Formed by people who wanted to stay United Methodist even as their former congregation left the denomination, the emerging faith community spent a busy Advent worshipping at Clyde Central United Methodist Church and caroling across the county.
The outreach culminated with a midnight Christmas Eve service by the giant outdoor cross overlooking Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center. Amid the bitter cold and spritzing snow, more than 90 people huddled together by candlelight to join in Holy Communion and celebrate Christ’s birth.
“All these conditions that don’t seem good for hosting an outside event, and yet people showed up,” said the Rev. Nicole Jones, the pastor helping the Haywood Emerging Faith Community get started. “People came because there was an open table, there were candles at midnight and there was light in the darkness.”
No question The United Methodist Church — the second largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. — has seen dark times recently.
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