Boone United Methodist Church came up with a creative and visual way to celebrate the success of their Hope Companion working group of orphans in Rwanda, and forge a connection between the congregation and the group.

One church member painted a bare tree on a large piece of cloth that was made into a banner. The Zoe Empowers Trip of Hope team at the church presented the banner at the worship services explaining the connection of the congregation to the working group and dedicating the banner to be taken to Rwanda with the team. Following the worship services, the team had the banner in the lobby with paint. Members of the congregation put “prayer prints” on the tree with either a finger or thumb. When the team presented the banner to their working group members in Rwanda, the leader explained to the group that each print on the tree represented someone in their church who was praying for them.

The church did something similar for their working group in India with an adaptation. Instead of prayer prints, the team painted individual leaves on the tree and had the members of the youth group, who is in partnership with the group, individually sign the leaves. When the banner was presented to the group in India, the children were asked to sign the leaves also as a symbol that all of them together were one family.