The Advent Conspiracy

There’s a movement going on this Christmas.  It’s a movement away from the consumerism that dominates this time of year.  It’s a movement towards giving more.  It’s a conspiracy… the Advent Conspiracy.  The desire is that we spend less, give more and worship more this year.  We’re invited to participate in this conspiracy.

Our church plant has adopted a single mom with five kids and we get to bring them Christmas!  A big thanks to my in-laws Sunday School class for partnering with us in blessing this family.

Why share this?  One of our values is Community Involvement.  This involves serving people, and we get to serve one family in an exciting way this week.  Pray for us as we deliver the gifts on Sunday afternoon.  We’ve got so much stuff that it will take three vehicles to deliver it all.  It should be fun.

Around 2000 years ago God sent his Son, Jesus, to the earth.  It was the greatest gift he could have given.  How can you model the spirit of giving this year?

 

Values

Have you ever noticed how your values define who you are is a person. Dr. Henry Cloud writes that our lives are defined by what we love and what we hate. Values state what we love. They keep us focused. They show who we are.

Values are important to a church. They define what the church will be known for, what they will and won’t do. Here are a list of our values:

• All people: All people are valuable to God, thus we value all people.
• Excellence: God deserves our best (because he gave his best for us). We’re going to do the best with what we have.
  
• Biblical Authority: The Bible is our ultimate authority in matters of life and faith.
• Fun: Life should be fun, even when it’s hard.
• Life change: Following Jesus changes us.
• Community involvement: Where we live should be better and different because we are here.
• Authenticity: Keep it real.
• Missional: We want to share the Gospel locally and globally.