OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD
Collection Week: November 17 - 24
The mission of Operation Christmas Child is to demonstrate God's love to children in need around the world. The main way we do this is by providing a shoebox full of Christmas gifts for kids who may not otherwise receive one. Beyond these gifts, these children also hear the good news of Jesus and are taken through the "Greatest Journey" discipleship course. Along with donating a shoebox of gifts, we could also use help processing and packing the boxes since Ridgepoint is a regional collection center.
GIVING TREE
Starting Sunday, November 9, we will have a special Christmas tree setup in our Commons with ornaments ready for you to take home. Each ornament has an item for you to purchase to help us support one of our community impact partners.
NOTE: The gifts have a specific deadline, so please check the dates as you choose your ornaments.
Here are the organizations we're supporting this year:
NOTE: The gifts have a specific deadline, so please check the dates as you choose your ornaments.
Here are the organizations we're supporting this year:
- Cessna Bible Club: providing card games with $10 gift cards for kids who attend the Cessna Elementary Bible Club (return by November 30)
- Lighthouse Community Church: purchasing toys for their annual toy sale (return by December 7)
- Downtown Breakfast: donating money to purchase practical gifts for our under-resourced breakfast guests (donate by December 18)
- Naomi House: donating $25 to help Naomi House children in Thailand to purchase school uniforms (donate by December 18)
THE BIG OFFERING
Every year around Thanksgiving, we give away 100% of a weekly offering outside of our budget to make an impact on our city and around the world. This year's Big Offering will be on Sunday, November 16.
This year we're excited to partner with these great projects:
This year we're excited to partner with these great projects:
- Guadalupe Clinic. This Christ-centered health clinic in South Wichita serves low-income and uninsured patients with quality medical care. They have seen a 35% increase in patient visits since 2023, so they are currently expanding their clinic to provide additional services. One main addition is the launch of a new dental clinic, which is one of the biggest gaps for patients without health insurance.
- SouthLife Church. Our church plant in South Wichita is growing rapidly! Because of their growth, they have recently moved to two Sunday services and extended their parking lot, and they're still hitting capacity issues. Our gift will help them kick off their $2.5 million "Kingdom Campaign" to help them remodel and build to accommodate growth and continue their vision of reaching South Wichita for Jesus.
- Naomi House (Thailand). We've partnered with Naomi House for several years to help disciple, equip, and employ at-risk women in Thailand. The ministry is growing and continues to bless many women and their families. To meet their increasing needs, these funds will help expand their ministry through an expanded facility that allows for additional services to these marginalized families.
- Gifted Hands (Peru). Ridgepoint mission partner Stacy Kuhns now works with this non-profit in Peru that (among other things) supports bi-vocational pastors. These funds will create interest-free loans to support trusted, local pastors in their business ventures. Once the loans are repaid, the funds will go directly back into this revolving fund, so the same dollars will be perpetually recycled for additional future business loans for entrepreneurial pastors.
Smaller amounts will also go toward:
- Family Promise. This local ministry offers housing and resources for people facing poverty and homelessness in our community. Many area churches take turns welcoming these people to sleep in their buildings throughout the year, but they often have a hard time finding space for them in the week between Christmas and New Years. A portion of our funds will purchase hotel rooms so these families have a place to stay together during the holidays.
- Jesus Loves Wichita. A few years ago we started this new project where we invited Ridgepoint attenders to apply for mini-grants to show the love of Jesus to our community. Over these years, hundreds of you have served your neighbors, donated to worthwhile causes, bought Christmas gifts for those in need, and shown real creativity in how you've blessed those around you. We're bringing it back again this year, and can't wait to see how you serve our Wichita community.
Give toward these projects online between November 10 - 24, (select ‘Big Offering’ from the drop-down menu), or by designating a check to the Big Offering and mailing it in or dropping it in an offering box at the back of the Worship Center.