Christmas Eve fills services, results in impressive giving
When you went to the Christmas Eve service at your church this year, you probably had to get there early if you wanted your usual seat. Churches across the Conference have reported some amazing attendance numbers, and in many cases some extravagant generosity went along with those large crowds. The following stories are just a small sample of some of the many remarkable worship experiences that happened around the state.
Faithbridge UMC
Faithbridge UMC at Lake Ozark ran out of chairs on Christmas Eve, and even brought the pastor’s desk chair into the sanctuary.
The church had 225 in worship, a new record that is up 50 from the previous year. They focus on having a guest-friendly service that is fun for the whole family. They begin with secular Christmas songs and move on to sacred, incorporating familiar imagery throughout the service. A video of Linus (from Peanuts) reading the Christmas story is shown, and John Denver and the muppets also told the Christmas story via video.
Faithbridge focuses on inviting people who don’t have a church home. They end up fielding questions like, “Do we have to bring our own candles to the service?” Rev. Buck Cueni-Smith said things like that sound funny, but show how uncomfortable guests may feel about attending a church for the first time.
The Lake of the Ozarks doesn’t have crowds around Christmas as it does in the summer, so the church tries to reach out to yearround residents. They struggle with a culture that may be naturally inclined to view a church gathering as entertainment rather than worship. One person attending worship said he put the price of a ticket to a Branson show in the collection plate, because the church service was better than a show at Branson.
“But people are coming, and the gospel is being told,” Cueni- Smith said. “We invite all to come back in January with a sermon series that is relevant or different. And people do. We are having our best January ever.”
Faithbridge raised over $5000 at Christmas Eve and that is matched in their community to supply a FeedtheChildren.org truck that feeds 400 families in March. The Christmas Eve service was posted online and view by 125 people, including military personnel in other countries.
The Gathering
The Christmas Eve offering at The Gathering in St. Louis totaled over $110,000.
“ That is nearly 50 percent higher than last year and is an amazing testament to the generosity of our church and our potential to impact others through missions,” said Rev. Matt Miofsky. Just as last year, the offering will be divided between projects at Kingdom House and safe water projects in Mozambique. Because of some designated giving, about $65,000 will go to fund wells next year in Mozambique and nearly $45,000 will support the Family Center at Kingdom House.
The Connection
The Connection put on an original play called, “Mama Kiki’s Mizz-Nutz Christmas Celebration!” It ran seven nights, and about 900 people were through the building over the course of the production. It was a collaborative effort. New Covenant UMC worked hand in hand with The Connection, La Conexion helped a lot with staging and decorating, and a lead cook for one of the meals came from St. Luke's UMC.
“The band, choir, and food were exceptional and the cast pulled off a great script,” said Rev. Tish Green. “ I think we are still recuperating from the effort but our follow up is proving to be an impact on people’s lives and is helping to reconnect others to God and the church.”
Manchester UMC
Manchester UMC had a total of 4,179 worshippers for their Christmas Eve services. That number includes 107 who attended the new Christmas "eveeve" communion service on the evening of the December 23. On Christmas Eve itself, the church had a Communion service at 1 p.m., a family-oriented service with a children’s drama at 3 p.m., a contemporary service featuring the One Voice praise team, traditional services at 7 and 9 p.m. featuring the Chancel Choir, and a 11 p.m. traditional service featuring the youth and alumni choir.
“Manchester members do a wonderful job of providing food throughout the day and evening for the worship participants,” said Rev. Greg Weeks. “We all sleep well at the end of the day.”
Morning Star UMC
Morning Star UMC in O’Fallon wasn’t too far behind Manchester, with a weekend attendance of 3,894. To view a video of their “Star is Born” service, go to http:// www.mscwired.org/astarisborn
First UMC of Poplar Bluff
First UMC of Poplar bluff held a community dinner on Wednesday, Dec. 14, in which 200 volunteers helped serve more than 800 meals.
“Persons who worked the meal felt really good because it was larger than past years and we reached the people who really seemed to need it,” said Rev. David Stewart. “They were able to be the hands and feet of Christ to our community.”
On Sunday afternoon December 18, the First UMC choir rented the historic Rodgers theatre for a production entitled, “Christmas at the Rodgers.” The program was free to the public and the 1,000 seat theater was nearly filled. Those attending were invited to Christmas Eve services and handled postcards with a candle on the way out.
For Christmas Eve, the church made some changes. Last year the Bridge band tried to do a service between the 7 and 11 services at 8:30 and it was poorly attended. This year we moved the service to 4 p.m. and doubled the size from 70 to 140. It attracted young families with small children and older adults wanting to get home before it got dark.
The events at the church didn’t go unnoticed. Because of the community dinner and Christmas at the Rodgers we had the entire front page of the Poplar Bluff paper on the Sunday before the two events.
“Over Christmas and at the start of the new year, we have had our first real flow of new visitors in over two years at First,” Stewart said.
La Croix UMC
On Christmas Eve La Croix UMC in Cape Girardeau had four services with a total attendance of 2,958. The big emphasis was again on the Christmas Eve offering, designated for hunger-related causes. Earlier in the month the church packed over 632,000 meals for the “Feed My Starving Children” organization. All the meals are being shipped to Haiti and will feed 1,732 children every day for a year. The cost for those meals was $144,000. On top of that, the goal was to provide food for a feeding program in Zambia (through the Advance) that feeds 90 orphans and vulnerable children five days a week, shipping additional “Feed My Starving Children” meals to Swaziland, Africa, and partnering with two other UM churches to dig a fresh water well in Mutarara, Mozambique.
“We needed to raise $175,000 to do all this,” said Rev. Ron Watts. “Our actual offering was $202,410. So, we are able to do all this and more thanks to the generosity of God’s people!”
First UMC Kennett
First UMC Kennett hosted a community Christmas party on December 10. The goal is to provide the opportunity for parents to choose a gift for each of their children while the kids are choosing a gift for each of their parents. Hosts escort the families one by one, helping them find just the right gift.
“This requires all the rooms and space and people First UMC and other churches and groups can muster,” said Rev. Gary Carter. This year 2,000 adults and children participated.
That night YUiC, a youth group at First UMC that includes youth from First Presbyterian and First Christian, conducted a dinner theater and silent auction, raising $5,000.
Sedgewickville UMC
Sedgewickville UMC held a community Christmas Appreciation Dinner. There was no charge and no allowance for a love gift. The church sent invitations to every household in the Sedgewickville zip code and fed about 150 people.
“We have received many kind expressions of gratitude and believe we have planted some seeds for future events,” said Rev. Greg Dowler. The focus was on the church being there to help the community. “This will go along with a major event planned for each quarter of 2012 where we make an effort to do things for community involvement. We are doing our best to become “Outwardly focused” and “Rethink Church”.
First UMC Sikeston
First UMC Sikeston went outside its walls and welcomed more than 850 people to the Miner Convention Center at 4 p.m. to worship, help others and receive needed gifts and food. Worship was a joint endeavor by First UMC and St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church, an African- American Church in Sikeston. Gifts were provided for about 620 children. New Testaments and ornaments were also presented to all children. More than 400 food baskets were distributed to those in need.
"For years many of us have dreamed about a multi-racial, outside-the-church walls event in our area that both proclaims Jesus and demonstrates Jesus,” Pastor Geoff Posegate said. “This Christmas Eve God exceeded our wildest dreams!"
More than 150 volunteers gave up their Christmas Eve to serve others that night. “We did it to provide hope to families who may not have been able to have a normal Christmas otherwise,” said Worship Coordinator Brad Aycock about the event. “We feel like it is a season of giving because God gave his son Jesus Christ and we wanted to do our part.”
Michelle Worth, one of the volunteers, said to her it was a very moving experience. “I think my whole family left feeling very rewarded.” Recipients were not only from Sikeston, but from many surrounding communities, including Benton, Oran, New Madrid, Bloomfield, Dexter, Lilbourn and more.
With The Miner Convention Center service, the candlelight service and the come and go communion earlier in the afternoon, more than 1,090 people worshipped on Christmas Eve through First United Methodist Church. This is more than twice as many worshipping on Christmas Eve before the church began having a service at the Miner Convention Center in 2010.
Missouri UMC
Missouri UMC had 2,481 in worship on Christmas Eve. This year they tried a new Travelers’ Service a few days before Christmas.
“It seemed to fill a need for many,” said Rev. Molly Moore, associate pastor. “Some of our long time church members expressed that in all their years of being at MUMC, they never got to experience a Christmas Eve service here because of their own travel schedules. The Travelers Service allowed them that opportunity, since the service was the same as what we were offering on Christmas Eve – including the congregational candle-lighting to Silent Night.”
Resurrection Downtown
Resurrection Downtown, a campus of Church of the Resurrection, had 600 in attendance for Christmas Eve. On New Year morning the church had 11 baptisms.