The United Church of Schellsburg United Church of Christ 1646 Market Street (S.R. 96) P.O. Box 108 Schellsburg, Pennsylvania 15559 (814) 733-4811 HOME PAGE

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The Prayer Shawl Ministry of the United Church of Schellsburg

Our Prayer Shawl Ministry provides a tangible token of our love and prayers to men, women, and children who are in need of comfort and hope - or who are celebrating great joys. We have a small group which meets on Tuesdays to knit or crochet together and to pray over our list of those who have been given shawls from our ministry, but anyone in our community is welcome to make shawls or lap robes to be blessed and given away.

When Pastor Ruth interviewed here in Schellsburg, she was working on a prayer shawl. The program caught the attention and interest of many people here who insisted that when she came to be the pastor here, she needed to help us start a shawl program. She asked us if we meant "if", but we already knew it was "when". So less than a month after she arrived, we gathered a group together to start our work on prayer shawls. Little did any of us know how quickly this ministry would grow. On the day of our dedication, 28 shawls and lap robes graced the front of our church.

We dedicated our Prayer Shawl Ministry on September 24, 2006.

Many of our hard-working crafters receive the recognition they deserve. Some of these ladies have made 50 or more shawls since we began in June, 2006!

Linda Klyne, one of our most prolific knitters, added shawls to the bears she gave at Christmas, 2007 for Your Safe Haven. A heart-wrenching thank-you note from a recipient of one her "bear" shawls prompted us to decide that every critter for Your Safe Haven would have a shawl in 2008. Even the fish:

Prayer shawls have an amazing ability to calm and heal even the most difficult of relationships.
	Pastor Ruth took these pictures of her cats sitting on some of our shawls as she prepared to sew labels on them prior to our dedication service. Apollo and Serina normally don't get along this well!

For more information about our ministry, please check out our brochure. For information and additional resources for prayer shawl ministry, visit www.shawlministry.com.