Advent is the story of a wondrous moment when God entered our world to make things right. It is the greatest story ever told and it changes everything—including the way we celebrate Christmas.

How many times in the past have we come to the end of an Advent season exhausted and sensing we’ve missed it: the awe-inducing, soul-satisfying mystery of the incarnation.

For many, there can be a sea of financial debt and endless lists of gifts to buy. We struggle to find the connection between our Christmas to-do lists and the story of Jesus’ birth. An overwhelming stress overtakes worship and celebration.

Worship Fully
Nearly every character in the Christmas story who encountered our King responded in the same way: worship. Let’s make the conscious effort to reorient our hearts toward Christ. Christmas began with worship…may it end with worship.

Spend Less
In our hearts, we know mindless consumption is not the way to celebrate Jesus. But spending less does not mean spending nothing. Rather we will thoughtfully evaluate what companies and causes we support through our purchases.

Give More
The best gifts celebrate a relationship. They require our time and our energy. Relational giving means that we think about the other person–who they are and what they care about. When it comes to giving gifts to those you love, it’s all about quality, not quantity.

Love All
Christmas is a chance to move closer to those in crisis. We will love others as Jesus has loved us. The poor and hurting of our world can be reached by God through the way we choose to celebrate Christmas.

YOU'RE INVITED...

Join the groundswell of Christ-followers who are choosing to make Christmas what it should be—a joyous celebration of Jesus’ birth that enriches our hearts and the world around us.

Advent Conspiracy was founded on the radical idea that we can celebrate Christmas humbly, beautifully and generously.As we worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all…something begins to happen that is greater than any single person, church or denomination. As the Church, we are telling the story of King Jesus to the watching world.

Feed My Starving Children
Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) is a Christian non-profit committed to feeding God’s children, hungry in body and spirit. The approach is simple: Volunteers hand-pack meals specially formulated for malnourished children, and FMSC sends them to partners building more-successful communities around the world. Working as teams in two-hour shifts, volunteers at the MobilePacks fill and seal bags of food together. Oakwood’s on-site MobilePack will be in the spring of 2020, packing 200,000 meals using 1,000 volunteers from both Oakwood and the community.

Upstream International
Upstream International is a global Christian non-profit organization that works to bring people together to challenge poverty in creative ways. We believe that in every community, there are individuals who have untapped potential to make their community a better place but lack the necessities (training, structures, financial resources, etc.) to further their work. We partner with them, building relationships that bridge economic, cultural and religious divides, and empower them to lead. It is our dream to further break the cycle of dependence and build bridges for indigenous leaders to rise up and help equip the people around them.

Oakwood will be partnering with Upstream Ministries in Haiti for Advent Conspiracy this year to build a soccer field for youth in the slum city of CIte Soleil.

The Impacting Guatemala Network
The Impacting Guatemala Network is an interdenominational movement of evangelical churches committed to develop disciples of Christ, in order to impact the whole country of Guatemala. IGN equips local churches with tools that allow them to develop disciples of Jesus Christ through strategic planning, leadership development and church partnerships.

Oakwood’s High School Ministry is committing to raise funds to purchase a cement mixer that will be used in the construction the future pastoral retreat and training center.

Exploit No More
Exploit No More is dedicated to ending child sex trafficking in the Greater Milwaukee region. ENM works with private, public, and other non-profit community organizations dedicated to serving youth and eradicating child sex trafficking. Motivated by the love of Jesus, Exploit No More’s mission is to dismantle the local sex trade of children using three key approaches: awareness, advocacy and aftercare.

This year, proceeds from the silent auction at the Rejoice: He is Born! Women’s Christmas event will benefit Exploit No More.

 Give to Advent Conspiracy

Here’s what we’re learning on Wednesday, November 13th— 

Preschool— David and Saul (I Samuel 26)
David continues to show God’s love to others. This time he shows his love to King Saul. David showed the king kindness even when he was not kind to him! 

This is not easy for any of us to do, especially little ones. Only by the grace of God can we turn the other cheek and be kind to those people who are trying to hurt us—a big life lesson! 

Elementary—Decoding the Stories of Jesus
We’ll continue looking at the stories of Jesus, and this week we’ll focus on The Good Samaritan in Luke 10. There is so much to learn from this story! God wants us to love everyone—and show our love by helping even when it’s not easy. I pray that all of us look a little deeper at our own lives and how we show God’s love to others.

Join us - Wednesday, November 20 is Family Night

Ever wonder what your kids do on a Wednesday night? We’ve planned a special Family Night for you to enjoy the experience alongside your kids! Click HERE for more information.  

Here’s what we’ll be talking about on Sunday, November 17^th—

Elementary—God is Victorious
Exodus 12-15 (The Exodus, Pt. 2) 

Before God won the victory and rescued His people from Egypt, He formed them into a special nation and gave them special rules for how to be a part of that family. God told His people how to celebrate their deliverance from Egypt once they were safely in the Promised Land—Passover—because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt (Exodus 13:8). God knew the deliverance of His people from slavery was a monumental event that would need to be celebrated again and again. 

After their mass exodus, the Israelites’ identity was forever changed. They were finally a people free to celebrate. They were finally a people free to worship the Lord. They were finally on their way to the Promised Land, where they would live together as God’s chosen people. Now, they were free to celebrate Passover together, year after year, as a way to remember how God had won the battle to free them.

 At Home Weekly: TRUStory

November Bible Verse: Exodus 14:14 (NIrV)

Preschool—God is Merciful
Judges 4-5 (Deborah) 

After God’s people lived in the Promised Land for a while, life became easy and they stopped worshipping and even started to forget God. Soon, a foreign king named Jabin and his army took over the Israelite’s land. This king was mean, and he treated the Israelites badly. The Israelites were very unhappy, so they called out to God to help them. And guess what? God had mercy on them! At that time God chose people called “judges” to watch over the Israelites and lead them in God’s ways. One of these judges, named Deborah, received a message from God saying it was time to fight back against the bad king. God told Deborah that He would help the Israelites defeat the king. And He did! God showed His people mercy by saving them from their enemies, even though they had not been trusting Him.

 At Home Weekly: TRUWonder

November Bible Verse: Psalm 75:1 (NLT)
 

2 Year Olds–God is Worshipped
(Psalms) Foundational Truth: God made Me

Just as God made each of us amazingly unique, He also created us to worship Him. We can worship Him in many different ways. David is an amazing example of someone who worshipped God in spite of his circumstances. He understood his special relationship with God. This week as we go through the Psalms, children will talk about and experience different ways that we can worship God too. 

At Home Weekly: TRUBlessings 

Offering—Feed My Starving Children—Battle for Bowls

Bowl Winners for November 10:

Elementary: 5^th Grade - 28 bowls
Preschool: 4 year olds - 6 bowls 

Our offering this past Sunday came to $32.01 bringing our total to $234.28. That’s 442 meals for hungry kids! Only 58 more bowls until we reach our goal of 500 meals! 

God bless your week! 

Becci Terrill
Children’s Ministries Director
262-844-3201 (cell)
262-367-1212 (office)

Energizing the Next Generation to Love God,
Love Others and Make Disciples

11/12/19

Sunday:

 

 

On December 13 and 14, Oakwood Church will welcome over 2100 guests on a journey to Bethlehem. Guests will smell the spices, pet the sheep, visit the carpenter’s shop, have a snack with Mary, ride a camel - and listen to the stories of those who were part of Jesus’ birth. This is a unique opportunity to step into the story and experience the meaning of Christmas firsthand.

To serve our guests well, we need 4,000 cookies and 200 volunteers in a variety of areas. Click HERE if you can help!