VALLEY FORGE, PA (12/14/15)—On Jan. 1, American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) will launch the “America for Christ Offering 2016,” seeking to raise $1,250,000 to support American Baptist mission and ministry across the United States and Puerto Rico.
This year’s theme—“Discipleship: Becoming More Like Christ”—is inspired by Ephesians 2:10: “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life” (NRSV).
“American Baptist Home Mission Societies would not be able to fulfill our discipleship mission without the support we receive from the America for Christ Offering,” says ABHMS Executive Director Dr. Jeffrey Haggray. “American Baptists faithfully participate in disciple-making through the variety of programs and high-quality resources that ABHMS develops and offers. We are grateful for the support of these ministries that improve and promote disciple-making throughout our family.”
Promotional and fundraising ideas will be included in the America for Christ Offering 2016 packet to be delivered to your church’s postal mailbox in early January. In addition, during the second week of January, ABHMS’ website at www.abhms.org will feature an America for Christ button to click for additional information and materials, including two downloadable 3½-minute videos to help churches and other organizations tell the story of home mission.
The video “Diapers … and the GOSPEL?” features the “Diaper Depot,” a ministry of First Baptist Church, Scottsbluff, Neb. Inspired by ABHMS’ Missional Church Learning Experience and launched with the help of a $1,000 grant from ABHMS, Diaper Depot provides free diapers one Saturday monthly to those in need. The video “They Have a Dream Too” spotlights the Fullerton, Calif., JOYA Scholars program that received two ABHMS Justice for Children grants totaling close to $10,000. JOYA Scholars supports middle school and high school students from underserved immigrant neighborhoods in pursuing college admission via mentors, tutors and a parents’ academy.
“The beauty of the Christian life is that one does not have to become a home missionary or start a new organization to walk in good works,” says the Rev. Dr. Eddie Cruz, ABHMS associate executive director for Mission Advancement. “Opportunities abound for us daily in our families, workplaces, neighborhoods and communities to demonstrate the love and mercy God has extended to us in Christ. The America for Christ Offering 2016 reminds us that service is a way of life, as we extend the hope, love and compassion of our Lord in our communities.”
To read more about or contribute to the America for Christ Offering 2016, visit www.abhms.org January through March and click the America for Christ button.
American Baptist Home Mission Societies—the domestic mission arm of American Baptist Churches USA—ministers as the caring heart and serving hands of Jesus Christ across the United States and Puerto Rico through a multitude of initiatives that focus on discipleship, community and justice.
American Baptist Churches is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with over 5,200 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.