Having been contacted by Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree ministry to children of incarcerated parents, the members of Tigard Covenant Church stepped in and provided everything the family needed.
Because of Tigard Covenant’s commitment to inmates and their family, Prison Fellowship has presented the congregation its 2006 Outstanding Church Award. The church has worked for more than 15 years with Prison Fellowship and as well as Angel Tree, which focuses on giving Christmas gifts to children of incarcerated parents.
“We do it for Jesus, for the fun and for the satisfaction of making some kids living a tough life a little more happy than they might otherwise have been at Christmas,” says Barbara Woolverton, who coordinates Tigard Covenant’s participation with Angel Tree. “We believe the responsibility of the local church is to be the eyes, ears and arms of Jesus by caring in practical ways for people in need.”
Many Covenant churches participate in the Angel Tree ministry. The names of children and what they would like for Christmas are written on paper angels that hang from a Christmas tree, usually near the entrance or in a fellowship area.
Inmates supply the names of their children to the prison chaplain and suggest possible gifts. The chaplain then forwards the requests to Angel Tree. Each child receives two gifts – an article of clothing and a “fun” item.
Members of the local congregation deliver the gifts to the family. Churches often continue to minister to the family after the Christmas holiday ends.
“Our church members have been overwhelmingly generous over the years,” Woolverton says. “Last year, they were practically fighting over the angels!”
Moving the mother of three children inspired the congregation to help a second family move into a new home last December. Although the family was not referred by Angel Tree, the church included angels on the Christmas tree.
Again, the church fully supplied the residence. The recently divorced father was living in a car with his two sons. “This father has become a valued, serving member of our church family,” Woolverton says.
To learn more about the Tigard church program, contact Woolverton by email at Barbara Woolverton. To learn more about the Angel Tree initiative, please visit Angel Tree.
