Sunday, December 28, 2008

Advent Conspiracy continues!

Now that the season of gift-buying and gift-giving is coming to an end, it's time to prayerfully consider how you will participate in the Advent Conspiracy project we've been talking about since early November. 

Some of you have already contributed to a local project -- buying coats or boots for children in the Parkside neighborhood and/or helping families who've recently adopted children from foster care.  We really appreciate these gifts, which are already making a difference for local families who can use a little extra help this time of year.

During the month of January, we will receive your gifts toward the global project:  helping to install a water system at Humble United Methodist School, a school in Uganda that provides food, shelter, and education to about 250 children, most of whom are orphans due to the AIDS crisis or civil war.  Currently the school lacks a system that provides a consistent suppy of clean water for sanitation and cooking.  We're working through the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, an agency that has developed strict accountability measures, to ensure that 100% of your gift goes directly to this specific project.

In November, we issued an ambitious challenge:  that each of us match our giving to family and friends, dollar for dollar, with giving to help people in need.  How you will respond to that challenge is your call.  We hope to be able, as a New Light community, to make a signficant gift to assist with this project, so let's work together to see how we can honor the Christ Child by helping God's children in need in an area of extreme poverty -- poverty most of us can not begin to imagine. 

Please give your Advent Conspiracy gifts to Erica, Sara, or Allen, by the end of January.  Checks can be made out to New Light, memo "Advent Conspiracy."  Let's see if we can make a world of difference.

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