The Advent Conspiracy

Church Name: Sisters Community Church

At SCC, we designed a “Christmas Coupon” that had 3 options of how to make an impact for good instead of getting caught up in the wave of over-consumption. There was an option to spend time serving with the Food Bank in Sisters, packing food boxes for families in need, an option to give funds to our partner church in Oaxaca City, Mexico to buy glasses for children, and a third option to give to our partner church in Kapchorwa, Uganda. We put the coupon in the bulletin so everyone received one and collected them for 4 weeks, charting the donations on a board in the back of the sanctuary. It was an awesome start to our “advent conspiracy” goals and we are excited to do a whole lot more with it next year!

How much money was redistributed?: about 10,000$

How much went to water?: None from this - we had just raised 17,000 for water 2 months prior!

What can we do better?:

This post was submitted by Kelly Pyke.

The liturgical seasons have always been important to our community. Over the years, we have really learned how to engage with Lent–let it impact our daily lives and move us forward; but when it came to Advent, something was missing. Then, we heard about the Advent Conspiracy.

With hardly any prep time, the staff plunged in and the rest of the community came right alongside. Artists from our community created art pieces to coincide with the four AC themes, which became the sermon series for December. Kids stayed and participated in the services.

We committed to the water project idea before we knew a who or where and God came through, reconnecting us to a new friend of our community who was trying to support a remote group in Kenya, particularly in need of fresh water.

Our sanctuary turned into a space of light and water. Instead of the typical advent candles, we had glass pillars that were filled with water and topped with floating candles. Each service kids and adults carried in lanterns and water pitchers.

We printed the art pieces on cards that people could give as gifts and provided gift-making workshops to help promote homemade gifts and time spent together.

We designated the fourth Sunday for the water project offering and had people actually bring them up to the altar during the service. Even if you didn’t bring money, you could still go up and touch the symbolic wells and offer a prayer or blessing. It was beautiful.

There are always glitches to any first time - but overall, our community was overwhelmed by a truly generous Christmas spirit. Advent was all around us.

You can check out a video made by one of our own, here: http://andrewmichaelfilms.com/ac.mp4.

How much money was redistributed?: 65505.75

How much went to water?: 65505.75

What can we do better?:

We appreciated all of your efforts and how much you were willing to help us. You provided great resources, so thank you! One of the frequent questions we had was when do you start telling your friends and family about this who are outside of your church community? How do you explain it to them? These answers probably come with experience, so maybe having a link with this type of info could be helpful for those who are joining for the first time.

This post was submitted by beth mercer.

Church Name: Doxology

We are a young church. We are only a year and a half old and our community is made up of mostly college students and young families. This was our first year doing the Advent Conspiracy.

The response from our community was great! At the beginning of AC, we handed out small boxes for everyone to take home. This idea was to place this box under your tree as a reminder of the AC, and also as a place to put the money you were redistributing to our 2 projects. Throughout the Christmas season, people brought their boxes to our Sunday gathering and placed them under the tree.

Through this redistribution, we have been able to bless 2 projects close to our community - one here in town (a community center for low income children) and one in Senegal, West Africa (a community center/clinic for the surrounding villages).

People in our community continue to tell stories about the gifts they were given by others. And giving gifts more intentionally and relationally has given more depth and substance to relationships. We can honestly say that not only was this Christmas season special for us, it was life changing. People are carrying the lessons learned into all facets of life.

How much money was redistributed?: 12,000

This post was submitted by Rebeka Dorr.

Church Name: First Baptist Church

I am the youth pastor at our church. I registered our student ministry with Advent Conspiracy, but not our entire church. At the time, I wasn’t really sure what Advent Conspiracy was all about, but I understood enough to want to show our support. I was told about Advent Conspiracy around October or November. It coincided with a focus in our students ministry on our call to respond to the injustice in the world and how we are called to respond to the needs of others throughout our community and the rest of the world.

As we thought through how we could return to truer meaning of Christmas, we began to encourage our students to do three things during Christmas. We encouraged them to ask their families to spend time in worship and reflection on Christmas morning, to find a service project to complete during the holiday as a family, and “give up” one present and ask their parents to donate to World Vision instead.

What I have discovered in the weeks and months following is that a vast majority of our students caught on to this idea beyond anything that I could imagine. We had several students that asked their parents to buy them nothing, but to only donate to World Vision. We had several parents and grandparents that caught the idea from their children and grandchildren and made donations in lew of presents for themselves as well. I am not sure of an actual dollar amount, but I would estimate that close to $20,000 or more was redistributed among the families that I have heard from.

In addition I have actually heard from more families about the time of worship that their teenage son or daughter lead for them on Christmas morning. It was encouraging to know that at least 50 families, maybe more, stopped during the chaos of Christmas morning and spent time worshipping our Lord, the reason we celebrate.

How much money was redistributed?: $20,000+

How much went to water?: ?

What can we do better?:

This post was submitted by Danny.

Church Name: Fellowship of Memorial

Through Advent Conspiracy, our church encouraged the purchase of fair trade gifts, sold 0 in fair trade coffee, raised 00 to drill two wells in India through Living Water, helped a local family who had recently lost a job to have an incredible Christmas, and fixed up a car to give away to a young woman who is working her way through school after a very difficult childhood. THANKS FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT AC!

How much money was redistributed?: Approximately $8000

How much went to water?: $6600

What can we do better?:

Additional distribution of ideas from other churches and resources (Videos, etc).

This post was submitted by Brandon Lackey.

Church Name: Prince of Peace Lutheran

Not all of the 550 members and friends of our congregation bought into Advent Conspiracy this first year of introducing the concept. But some were glad to see this emphasis and joined in with full fervor. One mother, when first hearing of what Advent Conspiracy was all about, said she had been thinking for two to three years that this was the way we ought to celebrate Christmas. She was very glad that we were doing this. Another, after it was all over, said that it was a much less stressful Advent and Christmas season than previous ones. Some gave what they saved to other missions as well, so the impact was much greater than the $8560 we received in our Advent Conspiracy offering. We felt like this was a good first year, but anticipate that with more time to talk it up and promote it before Advent, 2008 rolls around, many more will join those already on board.

How much money was redistributed?: $8558.15

How much went to water?: $2213.54

What can we do better?:

Keep the stories of individuals and families coming. They were very helpful in promoting the concept.

This post was submitted by Douglas L Johnson.

Church Name: The Table: A Christian Community

Participating in the Advent Conspiracy gave our community the opportunity to think differently not only about how we distribute our money, but also how we celebrate the coming of the Messiah, and the hope He brings.

With the money donated, we were able to form a partnership with a medical student in Liberia, who is seeking to provide health clinics for his war-torn country. The funds we raised will go towards his tuition and we will continue to support him until he finishes medical school.

Money will also go towards the building of a clean water well in Zambia.

Money was also given to a local ministry here in Portland that reaches out to homeless youth.

Our hope is to participate again next year!

How much money was redistributed?: 17,786

How much went to water?: 7,000

What can we do better?:

Provide printable brochures earlier.

This post was submitted by Mary Tinjum.