A group of Strasburg churches are coming together to help one of their own.

The Strasburg Ministerium, a collection of six area churches - St. Michael's Lutheran Church, High View Church of God, Strasburg Mennonite, ACTS Covenant Fellowship, Wesley United Methodist, and First Presbyterian - will join forces to refurbish the social hall at St. Michael's.

From Friday, March 28, to Sunday, March 30, members of the churches will volunteer to patch and paint the walls of the social hall, which is located at 40 E. Main St., Strasburg.

Members of the community are invited to assist with the project. For more information, email St. Michael's pastor Melody Sell at Pmsell2@ptd.net.

"What happened was kind of funny," Sell said. "This congregation through the years has tried to get this room painted. Many years ago, one of the radio stations had an ugly room contest for churches, and they applied and lost. They've looked at other options. I asked at the ministerium if anybody knew of a youth work camp coming in."

Bob Bronkema from First Presbyterian and John Meck from Strasburg Mennonite asked what work Sell needed done, and she told them about the social hall.

"One of them, and I don't remember which one, said, 'We pay to go overseas to do mission projects like that. Can't we do it in our hometown?'" Sell said. "In about 15 minutes, we had a plan."

St. Michael's is preparing for the work by rearranging items in the social hall, which is used for meetings and holiday dinners. "I think it will help all our churches," Sell said of the group project. "For St. Michael's, it means this room will be much more usable than it has been for many years. It's being cleaned out (prior to the painting) which is a good thing, because churches have a bad habit of keeping things forever."

Pastor Nate Smoker from ACTS Covenant Fellowship is the president of the ministerium. "I think our willingness to put aside our denominational lines to help other churches speaks well," Smoker said. "I'm thankful for the openness and the unity that we have here in our congregations. We have a lot of services together. We can get behind a church in need. Oftentimes, we allow things to divide us. We like to find things that will unite us. It speaks of the unified heart of the churches here in Strasburg."

The Strasburg Ministerium is holding Lent lunches in its member churches with the next services Wednesday, April 2, at Wesley United Methodist, 40 W. Main St., and Wednesday, April 9, at First Presbyterian, 101 S. Decatur St. The service starts at noon followed by a luncheon.

The series of lunches will culminate with an Easter sunrise service on Sunday, April 20, in the cemetery adjacent to St. Michael's.

Smoker said the ministerium participates in Strasburg National Day of Prayer and holds a fall joint service at Strasburg Community Park and a Thanksgiving service.

The ministerium also helps a food bank that operates out of First Presbyterian Church. Ministerium member pastors meet for a monthly breakfast to discuss future projects.

The upcoming renovation at St. Michael's is an example of the good works that can be accomplished when churches collaborate.

"For this congregation, that's a witness that the community cares about not just the churches, but the people," Sell said.