God's design for Christian community is a design that draws people together in a way that breaks down divisions and helps us to see one another all as fellow unworthy neighbors...all created by God and made worthy only through Jesus Christ.
One of my favorite, favorite, favorite things about "Christmas in Walnut" is watching how God draws diverse people together in Christian community to begin breaking down divisions through this togetherness experience. See a few stories below of how God has been using the whole of our community in this effort.
-Some of our shoppers for tomorrow's Christmas Store are also leaders and volunteers helping to run the store.
-Two other churches in our community have contributed to Christmas in Walnut through donations of toys, money, and/or volunteers.
-My husband's office at UNI passed around an envelope and contributed a financial donation for the store.
-Several retail stores gave wonderful discounts to our shoppers when they learned about the Christmas Store.
-Children from Orchard Hill Cedar Falls, Orchard Hill Grundy Center, and Harvest Waterloo colored and wrote messages on the back of bookmarks. A bookmark and Bible will be handed out to each Christmas Store family who shops.
-Teenagers/young 20's from our student ministry program (which is a collective of churches) provided 350 gifts over the past week to the Christmas Store. Their joy and enthusiasm in the giving was electric. Also, several young adult small group leaders modeled sacrificial giving as they took their high school small groups out shopping. One small group leader had been saving his giving money for this event and put forth $400...their group of 4 came in with toy purchases totaling $580. What an amazing act of giving and generosity!
-One shopper from last year has started a ministry in Waterloo. She loved last year's Christmas in Walnut experience and rallied her congregation this year to contribute several gift cards for this year's Store.
-Two family support workers from local schools have done an outstanding job sharing the vision and getting tickets to families in need of assistance this Christmas.
-Over $14,000 and 2,200 gifts have come in over the past four weeks for Christmas in Walnut. A leadership team of 18 people has been stellar. Somewhere around 310 volunteers are signed up to be at the Boys n' Girls Club and Harvest Vineyard tomorrow. 500 tickets have gone out to families who could use some assistance this Christmas. aMAZING!
God's goodness is so evident through his design for relationship...community.
Ephesians 2:14 "For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility..."
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