With your help, we completed our 3rd annual Christmas in the Village and it was our biggest one yet! More toys, more volunteers, more families, more partners, more cookies, more fun!
Saturday morning as I scrolled social media there were toy give aways happening all over Birmingham, and more than one happening right within our own community. Doubts filled my mind. Should we even be doing this? Are we duplicating efforts with other ministries? Will there be any lasting fruit from events like this? Will families want to shop when there are so many ways to get toys for free? Are we distracted by the materialism of Christmas? These are the honest questions that we wrestle through as we desire to see true change in our city and avoid causing more harm.
When we opened up the Treehouse to begin welcoming families the line was already down the street! Well, there was one doubt removed, our neighbors were eager to shop!
As the day went on, I was reminded of how I explained Christmas in the Village to one of our partnering church’s children’s ministry just a few weeks prior. Reflect on a time in your life that you were worried about something, maybe finances were tight, you had family issues, or work was stressful. Think about how you felt during that season of life and how the burden seemed to double during the holidays. Now, imagine that you live in a neighborhood with 500 houses packed into less than half a square mile, and all 500 families are worried about big problems all at the same time.
Welcome to life in the Village.
We are always sharing the good news of Jesus around Oak Tree, but the Bible tells us “if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:16-18).
So, why do we have this Christmas store every year? Because we prove that we believe this gospel by backing up our words with our actions. We must show that we care. We want to be a people who declare, “your problems are my problems.” If our neighbors are stressed about the crazy price of toys and the lack of resources for their kids, that’s a problem we can easily do something about. We can begin to solve these problems together. We can share the abundance of resources around our city to do something different in an area that has suffered from the unjust drainage of resources.
Sure, we could give toys away for free, but each time a parent asked us why we didn’t we had the opportunity to tell them that their money would go straight to summer programs for their kids. Their faces would light up. They told us it was a great idea and they were happy to contribute! Parents thanked us for doing things differently. We weren’t the hero’s this Christmas, we were simply the stewards. Moms and dads could hold their heads up high as they doubly invested in their kids.
We talked and laughed and prayed together over cups of hot chocolate and cookies. Families had their picture taken with Santa (we LOVE getting to look back and see families grow each year through these photos). The gospel was shared while eating a burger and watching kids play basketball. Door prizes were won and loads of toys carried home. Neighbors who were nervous about coming into the Treehouse quickly warmed up and even came back for multiple visits. Relationships were strengthened and new friends made. More doubts were removed as we rejoiced in the Lord’s faithfulness to work even in our weaknesses.
Yesterday my pastor taught about the beauty of the gospel displayed in the Christmas story, how Christ came first to connect with us in our brokenness, then He corrected our sin problem on the cross. We talk about connecting before correcting all the time at Oak Tree as we interact with our kids using TBRI, but what a great reminder that this is the heart of ALL we do in the Village. Christ is our example. We aren’t here to pretend we have answers to correct all of the problems around us! But, as we connect with the people who are in pain caused by those problems, we begin to see correction happening as we heal together.
Christmas in the Village shows us when everyone gives just a little bit, we can do big things together!