November 18, 2022
Church family,
As we enter the Advent season, we begin focusing our minds and hearts on the greatest gift ever given – that God sent His only Son into this world to be our Savior. This year, out of a heart of joy and gratitude, and as a response of worship, we will once again take up our special Christmas offering, The Gift.
Over the last decades, consumerism has consumed our culture and even modified our language. We now not only have Black Friday, but Cyber Monday as well. In light of this, we will begin giving to The Gift on Giving Tuesday, November 29th.
Over the next weeks we will take the opportunity to highlight for you some of our gospel partners, at home and around the world. We want you to know who and what our offerings are assisting and partnering with to take the gospel to the lost and advance the Kingdom of God. Here are some of the needs and ways that we will be stewarding our gifts this Christmas at home and abroad:
- Blessing families within our own congregation & community who are currently struggling financially and in need of help this season. We will be assisting some families that – without our help – would not be able to have many of the basic things we enjoy at Christmas: a healthy meal, the delight of a Christmas tree, and the joy of being able to give one another gifts.
- Providing several families within our community with Christmas Boxes, ensuring that no one’s pantry is depleted during Christmas. We will plan to pinpoint families through Lunches of Love and the North Alabama Foster Closet.
- Supporting and investing in our church planting partners. Very specifically, we will be giving support to our newest Acts 29 church planting partner, John Baker (currently the Church Planting resident at Summit Crossing), as well as our partner through the SEND Network, Awakening Church in Seattle. Along with our financial gifts, we are also looking to possibly send a team to Seattle in 2023 to assist Awakening Church with some important community ministry efforts.
- Investing in our global mission partners in India, Nepal, and Armenia. As we support the International Mission Board, E3, Wycliffe, and Triad (previously Mountain Child), we are providing opportunities to train & equip people to share the good news of the gospel, funding the translation of God’s Word into peoples’ native tongue, and supporting missionaries who are in the field and doing the work of sharing the gospel and advancing the Kingdom.
- The Brook will continue partnering with Community of Hope, working to end chronic homelessness in Huntsville, providing permanent housing solutions and job opportunities to people in our own community.
In Matthew 25, Jesus said that when we see the hungry and give them something to eat, or we see the stranger and welcome him, or we see the naked and clothe them – “as you did it to the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
In James 2:14-16, James goes on to say: “Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, and you say, ‘Well, goodbye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well’ – but then you don’t give that person food or clothing. What good does that do?”
Know that when we erase someone’s fear of hunger, we give them hope.
When we walk alongside someone in times of trouble, we give them dignity.
When we train someone to share the gospel, we are advancing the Kingdom of God. What a gift!
This year we are praying – and believing – that the Lord is going to do something incredible through this opportunity. We are asking you to pray and believe and give with audacious faith; a faith dependent on God to move, provide, and to come through as we give for the sake of others & the Kingdom! With this in mind, we are setting a church-wide goal of $40,000 this year for The Gift.
Online giving will begin on Giving Tuesday, November 29th on our website. If it’s more convenient for you to give in person, special envelopes will be available in the Worship Center beginning Sunday, December 4. You can simply drop those in the offering boxes.
Thank you for joining with us to partner in the gospel this Christmas, to be a light in the darkness, to minister to those in need, and in living intentionally to bring God’s Kingdom everywhere we go!
Pastor Brian