Church Easter event includes breakfast made by volunteers
Despite rain outside, nearly 100 kids joined the Easter jam at Converge Church on April 1, when they made crafts, ate breakfast and hunted for eggs.
Children filed into the church multi-purpose room to register, then saw eight displays “explaining the Easter story from Palm Sunday to the Resurrection,” said Kitty Bowen, children’s ministry director. Carmen Rodriguez and Dee Downs described the meaning of Easter morning with the words “He’s alive.”
Craft tables were loaded with art supplies and kids got to play Tic-Tac Toe. They also received the familiar candy Easter Peeps for after breakfast, a meal prepared by older church members and teens from seventh to 12th grade active in the church youth ministry program.
“They volunteered to help put this whole event together,” Ministry Director Connor McGettigan said. “We have an active group of 25 to 30 who enjoy the Friday-night fun events, such as going to escape rooms or visiting the Sky Zone in Maple Shade.”
After the meal, the children hunted for eggs in a darkened room with blinking lights. The plastic eggs were empty of course, but children traded them for a surprise bag of goodies put together by special education students at Moorestown High School.
“We hoped to have the hunt outside, but because of the rain we moved it inside,” said Bowen, who is the wife of Pastor George Bowen. He recently celebrated his 35th anniversary as leader of the church.
Converge Church was founded in 1928 in Maple Shade, according to Bowen, and the current building on North Lenola Road in Moorestown was built in 1973. The church merged with Destiny Church in 2018, making Bowen and Jonathan Leath co-pastors to a congregation of some 300 members.
“We have lively, uplifting services,” the pastor said. “We are all inclusive and charismatic.”
When the Bowens first arrived at the church in 1987, its building was small, but additions have been built over the years as the congregation grew.
