Congregations announce Open House Month events

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Southwest Texas congregations have begun announcing plans for United Methodist Open House Month during September.
Bishop Joel N. Martinez has proclaimed next month a time when United Methodists focus specifically on planning special events to offer Christ to people outside their congregations.
First UMC, Victoria, has scheduled a morning “Childfest” for Sept. 16. The special Saturday event is designed to show the community the congregation’s new Children’s Ministry Center and allow visitors to experience the First UMC community outside a worship setting.
Organizers plan to invite unchurched visitors back for worship.
The 1,362-member Victoria congregation is lining up business sponsors for the event, envisioned as a block party. The church intends to advertise Childfest on radio, television and in the daily newspaper.
Leaders of Coker UMC, San Antonio, are urging church members to invite friends to church for a six-week sermon series on hope. The series begins Aug. 20 with a message titled “Is there something for me?” and concludes Sept. 24 with a sermon called “True greatness is ….”
The evangelism team at Freder-icksburg UMC is encouraging the congregation’s 1,071 members to bring friends to church during September.
“Although September is not the only month when such welcoming is emphasized, it is a month where people typically start new habits and new vision,” Associate Pastor Colleen Haley said.
The evangelism team is working “to get things ready for a larger than usual number of visitors,” Haley said.
Open House Month has been an annual event in Southwest Texas since 2000. The outreach effort is part of the denominationwide Igniting Ministry hospitality and image campaign.
The General Commission on Communication in Nashville, Tenn., is supporting Open House Month across the United States with 1,150 30-second television commercials. Those ads are to begin Aug. 28 on 21 cable TV networks and continue through Sept. 16.
The network list includes Cable News Network, Fox News Channel, the Hallmark Channel, Univision and the Weather Channel.
The Southwest Texas Conference Communications and Public Witness Office mailed planning resources for Open House Month to all congregations June 28. Those resources came from a 146-page Igniting Ministry Campaign Workbook for the Southwest Texas Conference originally published in 2002.
The campaign book also includes campaign guidance for Home for Christmas during Advent and Bring a Friend Sunday during Lent.
Open House Month is one way the conference tries to empower ministries in local congregations so they can offer Christ to all.