Advent Challenge

This is one of the things that we're doing at Journey to enter into the advent season:

As we enter the Advent season here is a glimpse into the next sermon series that will begin on Sunday November 21, 2010. You can make an impact, are you up to the challenge?
WORSHIP FULLY: We too often get lost in the frantic rush of the holiday season. We will celebrate a season where we put down our burdens and lift up a song to God. November 21

SPEND LESS: Canadians spent 36.8 billion dollars in December 2005. We will celebrate simply, freeing ourselves from the compulsion to buy expensive gifts. November 28

GIVE MORE: At Christmas, Jesus gave himself to us. We will give meaningful, relational gifts to the people we love rather than buying gifts out of obligation. December 5

LOVE ALL: Jesus loved the poor, the forgotten, and the sick. We will join him giving some of the money we saved to help those who need the most. December 12

Living Water International has been part of the Advent Conspiracy from the very beginning. We connect congregations to communities in need of water. Every dollar is accounted for. Every project is reported, with GPS coordinates, stories, and photos.

Because of the contributions of Advent Conspiracy congregations, hundreds of thousands of people are now drinking clean water from hand pumps instead of carrying water from swamps and rivers, all because people decided to celebrate Christmas a little differently.

It's hard to know what is more sacred-the family deciding to give gifts that really matter, or clean water dribbling down the chin of a child for the first time. At Living Water, we have a hard time seeing the difference. Find out more and download resources at www.water.cc/adventconspiracy.

THE CHALLENGE For the next 4 weeks, make water your only beverage. Save the money that you would normally spend on sodas, coffee, and sport drinks. At the end of the 4 weeks, contribute the money you saved to Living Water International for the drilling of wells. Churches, youth groups, clubs, school groups, and other organizations have all participated in The H2O Project.

At Journey we will take a special offering on Sunday December 5, 2010 that will go towards Living Waters International. All the money we would normally spend on beverages would go in to the offering. I am willing to give up my Tim Horton's and Starbucks for the next few weeks Will you join us? Get your, family, the kids, your small group and anyone else to participate, it's a great challenge and the benefits are huge.

If any of you want to join us, feel free.

PS. I've decided to put a small twist into the challenge. I'm not giving up my drinks this season. Darn gingerbread lattes are only here for such a short time and there's really only so many things I enjoy quite that much (maybe another reason to give them up but I'll explore that another time) BUT I've decided to do a matching activity. For every $ I spend on drinks this season, I will match for the water project.