Advent Offering 2023
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote from the cell of Tegel Prison in 1943, “The Advent season is a season of waiting, but our whole life is an Advent season, that is, a season of waiting for the last Advent, for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth.” These are fitting words as we conclude our study of Revelation, anticipating Christ’s second coming. Now we enter the season of Advent. With expectant joy, we look back to the manger and recount the good news of great joy incarnated to reconcile a people to God. With faith and adoration, we look forward to the day when Jesus comes in His glory to make all things new. Between these two Advents, the life of the Christian is one of constant anticipation.
As we anticipate, we seek to live all of life all for Jesus and be Gospel-centered and outward focused in all we do. Every year at Redemption Arcadia we give to those less fortunate than ourselves, going above and beyond our normal giving through our Advent Offering. We acknowledge that every good and perfect gift is from above as we work together to care for our community in various ways.
This year, we have the privilege of giving of our time and our resources in the form of gifts for the Affordable Christmas initiative, providing hope in the holiday season to those less fortunate than us. We'll also support our local ministry partners, Along Side Ministries and Hope Women’s Center. We also get to support the church planting efforts of our brother, Juan Chavez, at Redemption Alhambra as he prepares to plant a new church in South Phoenix in 2024.
Join us this year as we give of our time and our treasure for the glory of Jesus.
TIME
Serve at Affordable Christmas
Poverty remains a significant concern in the broader Alhambra community, particularly in the immediate vicinity of Redemption Alhambra where it is more concentrated. We partner with Redemption Alhambra as they address issues of poverty, hunger, and homelessness within our community, and this event serves as a tangible expression of our commitment to this mission. The Affordable Christmas initiative fosters responsible and equitable growth, promotes discipleship, and engages in worship. This event uniquely blends faith and action, providing a purposeful and intentional response during a season that can be challenging and disheartening for many.
Affordable Christmas provides low-income families in the Alhambra community the opportunity to purchase gifts for their children at a fraction of retail price. This allows parents facing financial challenges to give their children gifts for Christmas, while maintaining dignity as providers for their families.
Training Day: Wednesday, December 13 at 6:30pm at Redemption Alhambra
Service Day: Saturday, December 16 from 8:00am-Noon at Redemption Alhambra
Note: there are multiple shifts available, though you are welcome to serve all day!
Click below to register to serve at Affordable Christmas - the password is lemur-gorilla-cat.
GIFTS
Donate Toys for Affordable Christmas
Affordable Christmas is a special shopping experience for families facing poverty, low income, or challenging circumstances. During this one-day shopping event, families have the opportunity to purchase toys for their children at a mere 10% of the store value. This approach ensures that parents and guardians maintain their dignity while actively participating in choosing gifts for their loved ones. The event also serves as a platform to pray for and connect families with local non-profits, gaining access to information and support services.
We collect toys for children from babies through teens, and the past few years we’ve especially needed gifts for older children and teens. You can either drop gifts off at Redemption Arcadia by Sunday, December 10, or ship them directly to Redemption Alhambra by ordering from the Amazon wishlist linked to the button below and selecting “Affordable Christmas’ Gift Registry Address” as the shipping address.
Treasure
The funds donated to our Advent Offering this year will be evenly split between three of our partner organizations.
Along Side Ministries
Motivated to transform lives, Along Side Ministries (ASM) was founded in 1999. Their mission is to disciple and equip incarcerated Christians to make a successful transition to life beyond the bars. Currently, ASM provides services and teaches the Word of God in 11 prisons with 18 yards throughout Arizona using a dedicated staff and a large team of 100+ volunteers. 97% of graduates of Along Sides Ministries’ Discipleship Program never go back to prison, while 68% of Arizona offenders do return within 3 years.
Hope Women’s Center
In 2024, Hope Women’s Center is excited to be expanding several of their centers with more hours and staff to serve the 25% increase they have seen in women and teens coming for services in 2023. They believe that every mother deserves the opportunity to thrive, and their new Every Mother's Advocate (EMA) program pairs moms with an EMA Advocate who will work alongside her to provide holistic support including parenting education, advocacy, earned incentives, case management, and more. They are also continuing to grow their program for teen girls with more classes, mentoring, and emotional, social, and spiritual support. They are hoping to add more mental health support and services for women and teens and to continue to grow their Hope at Work job skills program.
Juan Chavez’ South Phoenix Church Plant
Juan Chavez, one of the pastors at Redemption Alhambra, is preparing to plant a church in South Phoenix in 2024. Read below as Juan shares his heart for this community with us:
We are gearing up to plant a church in South Phoenix, between 35th Avenue-7th Street (West to East) and Baseline-Broadway (South to North). This area is full of physical and spiritual needs. As I often travel through these communities and meet with people, it’s obvious that poverty, gang violence, broken homes, and drug use plague these neighborhoods. Our church plans to address and meet these needs while providing a place of worship and fellowship in the body of Christ. We recently had our first in-home church plant gathering and in this room were two former students I met at Chavez High School – Jose, who I met in 2010 and saw come to faith, and Nazareth who I met in 2022 and is now connected with us in ministry. That was a beautiful picture to see, and we know there are many more people like them who we’ve met and worked with over the years that God will bring alongside us for this church. We will continue these meetings through the end of 2023. As we start the new year, we will increase how often we gather, extend invites to others, and prayerfully launch around summertime.
