As part of their Advent ministry offerings last month vehicles wound their way through the parking lot at Sun Prairie UMC in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin on the evening of December 18th in hopes of glimpsing the Christmas Story as part of the church's Drive Thru Nativity. To help keep things COVID safe participants never had to leave the warmth and safety of their own vehicles.
Director of Connecting Ministries Deb Mulhern shared her thoughts about helping to organize the event, " In this strange year, people need hope. They needed a way to safely celebrate Christmas when so many of our normal traditions went out the window. We looked at how we could redo our Stable Service into something that could be done during a pandemic. We ended up having 43 volunteers who were excited about this opportunity and almost 400 vehicles came through. The night of the Drive Through Nativity, seeing the community come together to look for hope and a way to safely celebrate the true meaning of Christmas, was heartwarming!"
Scenes were staged with "household units" to minimize spread and those participating were asked to wear masks and social distance while being outside.
Pastor Jenny Arneson added, "It was a blessing to be able to share the Christmas story with our Sun Prairie community in a way that was meaningful and safe in these pandemic days."
The church will look at continuing this ministry in 2021 regardless of the status of the pandemic.
Director of Connecting Ministries Deb Mulhern shared her thoughts about helping to organize the event, " In this strange year, people need hope. They needed a way to safely celebrate Christmas when so many of our normal traditions went out the window. We looked at how we could redo our Stable Service into something that could be done during a pandemic. We ended up having 43 volunteers who were excited about this opportunity and almost 400 vehicles came through. The night of the Drive Through Nativity, seeing the community come together to look for hope and a way to safely celebrate the true meaning of Christmas, was heartwarming!"
Scenes were staged with "household units" to minimize spread and those participating were asked to wear masks and social distance while being outside.
Pastor Jenny Arneson added, "It was a blessing to be able to share the Christmas story with our Sun Prairie community in a way that was meaningful and safe in these pandemic days."
The church will look at continuing this ministry in 2021 regardless of the status of the pandemic.