Thursday, April 7, 2016

Community Prayer Walk

This event was NEW to our community. We met on May 1, 2016 at Hillside UMC at 4pm. There were twenty people from the 3 churches present. The weather kept us from walking the areas, so we split up into 8 different vehicles and drove through the Hanover, Horton and Lake areas of our community. A list of prayers were attached to the map, so we could all be praying the same requests over our community.

It took about an hour, and then we returned to Hillside for a pizza meal together. Everyone had an amazing time of fellowship while accomplishing something very important to us....prayer coverage for our community.


The decision was made to have this event happen 2 times a year...the first Sunday of both May and  November.



 
all 3 churches had the event on the outdoor sign....we are believing that loving, serving and praying for our community is what God desires for His church to do.

Vacation Bible School - 2016

This NEW idea of having all 3 churches do 1 BIG Vacation Bible School has been in the works since December 2015. We have had a couple of meetings with the 3 pastors and the respective VBS director from each church. We are now ready to get all the TEAMS together (Craft, Storytelling, Science, and Games) and brainstorm ideas.

The Heritage Park in downtown Hanover has graciously agreed to host this event. We are hoping that this location will be easier for the children to get to, as the 3 churches are on the outskirts of town.

Our first meeting with the ENTIRE staff on April 12, 2016 went wonderfully. Over 25 people were present from all 3 churches. The specific tasks were assigned and we are moving forward to our next meeting on June 6, 2016.

Good Friday Service

This community event has been consistently happening for over 10 years. Actually, this was the only time that all of the churches from many denominations came together in our area. On March 25, 2016 we held the Community Good Friday service at Concord UMC. There were 8 churches represented within the program, and maybe more within the congregation. It was well attended, and HHCC, Hillside UMC, and Horton Congregational all took a part in the service.

New Years Day Service

This was a brand NEW event to our community. New Years day this year fell on a Friday, and we could think of no better way to start off 2016 than being in church together. All 3 churches participated in the actual service held at HHCC. It was well attended and in total, 8 churches were actually represented. Hillside UMC read the scripture, Horton Congregational did the intercessory prayer, and HHCC did the message entitled "UNITY in our community"!

Here is the link .... http://hcc.instachurch.com/mod/media/library/?cat_id=1&item_id=#/

CHRISTmas Eve Services

We did not do a combined service for Christmas eve, but this year we made sure that we offered 3 different unique times to the folks of our community.

Horton Congregational  6:30pm
Hillside UMC                 7:00pm
HHCC                           11:00pm

The members of our congregations were encouraged to attend whichever service fit into their Christmas plans.

For HHCC, it was the first time a 11:00pm service had ever been done, and there was a great turnout!

Pantry Walk

The Hanover-Horton area food pantry is located at Hillside UMC. All 3 churches support this pantry with finances and by helping stock, and serve. On October 4, 2015, all 3 churches got together to do a PANTRY WALK. This consisted of "walkers" getting sponsors to support them for walking. At the completion of the walk HHCC served lunch, there was a great deal of fun and fellowship. Collectively, we raised over $1,800 to help meet the needs of the pantry!

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Vacation Bible School - 2015

In the summer of 2015 all 3 churches held a VBS. Hillside in June, Horton Congregational in July and HHCC in August. At the end of the summer during one of our monthly Pastor meetings, Hillside UMC suggested we do a combined VBS for 2016. That was agreed upon by all 3 churches and the first meeting was held on December 22, 2015 to start that ball rolling.

Flu Shots

On Sunday October 18, 2015 Horton Congregational opened their doors to the other churches and the community with a registered nurse available to administer Flu Shots.

Trunks of Treats

On October 31, 2015, a rainy evening, HHCC and Horton Congregational joined together to give the HH community an alternative to the traditional Halloween. The doors opened at 5:30pm, we had tables set up that provided the children with candy. At the end of the hallway, we served each family a meal. We served over 100 meals that evening with much fun and fellowship!

Weekend Backpack Program

The three churches and Compassionate Ministries of Jackson County approached Hanover-Horton Schools about the need for a backpack of food to go home with their students each Friday during the 2015-2016 school year. The initial meeting held on June 24, 2015 revealed that there was a need, and the decision was made to go forward.

Compassionate Ministries of Jackson County is an organization that is making the effort to end poverty in the Jackson county area. One of the many ministries they provide is the backpack program. CMJC would be providing us all the food to fill the backpacks at NO COST.

On September 22, 2015, all 3 of the churches met at HHCC where the food would be stored and sorted. During this meeting, we discussed the schedule, which church would take what week, and a quick run down of how it would work.

On October 22, 2015, all 3 churches and a representative from CMJC were present for the FIRST FILLING of backpacks. The school had sent letters home to families that might want to participate, and the number that we were to fill weekly was 60.

Several pallets of food, organized by week


All 3 churches filling the first week of backpacks
 
all finished and ready to be transported to the school
 

Every Thursday from October 22, 2015 until May 26, 2016, one of the 3 churches has come into HHCC, set up the tables, laid out the food, filled the back packs, and carried the tubs to the back door to be loaded and taken to the school for delivery on Friday morning.

Each week, someone from one of the churches will stop by the school, pick up the tubs and the empty backpacks, and we start all over again.

There are many moving parts to this ministry, and from day one it has worked like a well oiled machine! Praise the LORD!

All 3 churches and Compassionate Ministries of Jackson County received an appreciation certificate
 from  H-H Schools for the backpack program

Community Bible Study

Horton Congregational and Hillside UMC approached HHCC at the end of spring 2015 to have a bible study that not only included all three churches, but was opened to the community as well. The first one started on July 7, 2015 using the book by Jefferson Bethke "God > Religion" and was attended by 6 different churches and over 30 people.

With all the excitement from the original bible study, several more classes took place in the fall, and winter of 2015. The last one ending in March 2016.

New ideas are in the works for this summers bible study, and we continue to look forward to growing in community with one another while we study the word of God together.

Lunch in the Park

We were made aware of a concern about the children of Hanover needing lunch during the summer. HHCC served the first meal on Wednesday June 10, 2015. We served 25 children. The following week we served over 50 children. We then approached Hillside UMC and Horton Congregational and they immediately agreed to take a day of the week as well. We also had a ladies Bible study group from the lake area join in and take a day. The lunch program for Hanover-Horton Schools was approached, and for the remainder of the summer of 2015, over 2,500 meals were served to the children of Hanover.

In addition to the lunch, we either did a craft with the kids or played games, always finishing with a homemade dessert.

There were many blessings from this ministry:
* the park was filled with families, every single day of the week
* children could play with their friends all summer long
* the atmosphere of Hanover became lighter, filled with joy and laughter
* and a local business - LOMAR answered the plea and donated some much needed picnic tables, so all the children had a place to sit together under the pavilion area 

Monthly Pastor Meetings

April 13, 2015 was the first time we met. At these meetings, the three pastors (one from each church) typically have a meal, share our prayer requests, plan and brainstorm about upcoming activities and close with prayer.

For the last year, we have been consistent on meeting monthly. This helps to not only build our relationships with one another, but stay on top of what is happening in our community of Hanover-Horton.

The meeting place changes each month, moving from church to church. This allows us to "step foot" in each others churches and become familiar with the different ways we "do church".