Special Missions
Operation Christmas Child
The Power of a Simple Gift. Operation Christmas Child brings joy and hope to children in desperate situations around the world through gift-filled shoe boxes and the Good News of God’s love. Since 1993, Samaritan's Purse has packed, shipped, and delivered more than 61 million shoe boxes across the globe. People of all ages can be involved in this simple, hands-on missions project while focusing on the true meaning of Christmas—Jesus Christ.
WHAT TO DO:
Download
complete instructions for creating your shoe box (including necessary box labels). You will be able to drop your box off at the church in November.
Watch the video to the right to learn how to pack a shoe box. More information about Operation Christmas Child and Samaritan's Purse can be found at their website.
Christmas Mission Offering
Each year, the FBC Pastors, Mission Board and Deacons consider a special need, not in our budget, that would benefit from our Christmas Offering. In 2008, the money collected was divided between two local missions that FBC actively supports, Restoration Urban Ministries and Empty Tomb. In 2007, we sent the money to Ed & Miriam Noyes, our missionaries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to purchase a transport truck to establish regular collection routes for fresh manioc tubers and fresh palm fruit. In 2006, the offering went to a local non-profit, Empty Tomb, to support their “Wake the Sleeping Giant” Program.
Food Pantry
Staff from a local non-profit, Empty Tomb, contacts church organizations who deliver a one-week supply of groceries to needy families. Our Team Leader has a list of delivery teams and a schedule. The team comes in and picks up the food that has been donated by the congregation, and supplements it from designated grocers in the community with the funds that are donated by the congregation. They deliver the groceries to the appropriate family.
Want to help by donating needed food items? Just bring any of the listed items to the Information Desk or the church office.
Love Gift
American Baptist women show their thankfulness for God's blessings through a simple offering called Love Gift. This offering supports the full range of American Baptist missions in this country and around the world. Love Gift is distributed to our mission efforts that also receive United Mission funding. It supports the work of Regions, Educational Ministries, National & International Ministries, and the Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board. Over $1 million is raised each year through Love Gift!
Look for the Love Gift table in The Crossing every Sunday morning.
Blanket+ Program
Blankets+ (formerly called Tools & Blankets), a part of Church World Service, is a special mission opportunity that can involve all ages. Some 8,000 congregations and groups across the U.S. hold Blankets+ events, providing funds to help people in need around the world, including the U.S. For over 60 years, Church World Service has worked in partnership with local communities to identify their needs and access the resources they need to build the foundation for a more viable future, including:
- Blankets, tents, food and other emergency supplies in the wake of a disaster
- Tools and seeds for refugees returning home to replant their fields
- Wells for families living in drought prone areas to provide clean, safe water to drink and to irrigate crops and gardens
- Literacy training and microcredit for women struggling to realize their potential.
Visit the website for the Blanket+ Program.
Church World Service Kits
Church World Service Kits are small packages of supplies assembled by volunteers and shipped to people in need around the world. The contents of each Kit have been selected with care based on years of experience to make them as useful as possible, wherever and whenever they are sent. Examples of Kits include: School Kits, Hygiene Kits, Baby Kits, and Emergency Clean-up Buckets.
Kits may be sent to Church World Service all year. Your continuing support of this program is very important and helps to ensure Kits are available for immediate response after a disaster in another part of the world or here in the U.S.
Visit the website for the Church World Service Kits.
