On Dec. 13, nearly 200 children bustled about the Helena-West Helena Community Center making Christmas ornaments and cards, singing carols, receiving gifts and hearing about the reason for it all – Jesus Christ.
It was the fourth year the Delta Christmas event has gathered some of the neediest families in Phillips County, Ark., to celebrate the holidays. The county is one of 20 in the United States where the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship works to reduce rural poverty through its Together for Hope (TFH) initiative.
TFH ministries are designed to engage local residents in transforming their own communities, and this year’s Delta Christmas was no different. CBF field personnel Ben and Leonora Newell serve in the county and have always dreamed of having too many local residents volunteer for a community event. The event was the closest yet to that dream with more than 150 local residents coming to serve.
"The community is embracing this as their Christmas celebration," Ben said.
Across the United States, TFH ministries brought an extra spirit of Christmas to communities that have struggled economically for years.
In Louisiana, where TFH helps support a year-round ministry in prisons located in Tensas Parish, churches and individuals have donated gifts to children who have a parent in prison. After baptizing several men at one prison, Bill Hoffman, who leads the ministry, helped "share Bibles and a word of Christmas hope" with about 400 inmates.
As a Christmas gift, CBF of Mississippi purchased a digital hymnal for Harvest Fellowship, a CBF partner church located in a TFH focal county. With a shortage of church musicians in that area, "this digital hymnal will enhance the worship experience as they reach out to their community," said CBF of Mississippi coordinator Steve Street.
In South Dakota, churches and individuals donated coats and other items needed during cold winters in the TFH High Plains region. Church members have delivered the items to three reservations in the last two months.
Several Fellowship partner churches have made this holiday season special in eastern Kentucky’s Powell and Owsley counties. Some bought gifts for families and filled 350 shoeboxes with small gifts for middle and high school students. Hominy Baptist Church in Candler, N.C., recently hosted 13 women from the Nada community for a weekend that included a trip to the Biltmore House.
"It was more than a fun trip," said Paula Settle, one of CBF field personnel. "The women [from Nada] had hospitality shown to them. They experienced eating at a place other than a fast food restaurant. They met new people and made new friends. It has been a bonding experience for them."
Most of the women had never been to North Carolina, said Settle, whose ministry goals include exposing community residents to life outside their communities. With funding from a church, this Christmas local children and youth will go to a nice restaurant to teach them how to read a menu, a movie and then to the Kentucky Horse Park to see Christmas lights, Settle said.
At Sowing Seeds of Hope, a TFH partner ministry in Perry County, Ala., two Birmingham churches – Mountain Brook Baptist and Lake Highland Baptist – sponsored the third annual Christmas at the Depot event for more than 300 children. The ministry also distributed food and helped several families with unique needs this holiday season.
In the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, TFH ministry partner Buckner Border Ministries has collected shoes and Christmas stockings for children. These items have been given to local churches for distribution in communities.
"The pastors are excited because they’re able to give a gift to the children," said Cheyenne Solis, a missions coordinator for Buckner. "We are also able to share about what Christmas really means – that we’re celebrating the birth of our savior Jesus Christ."
Opportunities for service and other involvement in TFH regions exist year-round. For more on Together for Hope, visit www.ruralpoverty.net.
CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.