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

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST WEBSITE

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.

Knitted and croched shawls and lap robes across the front of our sanctuary before the service.

Many of our hard-working crafters receive the recognition they deserve. Some of these ladies are working on their fifth shawls since we began in June!

Pastor Ruth shows how much she has done on her third shawl for Schellsburg
(and sixth since she learned to knit last November):

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.