The envelopes for the annual OGHS offering are in your
pews. During the year, there will be envelopes for Neighbors
in Need, Strengthen the Church and the Christmas Fund (for
retired pastors and their families on very limited pensions).
We also give to Our Churches Wider Mission through our
fundraisers. That’s 5 UCC missions each year. In addition to
those, we can give to Pennies from Heaven (the Guatemala
clinic offering during Lent), VBS Mission, McKinney Clinic,
CROP Walk and, in past years, Disaster Relief (hopefully we
won’t need this one this year). Opportunities to give to these
missions are provided because members have a “soft spot” for
one or another, or perhaps all of them. We are encouraged to
give to the ones that move our hearts and that we feel strongly
about. All these offerings are given “above and beyond” our
regular envelope and plate offerings that are needed to support
our church at Emmanuel and continue our local presence in
our own back yards. Your generosity is appreciated here at
home and around the wider world. May God bless you as
much as you bless others.
Mission Offerings
In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock at night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood near them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. And so the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. — Luke 2:8-11 (NASV)