Imagine waking up Christmas morning and not having anything under the tree…or having a tree…or food…or shelter…or protection…or maybe even a family.
For children all around the world, this is their daily reality, not just on Christmas day.
Operation Christmas Child is just one of the many ministries through Samaritan’s Purse. If you’re not familiar with Operation Christmas Child, visit their site to learn more and to get involved.
My church has a heart for missions and children, so participating in Operation Christmas Child allows us to minister to children around the world by packing shoeboxes.
We bring in toys, candy, socks, shirts, art supplies, stuffed animals, washcloths, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc. and fill boxes for boys and girls of all ages.
When we’re finished filling the shoeboxes, we write a letter to the child whose box we filled and share some love.
Our church goal was 35 boxes, but we ended up filling 44! 44 children will receive a simple gift of love and hope in a shoebox.
Your Turn: Does your church participate in Operation Christmas Child? What is your favorite part of the ministry?
Yes, it's a beautiful ministry.
Fav. part = picturing the children's faces.
~ Wendy
We love OCC. Our church had our ingathering of boxes this week. 🙂
Hi Lisa! I'm new to your blog. It seems we have some mutual blogging haunts. 🙂
My church just packed boxes for OCC as well. I love the ministry because it's so easy for a person to participate in. It's amazing that the simplest gifts can mean so much to a child, simply because it is a gift.
I look forward to reading more from you!
My daughter went shopping last night to fill up her shoebox for OCC. It's been a family tradition for years–and a favorite one!
No, but we should and I will look into it. Our church is only 2 years old.
I love your blog. The colors are especially inviting. Enjoyed reading here.
Great post, Lisa. I've been involved in Operation Christmas Child a number of times in the past. The best was in high school – our youth group decided to go all out collecting items and assembling boxes. We ended up running out of boxes though (this was back before OCC actually supplied boxes), so we went door to door in the neighborhood around our church asking for shoe boxes. Good times. 🙂 Really awesome that your church put together 44 boxes!