Over the last year, I’ve heard a common refrain from Phil Corriveau and Steph Hobold, who respectively lead Boys and Girls groups focused on mentoring tweens and teens primarily from Burlington’s Old North End and Winooski: we want to engage their families with the gospel.  As they’ve led their teams of volunteers to invest in these at-risk students, they’ve persistently prayed that God will make Isaiah 61:4 a reality:  They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.  

With several people from our Home Fellowship involved in the Boys and Girls Groups and most of our group involved with ministry in the Old North End, we’ve been praying about what God would have us do to engage these families and help change the trajectory of the community.  We had a simple idea: host a Christmas dinner for the students, their families, and the leaders of the Boys and Girls Groups.  Our hope and prayer was that this would be a significant step in…

• Friendships with the families of boys and girls: between parents, boys & girls group leaders, and other Christian adults.
• Forming a stronger partnership between our Home Fellowship and the boys & girls groups.
• Building relational bridges that will eventually lead to launching Home Fellowships that engage these families and others in the Old North End and Winooski.

God showed up BIG-TIME.  On Wednesday, Dec. 14, we had approximately 65 people present at the Barnes School cafeteria, and our Home Fellowship came through magnificently.  With two weeks to prep our gang of twelve gave sacrificially of their time, energy, and resources to prepare turkeys, hams, sides, & desserts and came early decorate & set up the cafeteria for the event.  We had the opportunity to eat together, play games, sing carols together, listen to Phil and Steph share about why they and their leaders invest in these young people, and it was obvious to all of us that God was present in that place.