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Could your helping others at Christmas actually be hurting them?
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Helping During the Holidays
Affirming the Dignity of Others

Black Friday is this Friday.  Let's take a different approach. Check out this short video about how your family may re-think your approach to giving to a materially poor person or family during the holidays. 

St. Roch Community Church is having a Christmas Store next month which would provide you a great avenue to put into practice this principle. You can find all the details here on how to partner with the church in affirming dignity this Christmas.

Also check out the Advent Conspiracy for another significant way to make this Christmas meaningful. Advent Conspiracy is "a global movement of people and churches resisting the cultural Christmas narrative of consumption by choosing a revolutionary Christmas through worshipping fully, spending less, giving more and loving all."
How do we respond to Ferguson?
"I’m saying we need to ask questions, to listen, to exercise holy curiosity. I’m saying that we might have blindspots, might not see so clearly. I’m saying that we really just don’t get it, at a fundamental level, and must make ourselves available for metanoia. I’m saying that we need to knock on a black neighbor’s door and say, “I’m sorry I’ve never come by. I’m confused by everything that is going on, and I wonder if I’m missing something. I need your help” We are addicts of privilege and power, and it’s time we acknowledge that we need help." -- Chuck Degroat

I want to point you to three articles:
  1. #FERGUSON: A GOSPEL ISSUE by Chuck Degroat
  2. Ferguson and the Path to Peace by Russell Moore
  3. A Decision in Ferguson: How Should Evangelicals Respond? by Ed Stetzer
Restoration Thrift
We give God thanks for many volunteers that have been helping us get the store ready. If you'd like to volunteer you can sign up here. We hope to open sometime in December.  It also looks like we will be able to lease the adjoining rear property which will give us much more room to process donations.  Please be in prayer for us as we complete the renovations, set up the store and hire staff.  Joe and Niamah, young men from our neighborhood, have already joined the staff part-time. 
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