Golden Grove - Love@ Christmas

We see Christmas as a great time for us at James Street to continue developing our relationships with the residents of the Golden Grove estate, communicate something of the good news of Jesus, and serve some genuinely needy people. The new weekly Toddler Group and Café Plus on Thursdays and weekly Youth Group have increased the numbers of people we have regular contact with and who we hope to draw into the Christmas celebrations.

Our activities start with taking some of the youth to Calshott Activity Centre for a day, and our Kids Club children to a Christmas event at a Children’s Farm. We have also been promised funding to take some disadvantaged children to the Christmas production at the Nuffield Theatre, again financed by a couple with a heart to be involved in the work on Golden Grove.

To help some of the neediest people on the estate, we will be giving out a number of food hampers which are being provided by Fareham Community Church. And a generous supporter is also funding 25 turkeys, some of which we are sharing with the Christian staff in the local doctors surgery, to help them support some of their most needy patients in the area.

Last year it was a mammoth task to manage the fair distribution of all the toys we were given and so this year we are working through SVS to make sure that all the children we have contact with on the estate will get some presents.

Then on Wednesday 19th we are looking forward to our estate Carol Service which is usually packed out. It’s a great opportunity to invite all our contacts from Golden Grove to come together to share the meaning of Christmas in a lively but relevant way.

This is followed up on Sunday 23rd by our Christingle Service which particularly aims to explain the meaning of Christmas to children. On Boxing Day we are opening the church building for the many people we know who will be on their own over Christmas, to come in and have a lunch and fun afternoon. Whatever we think about the whole Christmas season, it’s a great opportunity to touch many people’s lives and share God’s love.