In the aftermath of the 2011 tornado in Joplin, South Joplin Christian Church sought ways to be of service to our surrounding neighborhood. With the loss of rental properties owned by the church, the question became what to do with the vacant land. This question gave birth to the idea of creating a park for the surrounding neighborhood, since there was no park in the immediate area or a safe place for neighborhood children to play. With the aid of volunteers that came to Joplin, as well as financial donations, “Friendship Park” was created, which included the installation of play equipment and a gazebo for use by our neighbors. Since 2012, South Joplin has hosted movies in the park and other activities as part of our outreach ministry.
This holiday season, South Joplin's Faith Formation Team was looking for a way to provide some enrichment to both the children in our congregation and to minister to our local community. We, of course, also wanted to do so safely in the midst of the pandemic. Therefore, we decided to create a Story Walk in our church’s Friendship Park which is open to the public.
We have seen Story Walks created by our local library and our city's parks and recreation department. The concept is simple: purchase two copies of a book that you want to share with families. Cut the books apart, laminate the pages, and mount them onto yard signs. We also created activities to engage kids and keep them moving and thinking as they hear the story. Since we are NOT photocopying the book (simply cutting apart books that we purchased) there is not an issue with Copyright law. We also purchased a third copy to keep in our church library (and, to be honest, in case we made a mistake in our cutting!).
All the Colors of Christmas by Matthew Paul Turner was selected since it celebrates diversity, has beautiful illustrations, and shares the nativity. It is now up and available to our community and is our gift to the community during this holiday season. We are hopeful that the signs will hold up and can be used for advent seasons in the future as well!
Submitted by Rev. Kathryn Wilson, Minister of Mission and Outreach