On Saturday, February 26, The Cornerstone Church and Grace Avenue Bible Church hosted a special evening in Sacramento for immigrants and families with a very romantic theme: “Under the Dome of Love”.
Based on the words of the organizers, this event has been happening every year at the end of February for the past four years. The goal of the event is to invite people to the church who recently arrived to the U.S. Church members get to know new people, offer them help, and invite them to fellowship with them at their home groups. ”Under the Dome of Love” is a great event with two programs: for adults, and for children. This year, about 220 adults and 100 children were able to attend.
The youngest children ages up to 5 years old were sent to a few groups where Sunday school volunteers played with them, did some art and crafts. For older children, there were about 10 fun station that were available to them: two trampolines, a clown, princesses, popcorn, ping-pong, badminton, dart stations, dodgeball, face painting, and other activities that were engaging so that their parents were able to fellowship in the main area.
The adults had a two-hour program: dinner and desert, music program and prayer, games, and contests. The hosts were Ilya Koryaka and Ruslan Yurchak who did everything that they could to create a welcoming atmosphere where these immigrants would get to know each other and talk on various subjects. The main theme of the evening which could be traced throughout the evening was the theme of The Greatest Love in the Human History – The Love of Jesus Christ. We were discussing human kind of love, and God’s love towards us. It was interesting to hear what young children think about love. The main speaker was a missionary from Yushkar-Ola, Yevgeniy Dushakov. He explained the true meaning of love through Biblical illustrations. At the end of the meeting, the husbands gave their wives roses, and that was a wonderful conclusion of the celebration for family couples.
At the end of the meeting, the event organizers invited everyone to their church services. The next day, Grace Avenue Bible Church had about 70 visitors, these immigrants who do not know God. After the service, all these people were invited to come to small groups and home fellowships.
Thanks to everyone who helped to organize and serve at this celebration. May God be glorified in everything!
Ruslan Yurchak
