This Advent was truly a rehab time for Grace Chapel. From the design of the lobby to the weekly focus on the 4 principles of Advent Conspiracy, we saw our community go through a detox of what Christmas has been and grasp the true meaning of what Jesus desires for our lives and the Christmas season.
We saw families adopt the concepts of Worship More, Spend Less, Give More, Love All. We saw junior high kids and high school kids say that they were satisfied for the first Christmas ever because they truly participated in [AC] and gave relational gifts. We saw a gathering of young adults buy, wrap and deliver over 100 gifts to help make the Bridgetown Ministries Christmas Party something great. The stories are still coming in, stories of families and individuals whose lives were changed because they truly replaced “Consumerism with Compassion”.
LIBERIA WELL REHAB PROJECT
Our community got really excited about working with Living Water and the well rehabilitation project in Liberia, Africa. On December 23rd we took an offering for that project and gave 100% of it to this purpose.
I am already looking forward to next year but until then I pray that the buzz of what happens when you replace consumerism with compassion will continue to grow.
How much money was redistributed?: $50,000
How much went to water?: $42,000 + matching grant = $84,000
The other $8,000 went to...
Angel Tree
Right now, an estimated 2.3 million children have a mom or dad in prison. This Christmas, we collected presents for 250 children. The majority of the children we worked with have a parent in the Wilsonville Coffee Creek Correctional facility.
Joy Drive
The focus of the JOY Drive is to collect items on the list and bring them to the church for distribution.
Schools
Our first group was the disadvantaged and poor children (1st-5th grade) in the Wilsonville area. The items that were collected: Shoe cards from Payless, socks, underwear, jackets, scarves, gloves, travel shampoo and reading books.
Homeless
Our second group was the homeless that live on the streets in downtown Portland. The items that were collected: Hooded sweatshirts, socks,jackets, gloves, warm hats, and nutrition bars.
Prison
Our third target group was the inmates at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville. The items that were collected: 100 Life Recovery Study Bibles.
This Advent was truly a rehab time for Grace Chapel. From the design of the lobby to the weekly focus on the 4 principles of Advent Conspiracy, we saw our community go through a detox of what Christmas has been and grasp the true meaning of what Jesus desires for our lives and the Christmas season.