Photos courtesy of Minot Vincent UMC.

This Advent season Vincent United Methodist Church in Minot, North Dakota has been doing some shopping and giving gifts to neighbors throughout the community. The congregation is living out its core values: family-focused, heart-to-give, forward-looking, and discipleship-building. 

Gift-giving at Christmas is a Christian tradition that is widely practiced around the world. To Christians, the gifts given at Christmas are symbolic of the tributes made to the baby Jesus by the three wise men after his birth during the story of the Nativity. The Bible's New Testament describes the three magi — Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar — journeying to the location of Jesus's birth by following a star and, upon their arrival, presenting him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

The congregation in Northwest North Dakota is blessing the community with three gifts this Christmas:

1. By collecting a ton of food through the Donation Station.
2. By participating in the Twice Blessed Challenge.
3. By offering an event called "The Magic of a Christmas Blessing."  

Donation Station

Vincent UMC partnered with the Minot Community Foundation for a matching food drive challenge. The foundation owns a trailer that they lend to organizations for food drives and a matching grant challenge. The challenge is, if Vincent UMC collects 1,000 pounds of food for The Lord's Cupboard Food Pantry, the foundation will provide a $1,000 matching grant to The Lord's Cupboard.

In 1994, Faith United Methodist Church in Minot started The Lord's Cupboard. It was located at the church in a small 200 square feet space. When the flood hit in 2011, the food pantry was relocated. By 2015, with funding from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), the Welcome Table became a non-profit organization with a soup kitchen, community garden, and food pantry—The Lord's Cupboard. 

This season, members of Vincent UMC set up the Donation Station trailer outside the church and set a goal to collect 1,000 pounds of food. The result was a collection of 2,029 pounds of food, more than a ton! The impact is that The Lord's Cupboard will be able to feed and serve even more people.

"Our goal was 1,000 pounds. The congregation stepped up," said Rev. Mark Erhmantraut, pastor at Vincent UMC. "This effort was bigger than Vincent UMC. A special thank you to Cummins Sales and Service and Little Legends Child Development Center for helping us make our goal. We also had a special gift of over 60 turkeys given anonymously. These turkeys totaled 867 pounds. We blew right through our 1,000-pound goal."

The amount collected was tracked on a chart. Enthusiasm grew organically as the items collected continued to grow. 

Twice Blessed Challenge 

In 2021, Vincent UMC began the Blessing Boxes Ministry. Two Blessing Boxes are located on the east and west sides of the church and provide free items to people in need in the community. Grocery, household, and hygiene items were available for people in the neighborhood to come by and take as needed.

To help fill the boxes and meet the need, Vincent UMC applied to be part of the St Joseph's Community Health Foundation Twice Blessed Challenge. When the St. Joseph Hospital closed in Minot, an independent 501(c)(3) public charity community foundation was formed. One of the ways the foundation distributes funds is through The Twice Blessed Campaign, which runs through December 31. In 2022, the foundation matches donations of up to $331,000 to the 83 agencies and food pantries chosen.

"If we can raise $2,000, the foundation will double that. That is $4,000 we can raise to supply our blessing boxes," said Pastor Mark. "Our mission field is right here in our neighborhood and community. So far, we have raised over one-half of that goal and are confident we can meet that goal."

A team of 10-12 people from Vincent UMC stock the Blessing Boxes with baby items, groceries, snacks, meals, and games for kids during the week. 

"It is an amazing ministry touching the lives of so many people," said Pastor Mark.

The Magic of a Christmas Blessing

The Magic of a Christmas Blessing is an event designed to provide everyone with a Christmas experience. The event will include shopping for Christmas gifts and wrapping the gifts they select. A hot meal will be served. In addition, there will be a no-rehearsal Christmas Pageant. 

People who might not otherwise be able to buy Christmas gifts for their kids or family members will have a chance to go shopping and pick out gifts for family members. They will have the opportunity to have the gifts wrapped while they are there. Kids will shop at one location in the church while parents shop in another part of the church.

A nutritious hot meal will be served for everyone. Finally, anyone that wants to participate can join in the Christmas pageant. The pageant will include the story of the birth of Jesus, with scripture. Familiar Christmas songs will be part of the program. 

"Our parking lot is adjacent to an affordable housing complex called Henry Tower. We have invited everyone who lives there to come. We are working with the manager to make them feel welcome. We're also arranging transportation for the people from Milton Young Towers, which is a mile from the church," said Pastor Mark. "This is our first time trying this. We aren't completely sure what to expect. A certain group of people sometimes falls through the cracks."

Items for the shopping experience are being collected from members of the congregation and volunteers from Vincent UMC soliciting items from businesses in the community. Gift cards provided by Scheels for the Neighborhood Block party held in September will be used to purchase gift items. The Vincent UMC youth group is buying mittens, hats, and other winter gear for the shopping experience with the Scheels gift cards. 

With these three gifts to the community, the spirit of Christmas and the meaning of giving is alive and well at Vincent UMC. What makes that possible?

"This wouldn't happen without amazing people being open to the Holy Spirit. I'm amazed. I think people are amazed," said Pastor Mark. "It's much bigger than any of us as individuals or even together as people. This is about the One who is greater than each of us. The process of discipleship takes place over time. It's not a one-and-done event. God is bringing people into our lives. We are all walking alongside each other."