Christmas Connections and Community at Bethania

Christmas – they say it’s the most wonderful time of the year, and Bethania Lutheran Church are sharing that wonder and joy this year with their new community program.

“Bethania has been granted a mission resource grant courtesy of LLL to go towards an outreach of our choice, and leading up to Christmas we have decided that it would be best to take advantage of the Christmas season,” says Tiffany Kneen, member of Bethania congregation.

“Our Sunday morning services are family friendly, but we haven’t previously done well at reaching our neighbours, so wanted to take this opportunity to do that.”

In order to better welcome young families they are using the grant to put on a series of “Christmassy fun afternoons” with family friendly activities. The program will take off in December, and 4200 local families have been invited with a letterbox drop taking place earlier this month, with 42 volunteers from the church helping pack, fold, and write “Merry Christmas” on each envelope.

This was a highlight for Tiffany, seeing their community come together “to action Jesus’ love and service to those who are coming.”

Bethania have been working on renewing their website and social media presence also, knowing that this is often someone’s first impression of their community.  This program is one step into making sure they are walking their talk.

“Christmas and Easter are the key times that people would be coming to church, so we need to take advantage of the times they do come and connect with visitors.  They can come hear the message and leave, but if they don’t form a relationship then it’s very highly unlikely they’ll come back,” says Tiffany.  “We don’t just want to look like we are doing it good on the screen, we want to do it.”

Head to the LCAQD website for more information on grants and how you can apply.