Imago Dei Community is a church community that I keep up with online. Don Miller, a favorite author of mine, calls this church home. Don often talks about his pastor, Rick McKinley, and through online sermons and one of his books, I found Rick to be inspiring too.
A few years ago Imago Dei helped jump start a movement called the Advent Conspiracy. The basic idea is this: Instead of buying aunt Gertrude a new set of kitchen towels she doesn't want or need every year. Why not take that money and give it to people in need all over the world? As an added bonus to you, you'll have less stress looking for the perfect towel set, and you can invite your aunt over for a special dinner instead, making your relationship more meaningful. That's a pretty simplified version of their mission of course, but I found the ideas they were presenting very moving.
The movement isn't saying, "Don't buy any presents for anyone, and feel bad if you do." It's saying that, at the heart of Christmas, for Christians, there's a story of love, of giving, of relief - good news. Consumption is rarely any of these things.
Living Water is one of the organizations that the Advent Conspiracy recommends for donations, but the idea is that you can help any cause that's important to you.
There are many parts of Africa that exemplify hell on Earth. They lack the most basic human needs, like clean drinking water. Some of these things can be easily fixed by introducing or supplying them with the basic technology to access what is already there. Living Water is just one organization that builds simple wells that then supply water to entire villages, villages full of men, women, and children. When life improves for these people, hell loses its footing there.
Matthew 16:18
18. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
A lot of people think this means that Christianity can deflect any attack from hell, but others think it means that hell can not defend itself from us. If we want to overcome the hell we find on Earth, we need only rush in armed with love and generosity.
I'm happy to say, our church has joined the Advent Conspiracy this year. You can listen to the most recent sermons here. Below I'll give you some more links to some of the other organizations I mentioned.
None of us should feel shame over pouring love onto our loved ones, but if you get a second, cruise over to these other sites. See the great things that they're doing. Let me know if anything lingers in your thoughts or on your heart. Perhaps you'll become a co-conspirator.
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