The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Getting ready to ring in the new year
Several Painesville churches and ministry groups will be joining together to ring in the new year.
Several Painesville churches and ministry groups will be joining together to ring in the new year.
The First Church of Christ, located at 422 Mentor Ave., will host a Watch Night Youth Worship Celebration on New Year’s Eve which will be free to attend and open to the public.
The event, which will run from 10 p.m. to midnight, will feature singers, dancers, and musicians from area youth ministries gathered from Union Community Church, Temple of Pentecost, New Hope Baptist Church, St. John Baptist Church, Union Pentecostal Holiness Church.
“We wanted these kids to know that the church community loves,” said co-organizer Karyn Gant of the event,
Gant, who recently lost her son Yorry Timley to gun violence, added in a press release, “We know (youth) are hurting and we want to help them heal. That’s why we’re doing this.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by the event’s other co-coordinator, pastor Brian Jones.
“Our primary goal is to show youth in the Painesville community that churches can work together and that they do care for them,” he said.
Jones noted that the First Church of Christ also held Timley’s funeral services. From that tragedy they hope the New Year’s Eve event will serve as a chance to counsel and allow the community to mourn such a senseless loss.
“Among the pastors of the ministries that are participating, we had a conversation and felt that we missed an opportunity to minister to the kids and to help through the grieving and healing process,” he said. “This New Year’s Eve service is in response to that.”
“Our primary goal is to show youth in the Painesville community that churches can work together and that they do care for them.” — Pastor Brian Jones