This Christmas…belong together.

People need to belong before they believe. 

Early on in church planting, we would say that truth over and over again. Deep down inside of us, we have a desire to fit in. To fit in with our families, to fit in with our communities, to fit in at our workplaces, and to fit in at church. I want to fit in. I need friends. This desire to belong becomes all the more real at Christmastime. There is something about the holidays that ­– if we allow it – moves us to evaluate or reevaluate our lives. We wonder if we are going the right direction. We wonder how ‘this Christmas’ will feel without a loved one. ­­We wonder if we have enough to say around the dinner table. After a year unlike any other, we wonder what Christmas in 2020 will be. 

The desire to belong runs deep. It runs deep, no matter who we are, where we live, or how we grew up, but it’s there. As Christians, when we begin to wonder about this sense of belonging, we can come back to what we believe about humanity: 

Each and every person, made in the image of God, has intrinsic value. 

So, when we feel empty, we can come back to this truth: We have intrinsic value. Often times, when we begin to believe it for ourselves, we are able to believe it for other people. That’s why when we consider how we want to invest in lives come 2021, we couldn’t think of a more impactful mission than helping vulnerable communities across the world come to know and believe they, too, have intrinsic value. 

This Christmas, we begin a partnership with Food for the Hungry, an organization with the mission to end extreme poverty throughout the world through child sponsorship. The FH team researches the most vulnerable communities across the world – their physical and spiritual needs – and then helps churches partner with these communities so that children can live out their full God-given potential. 

The partnership is holistic and sustainable. A church who partners by sponsoring at least 27 children becomes a partner of that community. As a church partner, Project 938 would have the opportunity to not only sponsor children, but also go and visit them and be a part of what FH is doing to end extreme poverty in their region. As we partner with the community, we begin to cultivate a sense of belonging with them and with one another. We build community surrounding the truth that no matter our background, we have value, worth, belonging, and dignity. 

We are so excited to announce our new partnership with Comite Cerro Centinela, a community outside of Lima, Peru. 

This Christmas, as you seek to remember the belonging you have in Jesus, would you consider helping children across the world experience that same kind of belonging? 

As FH so rightly puts it, “the world is hungry, but the emptiness goes far beyond the table.” Let’s be a part of setting the table for children across the world. Let’s serve the most vulnerable among us. Let’s help others belong. 

Begin a child sponsorship today: https://www.project938.net/food-for-the-hungry.