God's got your back
09-24-2009Heather Hahn
Editor
At First United Methodist Church in Conway, the atmosphere is festive on the Sunday morning before the first day of school. Children bound into worship ahead of their parents and pick seats near the front. Most wear smiles as bright as the assortment of colorful new backpacks they tote.
The kids have come for First UMC’s annual “Blessing of the Backpacks” celebration, the church’s third best-attended day of worship after Easter and Christmas Eve. At the end of each morning service, youngsters come to the front of the congregation with their book bags in tow and bow their heads.
“Lord, bless these backpacks and book binders and the children who carry them into school halls,” the worshippers pray in unison. “As they grow and learn, show our children ways to serve and live with Your love.”
After the blessing, the children receive tags to attach to their bags or binders. The tag shows the church’s address, the Bible verse Jeremiah 29:11 and an illustration of a blue backpack emblazoned with the message “God’s Got Your Back.”
This was 8-year-old Grace Ann Thone’s third year to participate in the late-summer rite. On bad days at school, the third-grader says looking at the church’s tag makes her feel better.
“It makes the school year easier for me,” she says. “I know that God’s watching out for me, and I don’t have to worry about it.”
Like First UMC in Conway, many other United Methodist churches across the state held special events in August to help students get a good start on another year’s education. Some hosted school-supply giveaways; others held back-to-school parties.
Many also promoted their other ministries in hopes that visitors would resolve to add church to their calendar. After all, for many families, the new year doesn’t really begin with “Auld Lang Syne” in January but with the first ring of the school bell in August.
The “Blessing of the Backpacks” at First UMC in Conway marks the unofficial start of the church year after members have returned from vacation, says associate pastor Dede Roberts.
Charles Murry, First UMC’s senior pastor, says the event is second only to Christmas in helping to reconnect people to church life.
The church even decorates for the occasion. Beside the altar stands a whimsical arrangement of backpacks, dictionaries, colored pencils and Crayola markers. A banner proclaiming the “Blessing of the Backpacks” adorns the side of the chancel.
The tradition started four years ago when church staff held a special blessing to welcome tots to the church’s preschool.
“Their little faces were so excited,” Roberts said. “We decided we had to do this program again.”
The last three years, pastors have invited all school-aged youngsters to participate.
Shay Raycher says her 9-year-old daughter, Sarah, keeps all her tags hanging on her backpack.
Now her 4-year-old son, Hayden, is equally eager to get his backpack blessed.
“I think it’s a wonderful ministry for the community,” Raycher said. “You want to send your children into school with the protection that the church and God can provide.”
Keeping kids well supplied
St. Andrew UMC in southwest Little Rock stands amid a financially strapped neighborhood where most children qualify for the federal free- and reduced-lunch program. For nearby families, buying a new backpack can be a serious burden.
With that in mind, the congregation began planning its second annual school-supply giveaway and block party last February.
Members organized movie nights and other fund-raisers. Many also made personal donations for the event, said Kathy Lyons, the church’s evangelism chairwoman. St. Andrew also received a $3,000 grant from the Central District Board of Missions.
Altogether, the church was able to provide local elementary-school students with 257 backpacks and book bags. The bags contained paper, glue, pencils, pens, crayons and in some cases, scissors. Congregation members also distributed an organizer to each parent or guardian.
For the congregation, the gathering is one of its biggest missions of the year. At a church where the weekly attendance is usually 60, 50 members showed up to volunteer.
“If this thing didn’t do anything else,” Lyons said, “having all of us together working for a common cause for our community makes this worth doing.”
Volunteers weren’t limited to church members. On the morning of the Aug. 8 event, a mother brought her two teenage sons to help set up. The boys, Michael and Robert Maxwell, brought out the tables and chairs and did the bulk of the morning’s heavy lifting.
“We wanted to volunteer together because we wanted to get work experience,” said Michael, 17, the older of the two. “I like doing this for the kids.”
Families were able to move smoothly around the church’s perimeter from registration in the entry way to the backpack distribution at a side doorway to the concession stand along the back.
In the church parking lot were carnival games and a table where people could write to servicemen and women overseas. His Word in Song, a local Christian rock band, also volunteered to perform in the park next to the church.
“They’ve got this down to a science,” said Carol Ann Blow, St. Andrew’s senior pastor.
Blow and her predominantly white congregation hoped the event would help the church reach its goal to become more multicultural and more closely resemble its racially mixed neighborhood.
Christy Ayers was grateful for the church’s outreach. Both her daughter, Kidaakasha, 5, and son, Willie, 6, were excited about their new backpacks.
“This is really helpful for us when we don’t have much to buy school supplies,” Ayers said. “And it’s also a great time.”
Like St. Andrew, Wiggins Memorial UMC in south Fayetteville also serves a low-income neighborhood. The church had a back-to-school party where members distributed school supplies and gently used clothes and shoes as well. In addition, the church gave away new undergarments and socks.
“We have kids in the neighborhood who would be glad just to have new clothes,” said Cherrie Frazee, the church children’s director. “They don’t have to be brand new, but new to them. We’ve had a lot of people in the community and other churches donate to this.”
More than 30 children and their families came out for the Wiggins festivities on Aug. 15. They delighted in their new school gear, joined in the games, munched on the free snacks and prayed for their schools and teachers.
So long, summer
Even with kids back in the classroom, Kaye Gann of First UMC in Manila hoped her church’s fourth Back-to-School Bash would give local youth a last taste of summer.
The church’s youth passed out fliers about the event to their friends during the first weeks of school. The northeastern Arkansas congregation also planned to lure local teens with a disc jockey’s tunes.
“In Manila, like other small towns, kids drive from one end of town to the other,” said Gann, the church’s youth director. “When they hear the music, they walk up and check out what’s going on.”
Ultimately, about 90 youth and adults showed up on Aug. 22 to try their hand at carnival games like bowling, darts and water guns; bounce around in an inflatable moonwalk and bungee run; and sing along to a karaoke contest.
They also listened to a short homily by Kurt Boggan, the Northeast District superintendent, who encouraged the teens to stay connected to church during the school year.
“I hope the public will view the church that as a place that welcomes and puts kids first,” Ganne said. “Maybe our speaker will reach a kid who needs to hear about Jesus.”
Melissa Polk, the interim adult minister at First UMC in Conway, says, as a parent, she appreciates whenever kids can connect church life with their non-church life.
“I think it sends a message to the kids that the entire church family is behind them.”
