CITY ON A HILL

Serving the Community for Christ

By Michelle Martin

Since the doors opened in August of 2006, CITY ON A HILL (COAH) United Methodist Church in Woodstock has worked to make a difference in the community. "We hope COAH is known for helping people in Christ's name," says Pastor Chris Bryant. "Jesus said, 'Whatever you did for the least of these, so you did for me.' By helping others, we serve Christ."

COAH offers a variety of outreach programs and mission opportunities throughout the year. Many of the church's ministries have become mainstays in the community that people turn to in times of need, or simply for enjoying fun activities in a welcoming, nothing-expected-in-return environment. "As a church, our goal is sharing God's love. It's about helping people see and then become deeply committed followers of Jesus," says Pastor Bryant. "It's not ever about money or numbers, but we still want to celebrate what God is doing and we have to say it somehow."

For example, each December COAH encourages church families to give the same amount to a specific mission project that they would spend on Christmas for their individual families. Local projects have included purchasing computers for approximately 15 students in need at Johnston Elementary School and establishing a benevolence fund to help out-of-work Cherokee County families. Sometimes the mission is international, like buying a farm-full of livestock to support several third-world villages through Heifer International, or the equipping of the Haiti Children Project children's orphanage, which now can offer a better life to hundreds of kids. This past year, COAH's "Christmas Miracle Offering" challenged church families to raise $20,000 to build a church facility in La Paz Central, Nicaragua, an area that COAH has supported the past three years. "Our goal is to establish a 'daughter church' there for the gospel to bring healing and help to a growing population, beyond just the Vacation Bible School, food ministry and eye clinic led by a COAH missions team each year," Pastor Bryant explains. "We encourage our church families every year to allow the Holy Spirit to use them to give those in need their own Christmas miracle the miracle of God with us!" COAH not only reached its $20,000 goal this past Christmas but also raised an additional $3,000 (through a separate donation) to purchase the land for the future church. According to Bryant, the combined $23,000 is the single largest Christmas offering in COAH's history. "We are very excited to see what God does through our missions team serving there later this month."

COAH's annual Easter Egg Hunt attracted more than 1,100 people this past April its largest turnout ever despite being moved indoors at the last minute due to rain. In just an hour-and-a-half, church members transformed the sanctuary and classrooms into an indoor playground, with a huge inflatable bounce house, activity stations, and 15,000 plastic Easter eggs filled with candy, tokens for prizes and notes of encouragement. "It was a huge leap of faith to move the Easter Egg Hunt inside," says Pastor Bryant. "It was truly impressive to see the church come together to prepare for such a large event indoors and then immediately upon the event's conclusion, work so rapidly to ensure we were ready for our first of four Easter worship experiences that afternoon."

Single Moms Gas Giveaway is an opportunity for COAH to minister to single moms in the area by offering "full service," including a free tank of gas, free fluids and tire pressure check, window wash, etc., along with a bottle of water, flower, and a Mother's Day card handmade by the children's ministry. Usually held the Saturday before Mother's Day, COAH's Single Moms Gas Giveaway averaged 11 gallons of gas per vehicle (the highest per-vehicle average in the giveaway's history) to nearly 190 single moms this year. COAH works with Mobilized Fuels to bring the fueling truck to the church for the gas giveaway. "We try to support single mothers regularly, not just during the Gas Giveaway," said Pastor Bryant, noting among other things that there is special parking in front of the church reserved especially for single mothers. "We have a special place in our hearts for the struggles that single moms face."

Souper Bowl of Caring is a nationally known food drive effort, supported locally, during the weekend of the Super Bowl. Each year, COAH's student ministry takes charge of collecting dry goods for local families in need. This year, the weight of the donated items was an amazing 800 pounds more than last year, for a total of 2,200 pounds. "Literally, we collected a ton of food!" says Pastor Bryant. "The Souper Bowl of Caring was also the first big church engagement of our new Boy Scout Troop 514, which played a significant role in our reaching and surpassing our goal."

Vacation Bible School (VBS) is a great opportunity for COAH to reach children in the community. This year, 126 kids attended VBS throughout the week, with more than 50 percent being new to the church and nearly one in every four kids making a decision for Christ. "We're excited to reach so many children through VBS," says Pastor Bryant, who personally called the parents of children who were new to COAH and who made a decision for Christ during VBS. COAH recognizes how important VBS is in reaching children for Christ, so each year it is offered as a free community event, even though the materials and decorations cost the church more than $3,500. "We look at VBS as a mission. In addition to offering it to the community for free, we donate our materials to other churches to help them make VBS possible for the children in their communities."

COAH also offers Bible studies and small group programming for adults and children of all ages throughout the year. This month, COAH is launching a new GROW! children's program and is working to especially empower parents of the kids who participate. "This is a great opportunity to engage adults and help them grow in their spiritual maturity so that they can specifically help guide their children's spiritual development," says Pastor Bryant.

CITY ON A HILL United Methodist Church offers family-friendly, contemporary worship on Saturday evening and twice on Sunday morning.

CITY ON A HILL
7745 Main St., Woodstock
678-445-3480
www.coahumc.org

Worship
5:14 pm, Saturday
9:35 & 11:15 am, Sunday

Contemporary, Casual Worship
Adult Men's, Women's & Co-Ed Bible Study
"City Kids" (Infants-Age 5)
"Praise Street" (Grades K-3)
"Club 456" (Grades 4-6)
"CrossWalk" (Grades 7-12)
Local, National & International Missions
Sermons Available Online and iTunes