Mystery, comedy and hope come to Bethel AME
Church\'s murder mystery dinner theater aims to raise funds for ministry
Sierra Bolger Trending
LEWISTOWN - The actors at Bethel AME Church may not have theater degrees, memorized speeches or months of rehearsal behind them.
They do have cue cards.
They also have a mystery to solve, a dinner to serve, a few roles to fill and a pastor who believes the church should leave room for laughter.
Bethel AME Church, 23 N. Juniata St., Lewistown, will hold a murder mystery dinner theater from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, July 31, to benefit its Global Outreach Ministries. The event will bring dinner, comedy, and audience participation into the church, with a pretend body in the parlor and suspects in the pews.
Pastor Renita Green said the idea grew from a simple belief.
"Fun is the keyword in fundraiser," Green said. "Church can be, and I believe should be, fun. Fun is ministry."
The production has a homegrown feel. Green said the actors are regular church people, and the church still needs a few more. No long rehearsals. No memorized lines. Participants will read from cue cards, but Green said they should read them "dramatically."
Green said events like this sometimes assign people roles when they arrive. That may happen Friday. A person could walk in expecting dinner and end up reading from a cue card before dessert.
Green described the evening as a live version of Clue. It's a mystery comedy built around a Hollywood-style setting, and guests are encouraged to dress the part. They can come as someone from a movie set, a member of the cast of extras, or someone fit for the runway.
That's the kind of night Green wanted. The fundraiser will raise money, but it will also give people a reason to gather and enjoy themselves. Green said life already gives people enough schedules, obligations, drama, and personal crises. Sometimes ministry comes through prayer. Sometimes it comes through service. Sometimes it comes through laughter at a church table.
"Bringing joy and laughter into a community, I believe, honors God," Green said.
That joy takes work.
Green said Bethel AME Church in Lewistown and Bethel AME Church in Mount Union are working together, and the preparation has touched nearly every part of church life. Volunteers have handled promotional materials, food orders, ticket sales, decorations, cooking, serving, greeting and acting.
"There is a lot of good teamwork unfolding," Green said.
That kind of work hides behind the finished event. By the time guests arrive, the chairs are in place, the food is ready, and the mystery can begin. What they may not see is the person who ordered the meal, fixed the room, agreed to read a cue card, or said yes because the church needed help.
Then, for one night, they try to look guilty.
Tickets are $20 and may be purchased at hopeinahurtingworld.org. The meal will include a spaghetti dinner with DelGrosso spaghetti, salad and rolls donated by Lewistown OIP, and homemade desserts.
The money raised will support Global Outreach Ministries, which is connected to the broader AME Church. Green said the ministry reaches Haiti, Africa, India, the Caribbean Islands, and communities in the United States.
In Haiti, the church has helped build a hospital and train community health workers to serve villages. The church also supports schools and an orphanage there. In India, Green said, the church supports pastors in newly formed Christian churches where Christians face persecution for their faith. Across Africa, the denomination supports schools.
Green also volunteers as an adjunct professor for global seminary students. Some students, she said, have taken a three-hour train ride to a larger city so they could access the internet for their courses.
The ministry also reaches closer to home. Green said the church sponsors Wilberforce University and Payne Theological Seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio. She's a two-time graduate of Payne and said the church provided scholarship funding that covered her doctorate.
Locally, Green said the church has a tutoring program in Mount Union, supports grief ministry in Lewistown and will soon serve as a Community Cafe host.
Bethel's mission also carries deep local history. Green said Bethel AME in Lewistown sits on land donated by Trustee Samuel Molson, whom she described as a conductor on the Underground Railroad who led people from Lewistown through the mountains to Bellefonte. In Bellefonte, another church on the circuit is working to revive the historic St. Paul AME Church, which Green said is connected to the Underground Railroad.
That history gives Friday's fundraiser a longer reach. The event is playful, but the purpose reaches beyond the room.
Green said Bethel AME wants to be a place of hope in a hurting world, where people are welcomed, prayed for, encouraged, and served without strings attached.
"Life is hard," Green said. "We need each other to make it through, to heal, and to emerge into our purpose."
For two hours Friday night, that hope will come with dinner, laughter and a mystery.
Someone may get a role. Someone may read from a cue card with more enthusiasm than experience. Someone may dress for Hollywood and end up accused under church lights.
The crime will be pretend.
The welcome won't.