hats, mittens, scarves, and coats for anyone who wished. The guests were also eligible for a drawing that included gift certificates donated by many local businesses and individuals. As they left the dinner, each family also received a bag with groceries with a variety of foods which included meat, potatoes, and eggs. Community Action of Northeast Indiana was also available at the party to give information about the help they provide.

It was a complete blessing to be able to help so many, and the look of joy and appreciation on the faces of those involved was not lost on any of the workers. Eagle Quest Church was honored to be able to work with the Salvation Army and provide meals to so many people in Whitley County. We are already looking ahead and planning “Feed the Need” 2012!

What has your church done during the Christmas season–events, programs, ministries, anything? Tell us about it. You can use this form or send an email.

21 Dec Christmas at Our Church: Saginaw, Mich.

Ted Doolittle (right), pastor, Calvary Community Church (Saginaw, Mich.)

During our December 18 services (9:30 and 11:00), we had a drama called “The Innkeeper’s Dilemma.” It was a humorous account of the innkeeper’s inner struggle as he came to understand that the “baby in the barn in Bethlehem” was none other than God in the flesh.

This realization came through encounters with a patron (Perry Reeves), a shepherd (Jeff Klinert), and a wiseman (Adam Hickmott). I played the part of the innkeeper.

During the second service, a group of preteens and teens did a blacklight presentation of Chris Tomlin’s version of “Joy to the World,” directed by Linda Doolittle, Nichole Knoellinger, and Kaylin Reeves. It was a moving presentation. The youth used white gloves under blacklights to do sign language and construct images such as large hearts, moving water, and a cross. The total attendance was 186.

Tell us something special your church did during the Christmas season–events, programs, ministries, anything. You can use this form or send an email.

21 Dec Christmas at Our Church: Baltimore, Md.

John Christophel (right), pastor, Brooklyn Park UB Church (Baltimore, Md.)

The Brooklyn Park Church has been helping needy families in our community with Thanksgiving and Christmas food baskets for many years. Over the past 14 years we have also been gathering gifts of toys and clothing for children in need.

This year the need was great. We were able to provide food baskets to four families at Thanksgiving and six families this Christmas. What helped make this a success was that we joined with our local community association to establish a community food pantry in our church. We are getting great support from the community and local businesses.

Our greatest joy has always been in being able to bring Christmas cheer to the needy children. With the help of many, we were able to give 7-9 gifts of toys and clothing to 20 children from seven different families.

This year two of the families we helped were evicted right before the holidays. The seven children were scattered out to live with other family members and friends. Another family we helped only had a queen-size mattress on the floor and a small TV. A local funeral home bought the children new beds. We are collecting other furniture as well.

We praise God for how he brought many people together to make this a special Christmas. Some of the families attend our church, but a few are new contacts.

Tell us something special your church did during the Christmas season–events, programs, ministries, anything. You can use this form or send an email.

20 Dec Christmas at Our Church: Berea, Ohio

http://youtu.be/W-eUw-dqvYI

Andy Sikorra (right), pastor of Renew Communities (Berea, Ohio)

We are currently do two projects throughout the Christmas season.

First, we are working to plant a church in Haiti in partnership with Haiti Bible Mission. The overall need for funds is $17,000, but we set a goal for this Christmas of $6,000 from our people.

The other project is a local project called Renewing Christmas, where we’re working to collect 1000 new or gently used coats, 1000 hats, and 1000 pairs of gloves for our neighbors who need them most. Many local organizations are partnering with us in this project.

Recently, our Renewing Christmas project was featured in both the local paper and on Fox 8 Cleveland (the above Youtube clip). We wanted to share these things with you.

Tell us something special your church did during the Christmas season–events, programs, ministries, anything. You can use this form or send an email.

20 Dec Christmas at Our Church: Churchville, Va.

Annette Sites (right), Jerusalem Chapel, Churchville, Va.

Instead of exchanging gifts in the Middle School Sunday school class (and tempting ourselves with greed and bad attitudes), we chose to share a gift with the church family. During December, we studied God’s example of gifting and looked at our attitudes when giving and receiving gifts. To conclude our study, the students filled snack-sized baggies of “gorp” (peanuts, M&Ms, and raisin mixture) this week and stapled a message of Christmas greeting onto the bag. The students were then given the freedom to go out into the church parking lot, where they placed the goodie bags on car windshields.

Even in our giving, one problem occurred–we ran out of goodie bags before we ran out of cars! (Woops!) So, to remedy this situation we first took the goodie bags off of the pastors’ cars (since they are always showing us an example of servanthood). When that still wasn’t enough, the teens agreed to take the goodie bags off of their own family’s cars. A true sacrifice that wasn’t in the originial teaching plan.

When the class came back together to look at the story of the Three Wise Men, I took it a step further and talked about God’s gift–and sacrifice–in sending his son into the world to save us.

The students had fun, and there was not even a hint of a bad attitude. What a great Christmas gift for me and my assistant–watching the class learn and work together for God’s glory!

Tell us something special your church did during the Christmas season–events, programs, ministries, anything. You can use this form or send an email.

19 Dec Anchor Holds Christmas Party at Homeless Shelter

Residents of Charis House with Santa.

The Christmas party was held in the dining hall at Charis House.

Anchor Community Church usually holds an all-church Christmas party at the church, complete with lots of food and a visit from Santa.

This year, Anchor held this event at Charis House, a 78-bed facility for homeless mothers and their children. Residents of Charis House joined people from Anchor on Friday, December 16, for two hours of food, music, fellowship, and pictures with Santa. Anchor brought along a lot of supplies and materials which Charis House needs.

Tim Bauman, lead guitarist/singer for the Anchor worship team, played the role of Santa, as he does each year. Throughout the evening, parents and children got their pictures taken with Santa. Meanwhile, two guitarists from the worship team sang Christmas songs for the gathering.

A lot of photos from the event have been posted on Anchor’s Facebook page.

Tell us about the special events and activities your church is doing over the Christmas season. Use this form or send an email to news@ub.org.