UMC Featured News & Stories

Churches find new ways to say, ‘Y’all come back now!’

James Ruth and Jennifer Gibson, members of the greeting ministry at
First United Methodist Church in Springdale, Ark., get ready for
Sunday worship. A UMNS photo by Joanna Davis .

By Heather Hahn*
Sept. 21, 2009 | LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (UMNS)

Sunday visitors to First United Methodist Church in Corning in northeastern Arkansas can look forward the next week to a yummy treat — a fresh-baked pecan pie that smells simply heavenly.

More often than not, those pies originate in the kitchen of 89-year-old Haley Price, who bakes each pie from scratch with love and prayer.

Haley Price, 89, bakes homemade
pies for visitors to First United
Methodist Church in Corning, Ark.
A UMNS photo by Fred Martin.
.

“When I first started coming to church here, I lived out in the country and they brought me a pie,” Price recalled. “I just enjoyed it, and everyone seems to enjoy it. I thank the good Lord that I’ve come this far, and I enjoy baking pies for the church.”

For nearly 20 years, the Corning congregation has offered its PIE ministry in its northeastern Arkansas farming community. The name stands for Personal Invitation Evangelism.

Longtime member Regina Pillow delivers the toothsome invitations along with a pamphlet about The United Methodist Church. The pastor follows up later in the week.

“I tell them how glad we were they came and hope they will go back,” Pillow said. “People are usually just thrilled to death. Some say, ‘We plan to come back.’ I took one not long ago to a young couple who had three young children — one a baby that’s crawling — and they’ve started coming.”

Feeding spirits

Across Arkansas, United Methodist churches have embraced a variety of creative ways to make newcomers feel welcome and invite them into a deeper relationship with Christ.

Some congregations “mug” their visitors, giving away coffee cups with the church’s name on it. Others offer free DVDs that showcase the church’s ministries. And many others do what hostesses have done for centuries: Make sure no guest goes away hungry.

Linda Sides bakes 18 rolls each Saturday for any new worshippers who come the next morning to Wesley United Methodist Church in Fort Smith.

“I thank the good Lord that I’ve come this far, and I enjoy baking pies for the church.”
–Haley Price, 89

The ministry began when the pastor suggested the church give away bread along with information about the congregation.

“I was praying there would be something I could do,” Sides said, “and when he said that, I knew that was me.”

Sides’ rolls never go to waste and feed more than just guests in the pews.

“If we have no visitors, then I’ve told the preacher to use them however he can,” she said. “Maybe someone is down on their luck and needs something to brighten their day, or maybe he is visiting a shut-in.”

Kids Clubs

When she was a local pastor at Quitman United Methodist Church, Susan Miles found a new way to open doors to children in her community.

“I wanted these kids to have an identity of who they were in Jesus,” she said. “The idea is that if Jesus is the King of Kings and God the Father is the King of Kings, then it’s very sound for us to treat our children as royalty.”

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So she started King’s Kids Club for children ages “birth to embarrassment.” She provided each child with a regally decorated Christ-centered activity box that they could pick up in the narthex.

Every Sunday they attended, the children received something new in their box, like a notebook or stickers or a small cross. The box also contained a punch card to mark each Sunday a child was there. When children got 10 punches on their card, they were crowned in front of the church. In the three years Miles pastored the Quitman congregation, the children’s ministry grew from two to 20.

Miles brought the ministry with her to First United Methodist Church in Jonesboro when her husband, John Miles II, was appointed to be the congregation’s senior pastor. Now, she said, the King’s Kids Club has more than 100 young members.

Because of the program, Wendy Jones’ 6-year-old daughter, Allie, cannot wait to get to church.

“She is the one who gets up on Sunday morning and is ready to go,” Jones said. “She has her outfit picked out the night before.”

*Hahn is editor of the Arkansas United Methodist.

News media contact: David Briggs, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.