Christmas Joy

By giving to the Christmas Joy Offering, you honor God’s gift of Jesus Christ by providing assistance to current and retired church workers in their time of need and developing our future leaders at Presbyterian-related schools and colleges equipping communities of color

At MCPC, we will be receiving the Joy Offering from Sunday, December 20, 2020 through Sunday January 3, 2021.
Click here to go the PC(USA) Joy Offering for more information on this wonderful Christmas tradition!

Donations can be made by mailing a check (made payable to MCPC, Memo: JOY) to the church at PO Box 211, Topsham, ME 04086, OR through our PayPal link on this website (be sure to specify JOY Offering when you donate).

your impact …

When supporting the Joy Offering, you are supporting past, present, and future leaders.

The Christmas Joy Offering has been a cherished Presbyterian tradition since the 1930s. The Offering distributes gifts equally to the Assistance Program of the Board of Pensions and to Presbyterian-related schools and colleges equipping communities of color. The Assistance Program provides critical financial support to church workers and their families. Presbyterian-related schools and colleges provide education and leadership development while nurturing racial and ethnic heritage. This has been a Presbyterian committment for nearly 140 years.

• $1.1 million in gifts from 2017 are being used to provide critical financial support and grants for current and retired Presbyterian church workers in their times of need
• 26 countries represented in the last 25 years at Presbyterian Pan American School
• 98% of graduates from Menaul School go on to college
• 84% of faculty at Stillman College hold terminal degrees

BEING TOGETHER

“Many hands make light work.”
“Teamwork makes the dream work.”
“If we all do a little, it adds up to a lot.”

There are lots of ways to say it — but working together really does make bigger and better things possible.  And, lots of times, working together makes it more fun, too.  In fact, there are times made better just by our ability to be together, to be with one another.

That is something that really rings true, doesn’t it?  Being together. During these past months, many of us weren’t able to be together in person.  We have always been together in spirit, and in faith.  But we missed seeing each other.  We missed seeing faces we love — up close and personal.  But that doesn’t mean we haven’t been together.  And we definitely have not been alone.

There is a word that comes up a lot during this season we call Advent in the Church, and it points to the same sentiment, but about God: “Emmanuel.” Emmanuel means “God is with us,” and, in Jesus, we Christians claim that God took on human form to be with us. “God is with us” is more than just saying God is along for the ride. It states God values togetherness and relationship with us, leading us to value togetherness and relationship with one another.  When we are all together as we are today — and even when we are apart.

The Christmas Joy Offering is one way we join together as Presbyterians from around the country.  We do this to meet the needs of vulnerable people we might not be able to meet as individuals or as single congregations.  We might not be able to meet face to face with those who need the support that our gifts provide, but we are very much still together. 

The gifts we share connect us.  They also change lives.  Through the Christmas Joy Offering, we support church workers and their families who experience critical financial needs through help from the Assistance Program of the Board of Pensions.  We connect with the young people attending Stillman College, Presbyterian Pan American School, and the Menaul School, supporting the education and leadership development for students of color, who will soon be leaders in our Church and in the world.

“God is with us.” All the time. During this season of Advent, as we approach Christmas, I can’t think of a more perfect gift than that.  Thank you for sharing those lessons and those truths, through your gift to the Christmas Joy Offering.

Please give generously, for “if we all do a little — together — it adds up to a lot.”

from PC(USA) Special Offerings – JOY