9 churches draw 1,046
visitors to Dec. 24 services

Nine Southwest Texas congregations reporting Home for Christmas results welcomed 1,046 visitors to candlelight services Dec. 24.
Of those, nearly half—501—were worshiping with those congregations for the first time.
Those were two results from follow-up reports on last month’s Home for Christmas public witness and outreach campaign.
Nine of 47 participating congregations submitted information about outreach planning and Christmas Eve attendance to the Communications and Public Witness Office by Jan. 4.
The reporting total was the lowest since the annual Christmas outreach program began in 2000. Follow-up information came from four congregations in the Corpus Christi District, three in the Kerrville District and one each in the San Antonio and Victoria districts.
“Our Home for Christmas activities serve multiple purposes in our little community,” reported Bonnie Millican of Bend UMC, which welcomed 57 worshipers Dec. 24. “We focus on the people who do not have a church, but we also provide a worship service of Christ for all.”
The 42-member Bend congregation didn’t offer a Christmas Eve service before 2004, Millican said. That year nine people attended.
In 2005 Bend followed the step-by-step eight-week Home for Christmas outreach plan for the first time, she said. Forty-five people came to Christmas Eve services that year.
“This (2007) was the third Christmas Eve service that we had a coordinating team and followed the eight-week planning timetable,” Millican said. Twenty-seven percent more people came to the Bend church Dec. 24 than attended on an average Sunday.
Total worship attendance at the nine reporting congregations Dec. 24 was 5,378. That total was 196 more than had worshiped in those congregations Christmas Eve 2006. The figure was 50 percent higher than average Sunday worship attendance in those nine congregations.
Eight of the nine congregations reported from six to 776 visitors. First-time visitors ranged from six to 421. Only St. Paul UMC, Columbus, reported no new people among its 126 Christmas Eve worshipers.
First UMC, Kerrville, reported the top number of visitors and first-time visitors. The 2,427-member congregation used direct-mail letters, radio and television commercials, extensive newspaper advertising, and word of mouth to make sure the community knew about its four Christmas Eve services, said the Rev. Warren G. Hornung, senior pastor.
“This is a great program that produces excellent spiritual results,” Hornung said. “Bob Molder, a retired J.C. Penney executive, coordinates the program for us and does a tremendous job.
“If it were not for this program, I doubt that we would emphasize Christmas Eve the way we do.”
The Board of Discipleship has sponsored the Home for Christmas campaign annually since 2000. The effort promotes Christmas Eve candlelight services as special events to which church members may invite friends and neighbors. The purpose is to help church members invite acquaintances who don’t usually attend church to worship Dec. 24 and then continue the disciple-making process with those who come.
Annual participation has ranged from 31 to 142 congregations.
The campaign follows a step-by-step eight week plan. It includes prayer, invitation and follow-up. Promotional tools, such as yard signs, news releases and advertising, support the invitation effort.
Five of the nine reporting congregations said they followed the eight-week timetable, which included a day of prayer before the invitations began.
“We especially felt good about our day of prayer,” reported Kay Plum-mer of Grace UMC, Corpus Christi. “We sent follow-up letters Dec. 27 to first-time visitors.”
Home for Christmas is one way the Southwest Texas Conference tries to empower ministries in local congregations so they can offer Christ to all.