Common Ground is excited to announce our Vision Trips for 2009. God is giving His church (us) a vision for His kingdom, and that vision is to live missional lives. He is calling us to go out – both locally and globally – to learn more about Him. We are to taste, touch, see, hear and feel this vision of who God is and what He’s up to around the world. We hope you will make the journey with us in 2009 and allow God to instill His vision for the nations in you.

 

Vision Trips for 2009 include a medical trip, several family friendly trips, and trips to new international locations. We have 10 trips planned and over half of them cost $1,000 or less. Interested in more detailed information on trip locations, dates and costs? You can learn more by downloading our list of 2009 Vision Trips and Vision Trip application. 

ServLife International will present the ServLife Store during every service at our Midtown and West locations on December 7 and 14. This is your opportunity to engage in an act of justice and take care of some holiday shopping by purchasing quality, handmade items that make a difference.

 

The products in the ServLife Store are made by talented artisans in regions where ServLife is working - from the Akha Tribe in Thailand who work with tsunami survivors, to young entrepreneurs and widowed mothers in Nepal, to former prostitutes in Cambodia. They are fashioned by women who are working to escape the brutal trap of extreme poverty and human trafficking. By purchasing these products, you help provide viable economic alternatives for women like Maili.

 

At the age of 15, Maili ran away from home to marry a man ten years older than her. The couple left their village and moved to Kathmandu where Maili found work in a factory and her husband became a taxi driver. They had three children, who are now 15, 11 and 1. After the birth of her first child, Maili’s husband took a second wife and had three children with her as well. Somehow they managed the difficult dual family situation, all sharing the same small living quarters.

 

During her last pregnancy Maili got jaundice, and her husband ran away with his other family, leaving her behind with their children. It was difficult after he left as Maili had to recover from her illness, and then she gave birth to their third child. She was alone, parenting three young children, and in need of comfort.

 

Maili had seen Christian believers going to church and living with peace in their lives, so she started going to church herself. At the church, she met a woman who worked at a fair trade company, a partner of ServLife that employs single mothers and widows with children. The woman helped Maili get a job and she’s been working there for a year. She is very happy and feels she might have been dead if it was not for this job. She is so blessed. She can bring her younger two children to work with her and her oldest child attends a nearby school. Maili has a comfortable work environment, a job she enjoys and the joy of knowing products she makes are sold in countries all over the world.

 

By purchasing items at the ServLife Store December 7 and 14, you’ll directly support women like Maili. Get a preview of items available for sale online and learn more about ServLife International, their mission and other ways you can make a difference by visiting www.servlife.org.

Join us on Saturday, December 13 at 7 pm for a Christmas concert to benefit Redistribute at Common Ground Christian Church. The concert is free, open to the public and a great opportunity for families to celebrate the Christmas season through music and giving.

 

Christmas music will be performed by Project 49, Chris Wilson of Connersvine, Liferoot and band3. Envelopes will be available if you would like to make a financial contribution to Redistribute. Redistribute is a movement to commit resources to those in need in Indianapolis and around the world. Local and international partners invite us to provide after-school care for children and warm snow boots for the homeless in Indianapolis, feed and educate children around the world, and provide anti-retroviral drugs to children infected with HIV in South Africa.

 

Mark your calendars and plan to join us for Christmas music and an opportunity to redistribute some of what you have to those who do not.

 

Interested in helping a local family this holiday season? Is your house church interested in practicing this idea of redistribution, but unsure of where to start? The church office has received many unsolicited letters from families requesting Christmas assistance. The letters vary greatly in family size and needs expressed, but they all have one thing in common – they are all Indianapolis families asking for help.

 

Adopting a family is easy. Simply contact the church office and set up a time to come by and select a letter from a family. Then, contact the family and determine how you, or your house church, can best show this family love and consideration this Christmas season. Please keep in mind that these letters were sent to us unsolicited, so we are not able to provide you with additional information about a specific family or their circumstances. We can simply provide you with this information and opportunity to serve – the rest is up to you.

 

If you would like to review the letters, email the church office or call 251.1494.