On a rainy Sunday morning, St Barnabas in Stoke transformed into a community Christmas party. A small dedicated group organised a party during our usual Sunday service time with Christ as the centrepiece. Over 200 people attended, with a vibrant mix of congregation members and their friends, our community pre-school music families, local school families and guests from the local community, all gathered to celebrate the Christmas season.
The plan was to have the front lawn full of the festive activities, but the rain meant we had to move to the hall – which worked really well. Our team created an atmosphere of warmth and joy.
The church was decorated with Christmas trees, fairy lights and candles, with nativity sets on display. We invited people to participate in the joy of Christmas with the “Giving and Receiving Tree” (food donations were received for Habitat and The Christmas Story from The Bible Society was wrapped as a gift), a gratitude garland where guests wrote something they were grateful for on a star and added it to a garland, and a selection of short Christmas movies to enjoy with popcorn.
People also enjoyed games, face painting, scavenger hunt, bouncy castle, biscuit decorating, a nativity photobooth and Christmas crafts to make and take home. A rolling morning tea with home baking and a sausage sizzle kept everyone happy.
The event was a testament to the power of community working together, lots of people doing their part to make the whole work. Families, friends, and neighbours mingled, sharing laughter and creating memories. A local family was called down by their friends who were already there “to come and join the free fun” and another family met the St Barnabas kids team with the intention of coming back to experience a faith community. The inviting ambiance allowed everyone to experience the real meaning of Christmas.
This Christmas party was a beautiful way to extend an open invitation to the wider community, introducing them to the love and joy found within the church community. Through it we achieved our goal of spreading love, sharing the Christmas message and building connections.
It proved that sometimes a break from tradition can lead to extraordinary moments of celebration and community building.
There has already been a call out to do it all again next year…
Check out other articles in the
series below.
More articles in the
series are to come.
We have invited these writers to share their experiences, ideas and opinions in the hope that these will provoke thought, challenge you to go deeper and inspire you to put your faith into action. These articles should not be taken as the official view of the Nelson Diocese on any particular matter.
On a rainy Sunday morning, St Barnabas in Stoke transformed into a community Christmas party. A small dedicated group organised a party during our usual Sunday service time with Christ as the centrepiece. Over 200 people attended, with a vibrant mix of congregation members and their friends, our community pre-school music families, local school families and guests from the local community, all gathered to celebrate the Christmas season.
The plan was to have the front lawn full of the festive activities, but the rain meant we had to move to the hall – which worked really well. Our team created an atmosphere of warmth and joy.
The church was decorated with Christmas trees, fairy lights and candles, with nativity sets on display. We invited people to participate in the joy of Christmas with the “Giving and Receiving Tree” (food donations were received for Habitat and The Christmas Story from The Bible Society was wrapped as a gift), a gratitude garland where guests wrote something they were grateful for on a star and added it to a garland, and a selection of short Christmas movies to enjoy with popcorn.
People also enjoyed games, face painting, scavenger hunt, bouncy castle, biscuit decorating, a nativity photobooth and Christmas crafts to make and take home. A rolling morning tea with home baking and a sausage sizzle kept everyone happy.
The event was a testament to the power of community working together, lots of people doing their part to make the whole work. Families, friends, and neighbours mingled, sharing laughter and creating memories. A local family was called down by their friends who were already there “to come and join the free fun” and another family met the St Barnabas kids team with the intention of coming back to experience a faith community. The inviting ambiance allowed everyone to experience the real meaning of Christmas.
This Christmas party was a beautiful way to extend an open invitation to the wider community, introducing them to the love and joy found within the church community. Through it we achieved our goal of spreading love, sharing the Christmas message and building connections.
It proved that sometimes a break from tradition can lead to extraordinary moments of celebration and community building.
There has already been a call out to do it all again next year…
Check out other articles in the
series below.
More articles in the
series are to come.
