Calendar & News

Calendar & News

12/12/2011

Christmas Eve Offering Provides Hope

During the season of Advent, as we await the celebration of the birth of Christ, we are filled with hope that our world might become a better place for all. Christ said that when we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and those in prison, we minster to him. Our Annual Christmas Eve Offering gives us the opportunity to share a portion of our blessings with people in dire circumstances.

This year our Christmas Eve Offering will help relieve hunger in the Horn of Africa, support Churches for Middle East Peace, and provide much needed funds for local ministries of critical importance.

  • Through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, 25% of the offering will aid tens of thousands of refugees. Displaced by war and famine, many walk for weeks, avoiding main roads for fear of attack, to reach the relative safety of an overcrowded refugee camp. www.pcusa.org/ministries/pda/
  • 25% of the offering will aid the Mary Randall Center, a ministry of Meeting Ground, which helps those living isolated from the community, in cars and woodlands, find transitional and permanent housing, and provide ongoing support so they may continue to live independently. www.meetingground.org
  • At last, work is underway at the Habitat Mill Stone community! 25% of the offering will help complete our commitment to the Thomas, Mathias and Baker families, whose homes are primarily funded by the 2010 and 2011 ‘Bike to Build’ events. www.habitatncc.org
  • As a charter member of Family Promise of Delaware, Westminster hosts homeless families in our church building four or more weeks a year. 20% of the offering will go to Family Promise, which achieves an 80% success rate placing homeless families into long-term housing. www.familypromisede.org
  • Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” 5% of the offering will support Churches for Middle East Peace as it works to promote a just, lasting and comprehensive resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ensuring security, human rights and religious freedom for all the people of the region. www.cmep.org