Chippewa United Methodist Church opens its doors to the community during Advent.

Churches extend hospitality
to community during Advent

            Chippewa United Methodist Church  in Beaver Falls, Pa., is reaching out to the community with special events during the Christmas season.

            On Dec. 17, the church will offer “Get Wrapped in the Christmas Spirit.” From noon to 9 p.m., church members will provide stress relief for weary shoppers, with free gift wrapping, light refreshments and a children’s area. 

            “We are trying to get people into the real meaning of Christmas,” said Joyce McConkey Davison, director of adult and family ministry. “We’re not asking for anything in return. It’s our gift to the community.”

            As church members are wrapping gifts, they will offer Bibles to those who need them. “A lot of people don’t have a Bible,” she said.

A handbell choir entertains at an open house in 2004 at Chippewa United Methodist Church.

            In December, 2004, the church held an open house, attracting more than 100 people. To promote the open house, the church mailed or delivered invitations, sent letters to new residents, placed ads in local newspapers and gave local businesses signs and postcards.

            “Those who were here to witness this outreach realized it was a memorable day,” Davison said. Outside the church, carolers invited visitors to drink spiced cider and hot chocolate near a blazing bonfire.

            Inside, Victorian carolers strolled through the narthex, the choir sang and the bell choir performed. Guests munched on appetizers and cookies prepared by the youth group. Parents and children decorated candy-cane cookies and worked on crafts. Pastors made several presentations about the meaning of Christmas and described the church’s ministries.

            “We invited everyone to add names to our Advent prayer list and then displayed it in our narthex so everyone could pray for the people listed,” Davison said. Family portraits were taken as a remembrance of the day.

            At least 14 families came to the church for the first time, took tours and said they would be back, Davison said. “We reached out and touched people and in return they touched us with so much more than we gave.”

 Children’s rest stop says, 'Welcome!'

            Weston (Mo.) United Methodist Church shows hospitality to families by offering a children’s rest stop during community festivities.

            Parents and their small children are invited to take a break in the downtown church’s nursery during Applefest in October and the Christmas Homes Tour in December.  The nursery has a changing table, books, toys and a rocking chair.

            The idea for the rest stop took shape on a cold day in 2001 when church members noticed a young mother trying to change and feed her baby on a bench by the front door of the church. “We invited her into the church where it was warm and quiet,” said Betty Dover, who helped start the ministry. 

            The next year, Dover and others made posters saying “Children’s Rest Stop” and displayed them outside during Applefest, which attracts thousands of visitors from across the country.

“It was a joy to see the faces of the moms and dads as they read the posters,” Dover said. “The only supplies we needed were some fresh towels and plenty of trash bags.”

             This year about 40 to 50 babies and their parents received the services of the rest stop during Applefest.  “We will always remember those cute little faces of God’s little ones,” Dover said. “It gave our church the opportunity to share our ‘Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors’.”

            For more information, e-mail Weston United Methodist Church at WUMC@kc.rr.com or call (816)640-2900.