Providence United Methodist Church is beginning a special program, The Umbrella, for all single parents in the community. Classes meet at 9:30 or 10:45 a.m. every Sunday in room 106. Free nursery, children and teen classes are provided during both classes.
Interested parents should email their interest to umbrella@provumc.com. Space is limited.
Providence UMC Senior Pastor Diane Parrish.explains, “Single parents often express that they feel different or marginalized when attending adult classes. Sadly, some even stop going to church at all. These are the parents who we wish to bring into our church family to help support them and their precious children.”
What makes this different from any other class is what Providence calls, “The Umbrella of Love and Prayer.” Dozens of seasoned church members have committed to cover these families, in prayer, by name, every single day. These families will receive a daily devotion just for them and their children, and will have a 24/7 contact for prayer needs. Special fellowship events will also be scheduled.
These classes will also help answer pressing questions children ask parents: Who is God, who am I? How do I get to Heaven? Why did God make roaches and mosquitoes? It will also provide a source of fellowship with other single parents.
“After hosting DivorceCare classes for the past nine years, Providence UMC is even more aware that single parents have an especially heavy burden when it comes to raising children in today’s society,” Parrish says.
Divorce is just one reason so many parents are faced with raising children alone. There are many military families in where a spouse is deployed overseas, families with a parent working out of town due to the economy, widowed parents, or parents who just do not participate in rearing their children.
Parrish continued, “Jesus says, ‘… I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:40). Showing our love for one another at the point of greatest need is the most significant way we show our love for and from Jesus Christ,”
Providence is at 592 Bernhard Rd. in southern Fayette County between Redwine Road and Ga. Hwy. 85. Go to www.provumc.com or call 770-719-8800 for info.
