Join us in taking the Christmas Challenge. This Christmas we’re asking that you intentionally put the focus back on the celebration of the birth of Jesus. There are three things that can help us focus on Jesus – the reason for the season.
Worship Fully. Let’s not jam this season so full that we become distracted from the real reason for the season. May our focus on be on truly celebrating and being thankful for the gift God gave us in his Son. Advent is a way to help focus our worship during the Christmas season.
Give Less Gifts and More of Ourselves. Commit to not buying lots of stuff (that we forget about after Christmas anyway), but give relational gifts. Relational giving is the gift of self. It can be giving something we make or it could be giving of ourselves in special ways. Here’s a list of thoughts to give you some creative ideas. Let this Christmas reflect the giving of God – he didn’t send a store bought gift – he sent himself in Jesus. That’s the epitome of relational giving.
Make a Difference. With some of the money we save by not buying tons of store bought gifts we have the opportunity to make a difference for those in need. We have two basic ways you can do this:
1. Season of Giving. You can make a difference for a struggling family. Find out more about Season of Giving. Get involved in making a difference for a family this year.
2. Christmas Eve Offering. This year we are going to split our Christmas Eve offering to help meet two great needs – one local and one international. Due to the current recession many are facing significant financial challenges. Requests for financial help continue to increase. Through our benevolence ministry, we serve folks in our church and in our community.
We also want to purchase Sawyer water systems for international use. Unsanitary water is the major health issue in the world. We want to provide the necessary systems for as many villages as we can to provide safe and clean water. Each system costs $110 and will serve several families. Several systems will serve a village. These systems not only remove the dirt from the water, but also remove all the germs and diseases. We’ll have special offering envelopes available prior to Christmas Eve.
