Event: Newtown Outdoor Christmas Celebration
Church: St Stephen's, Newtown
When: Sunday December 17, 10am " 2pm.
The activities: A church service including a nativity pantomime followed by a free of charge festival including a BBQ, jumping castle, pony rides and kids zoo amongst the grave stones.
Where: St Stephen's church grounds and graveyard.
Attendance: Over 250 people passed through the festival. However, more significantly, the Sunday morning attendance doubled with over 100 adults and 40 children present.
Elements that worked best
"The community could see us doing something for them that they could enjoy with no strings attached," says the rector of St Stephen's, the Rev Peter Rodgers.
"It's part of that process of the church building a good relationship with the community. We also had double the number of people come to the church service which means many people heard the gospel who would not normally."
What didn't work or could be improved next year
"This is the fourth year we have run this event and we have no plans for any big changes next year. We just want to keep building this event so that it becomes a tradition in Newtown that people look forward to," Peter Rodgers says.
