It’s that time of year—the time when Christmas Gatherings are taking place! Have you been a part of a Christmas Gathering? Or do you have one planned? Take a minute and share about the experience. You may just motivate someone else to have one, too!
November 28, 2007 by stonecroftministries
It’s that time of year—the time when Christmas Gatherings are taking place! Have you been a part of a Christmas Gathering? Or do you have one planned? Take a minute and share about the experience. You may just motivate someone else to have one, too!
I hosted a Christmas gathering over 10 years ago in Lincoln, Nebraska and co-hosted with 4 others another here in Colorado Springs a couple years ago. We invited over 50 women (most came), had delicious food and festive music, handed out ornaments with gospel message attached and the Biggest Blessing was our speaker, Cheryl, who told a beautiful true Christmas event in her family that included a very clear Gospel message. What a wonderful way to share Christ at Christmas…host a Christmas Gathering. You will be glad you did. Merry Christmas!
We have a “Christmas Gathering” event planned for Dec. 8th, which will be our CWC Outreach gathering for December.
There is great excitement as it will be held in a beautiful turn-of-the-century mansion called Flippen House, where we will be hosted to a Victorian High Tea and the beautiful Christmas message of this “program”.
We have been promoting it in earnest since October when “Mrs. Flippen”, the original matron of the home, visited the CWC all dressed for tea (including furs!) and invited everyone to join her at her home for tea sandwiches and petit fours and the sharing of Christmas traditions and an inspirational message.
She invited us to wear our tea-time best, including a pretty hat and gloves if we’d like. Three-quarters of the tickets were sold afterward!
The Senior Citizens group, who owns the mansion, will provide the food and service as “The Castle”, as it’s locally known, is not a commercial venue. They, too, are very excited about our coming!
For a little rural community in OR (Clatskanie) of 1,700, this has drawn much excitement! This is certainly not our first “Gathering”, but rather than the smaller living room or private invitation “Gatherings”, this one is for the public at large.
We began praying as soon as we decided to offer this, most especially as we gathered at our Prayer Connections each month. We especially have prayed for the speaker that the message of salvation will be clear and simple and a powerful personal testimony to Jesus’ saving power.
This is not all.
One of our main-line churches in town just completed their first-ever Stonecroft Bible Study with four groups of men and women. For some, reading scripture at home and with a small group, was a brand new experience, although they were regular attendees at services. To cap off this powerful experience, an event was planned where all of the groups would gather together.
Guess what that event is? “A Christmas Gathering”! This denomination annually celebrates Advent before Christmas, so it is called “An Advent Gathering” with the exact format.
Spouses which did not attend the study, along with other family members and friends are invited. The church bulletin was utilized as well as church announcements.
They began praying about this event just as the study was first announced (three months before the studies began).
This will be a Saturday breakfast potluck at 9am so all can experience the fullness of the “Gathering” and still have time for other Christmas events such as shopping. Materialistic as this is, it’s a fact of life for most of us, so clearing all obsticles by allowing for it, made sense to the planning team.
This event follows the CWC Tea by one week, with the same local speaker for both.
If you got this far, bless you! Didn’t expect it to be so long!
P.S. If you have questions I’ll be happy to be in touch with you. My email is orazione@charter.net
At our SBS Guides Meeting today the Genesis Bible Study was mentioned as being out of print. Is that true? I have a study to begin the first of January for Genesis 3 as they have completed the first 2 studies and I need around 5 more study books. Is there any chance of me finding these from some of the other groups and what is the status of this study? Joan Hutchins SRA for NH
A Victorian Mansion called “The Castle” was the setting for a Christmas Gathering Tea put on by the Clatskanie, OR. Women’s Connection Sat. Dec. 8th. The Planning Team had decided several months before that a Christmas Gathering format would be the best gift they could give our small town and themselves as well. They had 50 advance tickets for sale. Being in place of their regular outreach … it was also a fund raiser for the local Senior Citizen’s who own the Castle. The Seniors did all the “work” they decorated, prepared a luscious several course Tea (scones, fruit, sandwiches and dessert) served and cleaned up after. So it was truly a Gift for the Team as well. I hosted and the new Chair was the speaker. You never know what burdens women are carrying when they come to any event … but we know this that many were able to lay them aside for 2 hours and be treated to a very special time with each other as they had opportunity to experience what our motto says … connect with God, each other, and their communities. The Christmas atmosphere and Christmas talk about the greatest Gift of all touched many hearts which is what a Christmas Gathering is all about. Women like the young mom with babe in arms to the oldest who was 91 celebrated being just being together and being pampered as they listened to our speaker Angela Guerassio tell of the Reason for the season. It was my joy to be able to host this gathering and to read first hand with the speaker (after the meeting) all the wonderful comments. Though we don’t know of any decisions we do know there will be two Stonecroft Bible studies in Jan that are coming out of this. One in the am and one in the pm so working gals can come too.
I came as a DCC back to Stonecroft and experienced my first Gathering in the Stonecroft Mansion several years ago. Since then it has burned in my heart to use this format to reach those whom Jesus is missing most. This is the fourth Gathering I’ve had a part in since then. 250 people have participated in those four Gatherings. I thank the Lord for the men and women who have heard the gospel around our nation and around the world through this wonderful outreach opportunity. (Two of my Gatherings have been for family … 105 came for Christmas dinner in July to the first one) The second was for family and friends last year and was featured Jan 2, 2006 on Stonecroft Live. Another was in Victorian home put on by my daughter and her friend for the women who lived in low income housing nearby. No matter what group you gather the important thing is to GATHER them. I have never before seen so many who are hungry to hear the message of Jesus’ forgiveness and restoring power. Look around in your world and know this Christmas Gathering format simple as it seems, is a simple pure message of the power of God and it will change lives!
Always in gratitude to God for the opportunity to serve Him through Stonecroft Ministries.
Faye Marie Miller Clatskanie, Oregon
Merry Christmas friends at Stonecroft!
PS we did no Stonecroft business at our Gathering except to have a tri-fold of the next three outreach meetings at every place setting. We took an offering at our PT meeting.
I’m trying to find out how to have a Christmas Gathering. Do you still have instructions?