Christmas dinner was on Jesus when Bolton churches fed 5,000 people with a bumper Christmas meal over the festive period. More than 2,560 chocolate selection boxes were also gifted to children. Christmas might have been different this year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns, but the Christian story was still the same.
Simon Peters, walking the way project manager, has been moved by the creativity and ingenuity which local churches have shown during these strange times. ‘Covid-19 is not easy to deal with’, he says, ‘but the call for us all to Walk the Way of Jesus continues, and churches are answering it!’
For over 10 years, Churches Together in Bookham has worked with the local traders to organise a Late Night Shopping evening, including stalls in the Baptist Church and a display of Christmas trees, decorated by many local organisations, in St Nicolas’ Parish Church. With this format coming to an end, and the onslaught of Covid-19 preventing other events from happening, new ways of sharing the love of Jesus at Christmas had to be found for this year. Having seen it done successfully in other places, the idea of ‘Christmas in a box’ seemed like a good alternative.
