Knitting the Threads of God’s Love began in September 2006. It all started when we met a lady who wanted teach us how to knit. We learned and then jumped in. The first class began with 10 ladies and has now grown to over 50. These ladies come from all faiths as it is not required to be a member or know how to knit. The class is held in the Adult Building in Room 117 on every Tuesday from 9 am to 11 am. We knit prayer shawls, squares for afghans needed by children in Africa, scarves and hats for the homeless, and many more projects. Over 300 prayer shawls have been given out. These have gone all over the United States and some overseas. We recently were recipients of the Hand It On gift from WAFB. We invite you to come join us for knitting and fellowship.

The knitting ministry recently knitted 350 brightly colored squares and sent them to our friends in Christ at the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, which is located in an area that has been devastated by poverty and HIV/AIDS. The women of the church took the squares and knitted them together in their own pattern to complete the blankets. FUMC recently received this photograph of the children wearing the blankets, called "throw-overs" made from the squares. This letter of gratitude to the members of the knitting circle was also included:

Greetings, in the wonderful name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen!

We wish to extend our gratitude for the assistance you offered us, providing us with such beautiful wool knitted pieces of different colors for our needy community. From the knitted squares, we developed “throw-overs” or blankets with different sizes for adults and children. The women’s group here volunteered to join the pieces together and each person added her own pattern, style and art to the design. This was the right time for our winter season in the Southern Hemisphere. Our parish is situated in a poverty stricken area, ravaged by unemployment and even the employed live below the bread/poverty line because of low income, and our community has been devastated further by the scourge of HIV and AIDS. It was a chilly Saturday morning when we presented the throw-overs, targeting the poorest of the poor in our community. The event was emotional as we wrapped the children, some accompanied by their mothers, some on their own. One could see that this was going to be their first winter warmth, maybe in their entire lives. Thank you so much for this blessing on our community. We Love You.

Yours in Christ,
The Methodist Church of Southern Africa

Every year the knitting ministry creates beautiful, hand-made prayer shawls in every color of the rainbow. These shawls are prayed over as they are created. The shawls are then given, as a tangible example of God's love, to individuals who are ill, have suffered a loss and to the needy. Each year during Sunday morning worship the shawls are dedicated and blessed.