Fall festival at Emanuel United Church in Jackson bringing in families surrounded by faith

JACKSON Mo. (KBSI) – Kids in costumes, games, friends, family, food, and faith all surrounding Emanuel United Church of Christ in Jackson. 

After church service Emanuel United Church opens up the inside for fun activities and costume contests as the outside parking lot is full of cars with candy. 

Joshua Rau is a new Pastor at Emanuel United Church of Christ. He has only been in the area for four months. He likes being a part of this new community to meet new families who are practicing on building their faith. He wants to make it fun for everyone involved in the church. 

“I’m new to this. I’ve only been here four months but what they do is we line up the parking lot with vehicles for the trunk or treat it a little safer for kids.”

Rau says he loves what he does when it comes to hosting events like these. He appreciates everyone who chips in to help when it comes to hosting these events. 

“It is for the community to see that not everything in this world is bad, that there are good people, that there are good things at this church, it is very vibrant and active. We have a lot of younger families that do a lot for the community and so it is just a great way for us to kind of open our doors to the rest of Jackson and the surrounding area.”

This tradition has been going strong in the church as members have been welcoming the new Pastor into the church and working beside him when it comes to bringing families together. 

Kelly Crawford has been with the church for over 20 years. She loves volunteering as she brought her daughter around the church and loves seeing new families bring their kids with smiling faces. 

“I’ve attended Emmanuel United Church of Christ for over 20 years and I love when we can be out in the community and show people kind of what we’re made of and hopefully spread the light of God to others.”

When it comes to spreading the light of God Emmanuel United Church finds creative ways to do it like storytelling, praying before meals, and craft time. 

“Ten years ago, we decided we wanted to do something for the community around this time of year and decided we would do a fall festival, so we did a trunk or treat. We have dinner for everybody, usually chili and hotdog s’mores and then some sort of craft and then at the end of the night we read a book. One of our favorites is called the pumpkin patch parable, and we do a little costume parade.”

Emanuel United Church of Christ hosts events throughout the entire year. They plan on hosting another one in November.