Christmas outreach = Lasting impact
An elusive, indigenous, and largely unreached people, the Mikea of Madagascar, tend to live in the forest as hunter-gatherers, with some small farms as well. Last year you sent God’s Word to 300 Mikea children with Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts — and the results have been wonderful!
The children received The Greatest Gift book about the life of Christ, which introduces children to salvation through Jesus. Following this outreach event, the Mikea youngsters were invited to attend The Greatest Journey 12-lesson discipleship program, which engages them more deeply with Scripture.
Six Mikea girls chose to follow Jesus and were baptized. Thirteen boys and girls later followed them and were also baptized. This is a beautiful outcome from last Christmas’s outreach, and we’re excited to see how many other lives will be transformed by the power of God’s Word.
You can support delivering the Book of Hope and other Scripture programs to 17 million young people around the world this Christmas — and every $1 reaches 3 boys and girls. Thank you for sending the greatest gift of all!
Fast Facts about Christmas Ministry
Epi’s Story of Hope
Epi, in Fiji, was invited to the Children’s Community Outreach event. This Christmas gathering would prove to be more than just a festive celebration …
At the party, Epi received our Scripture book the Book of Hope. As she thumbed through its pages, she discovered the true meaning of Christmas — the nativity story and the gift of Jesus Christ.
“I thanked God Almighty for giving His only Son, Jesus Christ, to be the best Christmas gift ever,” Epi says.
The outreach event not only brought joy to Epi’s holiday, but also enlightened her about the real significance of the season.
“I also learned that Christmas is not just for Santa Claus, but for my Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ,” she explained, her words brimming with newfound understanding.
Epi’s story is a powerful testament to how Christmas ministry can transform lives and bring hope. Through a simple invitation and the gift of Scripture, a young girl in Fiji discovered the greatest gift of all — a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Through a simple invitation and the gift of a Scripture book, Epi discovered the greatest gift of all!
Operation Christmas Child delivers The Greatest Gift!
If you’ve ever participated in the Samaritan’s Purse outreach called Operation Christmas Child, you’ve stuffed a shoebox with practical and fun gifts for children in need — and you’ve had the joy of knowing that your gift made some child’s Christmas so special.
What you might not have known was … your shoebox gift is delivered with The Greatest Gift, a Scripture book that shares the life of Jesus, available in more than 100 languages.
One child who received the Scriptures with his shoebox Christmas gift was Lucien in Senegal. His father had died. His mother struggled to provide for Lucien and his brothers … so he was sent to live with an aunt and uncle.
That Christmas, he received a shoebox gift from Operation Christmas Child, which included The Greatest Gift.
“I began to read. By the end of it, I had tears in my eyes because of the message of salvation I discovered and the invitation to
accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior,” Lucien remembers.
Today Lucien is 31 years old, and a joyful follower of Jesus in a nation that has a population about 97% Muslim. The gift of God’s Word offered hope and transformation! Lucien is now a leader serving with OneHope, giving the hope he received to other children in his nation.
You can help prepare for 2024 Christmas outreaches to touch millions of children and youth like Lucien — and every $1 you give will touch 3 young lives with God’s Word!
Plan ahead for strategic year–end giving
We’re entering the final quarter of 2024 — and a great time to plan for ending the year in a way that transforms the hearts of children around the world and can give you a tax advantage, too.
Consider a few unique ways to take advantage of strategic year-end giving opportunities so you can make an even greater impact and reach more youth with God’s Word than ever before.
Here are some strategic options:
• A qualified charitable distribution (QCD) from your IRA. If you’re 70½ or older, you can give up to $105,000 and not add a penny to your taxable income. Making a QCD from a traditional IRA account comes with tax advantages — is not included in your adjusted gross income for the year — and if you are 73 or older, it often can count toward your required minimum distribution (RMD).
- Donate appreciated stocks or property (including rentals, vacation homes/condos, etc.) that you have held for more than a year, and you often will avoid capital gains tax … and end up making a more sizable donation than if you sold the assets and then donated the proceeds.
- Give from your donor advised fund (DAF) — especially since now is a great time to distribute grants from your DAF to OneHope! As you know, these funds are already set aside for ministry, so you can give freely without touching your ready capital. Most importantly, you will experience the joy of giving both for today and for tomorrow as lives, families, communities are changed by God’s Word for eternity.
If you’d like more information on these or any other planned giving strategies, please contact Jeni Matthews by email at jenimatthews@onehope.net or call 954-600-6548.
We’re working hard to prepare for holiday outreaches …
So let’s make it a guilt-free Christmas!
By OneHope President Rob HoskinsI know we’re a couple months out from Christmas — but the decorations are already up in the Cracker Barrel gift shop, and now is the time we’re preparing and shipping OneHope books and Scripture programs for extensive Christmas outreaches … so I wanted to prepare your heart with a Christmas devotional. I call it “Guilt-Free Christmas.”
For many people, the holiday season is a difficult time. Maybe they never had the kind of joyful family memories most people associate with Christmastime … Maybe they’re busy, burned-out, or depressed … And Christmas seems like a time of emotional pressure where the open wounds of life are exposed.
Sometimes our faith even adds to the anxiety: Legalistic and works-oriented Christianity can put too much emphasis on self-sanctification to offset sin and appeasing God by our own righteousness.
But Christmas is about a person, and Advent is a time to celebrate the tearing down of strongholds and religious bondage through the person of Jesus Christ, our Emmanuel.
Luke 2:11 says, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord” (NIV). Matthew 1:21 reminds us that “she will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because He will save his people from their sins” (NIV).
If you begin to feel overwhelmed with guilt and the weight of your actions starts to get heavy, when that need for self-punishment starts to take your mind places God never intended for it to go, remember that Jesus has already acted on your behalf and lifted the weight of all punishment from your shoulders!
Christmas and Jesus’ birth immediately point us to Easter. His death and resurrection once and for all take away all fear, guilt, shame, and punishment and makes us whole!
When we truly can accept this greatest of Christmas gifts, we become new creations in Christ Jesus our Lord. That is when we stop seeing ourselves as broken and recognize that because of Him we are made royal and whole.
NATION BY NATION
LIMITED ACCESS, SOUTH ASIA
Devansh never knew the story of Christmas or why Jesus came to earth until he saw our Lumo Youth Film about the nativity and began watching the Superbook videos online. Now he says, “I have decided to follow Jesus Christ. He is my King!”
GUYANA
The Contra Cultura and True Champions programs were launched at a boarding school for students ages 11-16, and the students loved it! They asked our team to return for weekly visits, and we’re just awaiting permission from the school to continue the outreach.
LIMITED ACCESS, AFRICA
n a majority- Muslim region of Africa, Christine was suffering with eye problems. She was invited to a screening of The GodMan film and decided to follow Jesus! Her new Christian friends prayed with her for her vision problems, and she was healed! Today she’s growing in God and enrolled in our Lead Today program.
Christmas in the USA 8 THE PROMISED ONE
Our Christmas outreaches across the globe reach millions of children and youth with God’s Word each year —
And we always promote the truth that the commercialization of Christmas has made it very popular, even in nations of Asia and elsewhere that Christians are a minority.
At Christmastime around the world, young people wonder: What is Christmas all about?
We don’t always remember that there are plenty of children in the United States who also need to know the truth about Christmas and may wonder what all the celebration is about. This was certainly true for Josh, an 8-year-old boy in a tough neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Josh’s dad had been in and out of prison and wasn’t a stable part of Josh’s life. Drugs, violence, and crime seemed like a normal part of life for Josh and his three older brothers. Josh had learned that to keep from getting beat up, he had to be tough, and he often fought with other boys and used frightful language.
Last Christmas, he and his brothers received Jesus Bags from a local church: a Christmas gift bag packed with snacks and a Book of Hope for each boy. Josh received The Promised One, a special Christmas-themed book that tells the nativity story so children Josh’s age can understand what Christmas is all about …
Says Rod, the volunteer who delivered the Jesus Bags …
“The three older kids devoured their snacks, but I noticed Josh off to the side by himself, reading the Book of Hope. His whole demeanor changed when I asked the kids what they liked the best out of their bags — he was the first to yell out that he liked the book about Jesus!”
Thanks for getting God’s Word to children like Josh in the United States and all over the world this Christmas.
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