GRANITE CITY - United to Revive Ministries is taking on Granite City this weekend with several nondenominational church services at Wilson Park.
From 6–8 p.m. on Oct. 5, 6 and 7, 2023, United to Revive invites community members to join them for worship, testimonies and live music. The nonprofit travels to communities throughout the Metro East to connect with people and share their beliefs with attendees.
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“We just want to love on people,” organizer Justina Snyder said. “We just want to bring people together, especially those who are experiencing addiction, shame, loss of purpose, regret, guilt, depression, hopelessness. Whatever the needs are, we all have them. And we just want [people] to know that we see them, we hear them, we love them and we want to share the truth with them.”
Snyder explained that the group has been active for a few years. According to her, Granite City “is in great need,” as are many other communities in the Metro East. United to Revive hopes to encourage people and share stories of overcoming hardship through Christianity.
“We just get together and pray,” Snyder said. “Whatever happens happens, but that’s our goal, to pray for our communities to come out of this heaviness and darkness and for people to know that the love of Jesus has made us want to share that with people.”
In addition to worship and testimonies, anyone who wants to can take communion. United to Revive also sets up a “baptism trough” so they can perform baptisms at their events; Snyder said that people often “just jump in the water.”
If someone chooses to get baptized during a United to Revive service, the organization reaches out to them in the following weeks to check in and help them get connected to local churches. Snyder emphasized that they don’t push anyone toward one church or denomination over another. Instead, they work with community churches to compile a list of options so each person can decide what’s best for them.
“We kind of ask them what they would be comfortable with,” she added. “A lot of people have been church hurt, so we’ll try to set them up. We have other churches that are willing for us to send them people and for them to love on them as well.”
This is the goal of the traveling United to Revive services. Snyder recounted another time recently when United to Revive was in Granite City, when they walked in the Labor Day parade. Based on that experience, she hopes the upcoming event will be moving and well-attended.
“That was amazing. We just had people come in and follow us in the parade, because that’s what people are looking for: hope,” she said. “And we want to bring hope to the hopeless.”
United to Revive Ministries will hold services from 6–8 p.m. on Oct. 5, 6 and 7, 2023, at Centennial Pavilion at Wilson Park in Granite City. For more information, visit their Facebook page and official website at UnitedToRevive.org.
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