Celebrating Christmas with your Neighbourhood. brought to you by: Youth, Children, & Family Ministry - Auckland Presbytery

Transcription

1 Celebrating Christmas with your Neighbourhood brought to you by: Youth, Children, & Family Ministry - Auckland Presbytery

2 Celebrating Christmas with your Neighbourhood At a recent Mission with children conference Rev Sulangi of Papua New Guinea suggested ministry with children involves becoming more like children to discover the heart of God. Jesus urges us to become like little children to enter the kingdom of God and what better time to do that than at Christmas? The excitement and joy of the season is infectious and lingering childhood memories help us to share our faith story in many creative ways. The good news of Jesus' birth and life is for everyone, so I encourage you to pull out all stops this festive season to share it with your community. My role blesses me with many wonderful stories of how our churches minister to their communities of children and families. Recognising the motivational power of stories, Kids Friendly has joined forces with Presbyterian Support Northern to bring you a collection of ideas from our churches for celebrating Christmas with your community. May these ideas and stories inspire your plans for sharing Christmas with your neighbourhood and beyond so that every child of God, young or old, remembers the real reason for the season this year! Wishing you a blessed and happy Christmas! Jill Kayser Kids Friendly Coach PCANZ At 85, life holds few pleasures for Mr Howard who is bedridden with chronic arthritis. He lives alone and has very few family connections. However, he does have good neighbours who know how to touch his heart. Last Christmas morning, two neighbouring families positioned themselves outside Mr Howard's window and sang carols to him. Afterwards the young children presented the Christmas cards they had made for him along with some festively wrapped home baking and some happy, lasting memories. God is known in our neighbourhoods when we step out in love and service. When we connect with our neighbours we practice the Be-Attitudes to bring about change in our communities. As churches explore ways to love their neighbours, their common sense of purpose and desire to do God's will results in new and deeper friendships not just with the recipients of their mission, but with each other. I encourage you to seek ways to share the good news of Christ's love with your neighbourhood this Christmas. Presbyterian Support loves to work with churches to serve communities, so get in touch with us if you have an idea or are looking for opportunities. Blessings. Anne Overton Community Mission Liasion Presbyterian Support Northern This creative and practical Christmas resource is full of great ideas to inspire you to connect with your community and share the good news of Jesus with your neighbourhood. Enjoy it and pass it forward. Celebrating Christmas with your Neighbourhood can be also be downloaded from: & Serving your Neighbourhood p2 Inviting your Neighbours p5 Partnering with your Community p3 Worshipping with your Community p6 Working with other Organisations p4 Reminding your Community p7

3 Serving your Neighbourhood Our faith commands us to love our neighbour and Christmas provides many opportunities for us to do this. Here are some inspiring love your neighbour ideas from our churches: Visit your local rest home to share some Christmas cheer. Be sure to take your children and bring pets along if allowed. Organise a community food drive to fill your local foodbank with loads of delectable and essential goodies. Create festive hampers and gift trees for those in need. Deliver baking, ham, or Christmas cakes to those under strain or lonely. Provide a Christmas dinner to those who don t have family nearby. CAKES OF KINDNESS Three days before Christmas, Maria lost custody of her children. A sad and lonely Christmas loomed ahead. Prior to this, women at Somervell Presbyterian Church in Remuera had decided to make Christmas cakes for Presbyterian Support Northern's Food Bank. One of these 25 cakes was delivered to Maria by one of the Family Works counsellors. This small but significant act of kindness helped Maria to know that she was loved and that someone cared about her. For the church members, the cake making was a great success. Everyone enjoyed working together to create something that would bring a little of Christ's love into others lives at Christmas. CHRISTMAS CHEER Each December St Margaret s children, leaders, parents and Mac, the Great Dane, visit the Heretaunga Retirement Village in Silverstream, Upper Hutt. The children share songs, poems, and play their musical instruments and bring some greatly appreciated Christmas cheer to the residents. The children make cards and present a little gift to each elderly person. It has become an annual event that all look forward to. CHRISTMAS AT DINGWALL Staff at Dingwall Trust, a Child and Family Support Service, try to ensure that Christmas is a happy time for the many children they care for. Community support and contributions of money, presents and food help create a spirit of joy at a time that can be emotional and stressful for their young people. Other ways churches can help Dingwall is by organising a Christmas party for the children, sharing the Christmas story through a pageant or inviting children for a day's outing or a holiday. 2

4 Partnering with your Community Celebrating Christmas is enthusiastically embraced by our secular society. Christmas parades, carols by candlelight and concerts attract large numbers, so why not partner with what is already happening? Offer to help organise the event. Provide volunteers. Loan equipment and costumes. Contribute talent from your congregation. 3 LIVE CHRISTMAS STORY St Heliers Presbyterian has a great relationship with its local business community. One year they worked together to plan pre- Christmas entertainment outside the library, two hours eer evening of the week prior to Christmas. The church rostered on their youth band, children s choir and their renowned men s choir, the Bay Singers, to join community entertainers. Each evening the church s children presented the Christmas story for 10 minutes. This was a great opportunity for us to share the Christmas spirit with our community and partner with the business association, says Rev Pauline Stewart. SANTA PARADE In past years St Andrew's Howick has joined in the festive spirit of their local community's Santa Parade. A Kids Friendly float reminds the community that Jesus is the reason for the season. And Miss Sassy the church's well known and loved puppet enthralls children along the way. Says Carol, float co-ordinator: A prayer of thanks to God for Christmas was towed behind the float and shared with all by the MC. We were so pleased to be able to add some spirituality to what has become a commercial season. CAROLS IN THE PARK By Rev Sharon Ensor For over 10 years Wadestown Presbyterian has partnered with the Anglican church and other organisations in a Christmas Carols in the Park event. It started modestly attracting people, but in recent years has become a focal event for the community with up to 400 packing the park across the road from us (very handy for bad weather). People come at 5.30 pm with a picnic or purchase food from us with proceeds going to our local foodbank. Carol singing happens from 6 to 7 pm. This event really took off five years ago when we invited the local school choir to sing. The 40 strong choir meant a huge increase in numbers with families coming along to join in the evening. We also introduced a masterful storyteller telling of the Christmas story. The children are invited to dress up and join the Christmas tableau which grows in numbers as the story of Jesus birth unfolds. Our band is made up of local and church musicians who greatly enjoy the opportunity to play together. We try to involve other community groups in guest spots during the evening. Wellington City council are very supportive of the event and provide a great sound system free of charge. The success of Carols in the Park inspired us to offer Pancakes in the Park on Shrove Tuesday.

5 Working with other Organisations There are many organisations doing wonderful work to make Christmas more meaningful and pleasurable for those in need or lonely. There s no reason to reinvent the wheel and working alongside others outside of our churches gives us additional opportunities to witness the love of Christ. Collect food, gifts, or money for organisations to use for their regular clients. Be a part of Good Samaritan s Operation Christmas Child campaign. Volunteer at your City s Mission Christmas meal or Angel Tree. Raise funds for a Christmas appeal like Presbyterian Support. ANGELS BEHIND ANGEL TREE Driving home from work one day Roger Mittens from Glendowie Presbyterian heard a plea for help that he immediately wanted to respond to. Radio Rhema was profiling Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree which desperately needed a new coordinator. Now, Roger voluntarily coordinates this project for the overall Auckland Region as well as his local East area. HELP WITH HAMPERS Collectively 30 churches donate Christmas presents for 1300 children of inmates from Auckland's 5 prisons. The For many families Christmas is not a joyous celebration gift requests, brought to the Prison Fellowship through but rather a stressful challenge to provide food and chaplains and agencies, need to be approved by the gifts for their families. Last year Papakura East family members caring for the recipient. Roger greatly Presbyterian Church had a vision of providing appreciates the support of Glendowie and Christmas hampers for the neediest families in their Kohimarama churches. There are many ways to local community. They had no idea how they would contribute as individuals or churches, including raise the money to make it happen, so started with coordinating requests and permission, raising funds, prayer and trusted God as they began to plan the donating or purchasing gifts, wrapping, labelling and contents of 17 hampers at a cost of $4500. delivering all in time for Christmas. Says Roger. Read more about how to get involved on A couple of days later their prayers were answered when Presbyterian Support rang to say they had been gifted $4500 in food vouchers from the local Pak 'n Save and wondered if the church could use them. With the food costs covered, the congregation decided to fund the purchase of toys and sports equipment to add to the hampers. Papakura East church members, Presbyterian Support staff, local police and the school helped pack and deliver the food parcels to desperate families in need of Christmas cheer. The team were humbled by the exercise and loved working together to fulfil the mission of a loving God! 4

6 Inviting your Neighbours For many New Zealanders going to church is a foreign and scary concept, so we need to find ways to invite our community and make church accessible to them. And what better time to do this than at Christmas? Does your church project the message We re celebrating a birthday and we d love you to come to our party! There are many ways our churches can share the story, spirit and message of Christmas. And don t forget to INVITE your neighbours. Research shows that when people are invited to church by someone they know, they are happy to give it a try. What about putting on: A Christmas show for the whole family. A community carol service. Drive-thru or walk-thru Christmas. Christmas Kids Club. 5 DRIVE THRU CHRISTMAS In 2004, Dan Mills from Massey Presbyterian was searching for a whole church outreach idea. The resulting Drive thru Christmas experience certainly involves all ages working together to offer the community a tactile Christmas experience. A few weeks prior to Christmas, the church property is transformed for 4 nights into a live Christmas story. Animals, costumed actors, amazing props and sets attract over 600 carloads of approximately 2800 people each year! Last year Dan and his committee used 138 helpers in a variety of roles and behind the scenes. The church gives each car a leaflet guiding them through the drive thru and also a magnet gift that displays the church's service times. There has been noticeable growth in attendance at the Christmas services at Massey since this outreach began and several families have joined Massey since first visiting the drive thru. Dan likes to invite past attendees on the organising committee as their experience brings a vital perspective to future presentations. CHRISTMAS CREATIVITY St Columba Botany is renowned for its creative community events and Christmas is no exception when the church offers a variety of service styles to suit everybody. A big hit is the Christmas Eve service where families are encouraged to bring along kids in their pyjamas. St Columba also presents a Christmas production extravaganza aimed at the Community. The Productions are a great all age showcase of the church's talent and creativity. Every couple of years, many come together behind the scenes as well as in the spotlight to bring the Nativity story to life. Past hits have included 365 Days of Christmas, Judea 1 News, and Dr. Seuss's popular title How the Grinch Stole Christmas. One year they even used the neighbouring ice skating rink to produce Christmas on Ice! Parishioners are encouraged to invite neighbours, and publicity is circulated in letterboxes, notice boards, school newsletters and the local paper to ensure that everyone is invited to share in the good news of Christmas!

7 Worshipping with your Community Don't you love Christmas worship? Candles, pine trees, favourite carols and adorable children sharing the greatest story ever told. There's no doubt that Christmas services have the greatest appeal, but churches wanting to share the good news with more people should resist the one size fits all approach. More and more churches are offering a range of services. Get to know your community and let your imagination run wild to meet their needs. A Hard to be merry for those grieving and alone. Christmas rocks for young people. PJ Christmas Eve celebrations for younger children and their families. Midnight carols by candlelight. ADVENT AT HIGHGATE By Judy Goroncy Despite our best intentions, our December time gets bombarded with 'essential' shopping trips and parties, and, however hard we try to dissuade our young children from excessively singing about Santa Claus with his 'big black boots', we are entrenched in a 'secular' world that seems to have a lot to say about Christmas. Despite having grown up in the church, very little emphasis was placed on the preparation for Christmas, both in the church and in our family life, and we almost stumbled into Christmas Day, remembered Jesus for the morning, and then rushed off to other things. Now as a Christian mother, I find myself thinking more deeply about how our family and children prepare for Christmas? 2009 saw a very different Advent period for our family. Having a 3½ year old learning and comprehending for the first time what Christmas is, the message I wanted to share with her was not one of Santa, but of Christ and His amazing birth, life and death. Was this a message that I could reserve for Christmas Day? Could this possibly match the time spent at kindergarten preparing for Santa to come? Highgate Presbyterian's Advent event was a heaven sent solution for our family. At the beginning of Advent we were invited to participate in an all age event that encouraged us to think about how we prepare to welcome Jesus. Together our family reflected on the story of Jesus' birth and what this means for us today. We also decorated a candle that accompanied us on our 'Journey through Advent. Each night at home, the candle was lit and a reading, reflection and prayer were shared. We coloured a picture relating to the day's story to place on our Advent chart. The discipline of having a set reading for each day was fantastic for us who had failed too often at trying to have nightly family devotions. However there was no way our daughter Sinead would let us miss one night last December. And the Advent candle sitting on the table reminded us that this time was a special time of preparation for a very special event. And when visiting friends, our daughter yelled out 'They have the same pictures as us!' as this was not just our family event, but our wider church family event. And then to add to the excitement, each Sunday in Advent, the church foyer was set up with a symbol, activity and reflection that related to the reading for the day. The children's Christmas pageant was so much more meaningful for our young daughter (and many others no doubt,) because she was so familiar with the story. Our interactive experience of Advent and Christmas meant that for months past Christmas, Sinead insisted on being called Mary, her dad Joseph and me the camel! We humoured her because we knew she was continuing to live and breathe the true meaning of Christmas. To order the resource Advent@Highgate contact jill@kidsfriendly.org.nz. Jane Davis, children's minister at Highgate has kindly made all her resources available so you too can celebrate Advent with your church's and communitys' families. 6

8 Reminding your Community Christmas is our biggest opportunity for sharing our faith with our community. Not one child in all of New Zealand will miss the fact that Santa Claus is coming to town, thanks to the powerful advertising and promotional reminders of the media and shopping malls. Imagine if every shopping centre had a nativity scene as its major Christmas attraction (now there's an idea.) We need to make sure that every person that passes and enters our churches GETS the real reason for the season! So don't be shy, this is our party and our excitement should be infectious. Decorate the outside of your church with massive Christmas bows, stars or lights. Set up a nativity scene or decorate a tree outside your church. Hang banners or decorate existing notice boards to alert passers by of your Christmas services and other events. Don t forget the inside, make sure you deck the halls! LIFE SIZE NATIVITY Each Christmas Balclutha Presbyterian ensures its community knows the real reason for the season. They erect a life size nativity scene outside their church with is situated on the main road through Balclutha. "It's become an icon for our town," says Rev Brian Walker, "children (and adults) can't resist stopping their cars to get close to the life size figures. It invites the telling of the story of Jesus' birth." SUPER SIZE THE MESSAGE Over 70, 000 enter the doors of St Heliers Presbyterian Church and Community Centre each year and hundreds of children participate in activities such as playgroups, music and movement, preschool, after school care and Kids Club each week. So sharing the real reason for the season is a priority and opportunity for them. Each year a handmade giant Advent Calendar is placed in the entrance for all the children to see and touch. Children get to open the doors and hear the story through the creative depictions they find. SHARING THE GOOD NEWS Paeroa community and thousands of visitors were in no doubt that their local Co-operating Church was celebrating the birth of Jesus the year they graffitied their church and framed it in Christmas lights. Says Rev Stan Stewart (minister at that time): We wanted to alert our community and those alighting buses opposite our church to participate in our Christmas festival, that the birth of Jesus is good news!