It’s Christmas Eve morning — and a group of families from Ecclesia Community Church in Brownsville, Texas, is working its way through a series of parking lots, making visits to local businesses, offices and restaurants.
The church members are carrying with them two gifts for each place they stop: sugary-good donuts and the sweetness of Christ’s love. Before they leave each location, they sing Christmas carols and invite the people they have blessed to church.
“People greet us with great joy, and some ask us why we are doing this or why we chose them,” pastor James Martinez said.
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Taking advantage of every opportunity
The answer is simple: Ecclesia Community Church wants to impact lives and take advantage of every opportunity to share God’s love — even if that means going out into the community on a holiday morning.
Holiday seasons provide one of the best opportunities for Ecclesia to do this, according to Martinez.
Around Thanksgiving, the church forgoes a traditional Sunday service and instead hosts what it calls “Friendsgiving,” where a meal is served and members can invite their unchurched friends to share physical and spiritual nourishment with them.
Christmastime brings multiple outreach opportunities.
Church members work together to prepare gift boxes for underprivileged children around the world through Operation Christmas Child. In the week leading up to Christmas, church families gather at the local Chick-fil-A to sing Christmas carols to those eating at the restaurant and to invite them to their Christmas Eve service.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Arlene Sanabria and originally published by the Southern Baptist Texan.
