This was our first ‘Shine Your Light’ event and it attracted 70+ people from the South Aston Estate- mostly Muslims. We delivered 200+ leaflets to the homes surrounding our building, to users of our building and to passers-by. We decorated our building both outside and inside with lots of lights and even an inflatable Santa! At 6.00 p.m., gathered under a couple of gazebos, we started to sing carols, linked by Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus Christ, in a modern translation.
As it was cold and wet outside, we soon moved inside the building where we had a scratch nativity. This was followed by a very popular Father Christmas with an elf; a Christmas-based craft table, hot & cold drinks and mince pies. Every child (plus a few adults) was given a gift bag containing a few chocolates, a few small toys, and a copy of the Hope Christmas magazine, a Children’s Christmas tract and a leaflet with information about our church. We offered copies of Matthew’s Gospel, most of which were taken.
This was part of our Leading Your Church into Growth programme, which has inspired us to explore the possibility of setting up a Christian Prayer Ministry room, thus extending our ministry through the Intercessory Prayers during our Sunday services and every Tuesday morning via Zoom.