At the 2024 Susquehanna Annual Conference, the New Places - New People Award was given to a church in each district that has experimented with new ways to build relationships and make new disciples. God is calling each of us to be in relationship with others and our churches are commissioned to go to our immediate neighbors as well as the ends of the earth to make new disciples. We celebrate with these churches and the ministries that they are engaging as they offer new places for new people. If you would like to learn more about New Places - New People, there are courses in Portico, our online learning platform that is located on the Conference website. You can access Portico directly here: https://susumc.org/portico/.
Freedom Trail District
We celebrate the McConnellsburg, Mill Creek, and 12th Street Huntington United Methodist congregations who have created New Places for New People in creating alternative holiday events. These events provide a way for differently-abled children and adults who have sensory issues, autism, developmental delays, and physical limitations to participate in holiday activities.
The churches provide lower-stress holiday events, with no long lines, no bright lights, no loud noises, etcetera, which can make differently-abled children anxious. Each child has all the time they need meet and greet Santa and the Easter Bunny. These are family-friendly events where siblings are invited to join also, but the focus is the differently-abled. Parents and families are also personally invited to worship and other upcoming events.
A wonderful example of a specific adaptation was at the Easter egg hunt, where eggs were attached to helium balloons for their wheelchair friend Clayton. Clayton was able to grab the strings to get his eggs.
We are thankful for the commitment of McConnellsburg, Mill Creek, and 12th St UMCs to designing inclusive experiences for children and adults who often must fit into events that are not considerate of them. They have a future goal to offer an alternative worship experience too.
Another ministry, birthed by the 12th Street Huntington church, takes place at the Huntington Community Center, during their open gym nights. The church discovered that kids were coming in hungry because there was no one home to provide a meal, let alone any quality family time that happens around the table. So once a month, 12th St. UMC cooks a hot meal and then everyone, volunteers included, sits around the tables with the kids eating and fellowshipping. The church members are sitting side-by-side with the children, talking to them, listening to them, and building relationships with them. They are kind of a surrogate family to these children. In these conversations other needs are often identified, and they may serve to develop further ministry. They also hope to start a youth group with these kids. At Christmas time, a party was planned and in addition to the meals, kids received shirts, socks, blankets, cookies, and candy. Thank you 12th St. UMC for identifying this need in your community and ministering to it.
