Before uploading your photo, consider editing it to add some Christmas cheer! Free online options include: Adobe and Canva. Both options provide Christmas card templates that you can customize to easily add your own photos and graphics. You may also consider uploading the digital version of your family’s printed Christmas card.
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”
In John 13:34, Jesus gives His disciples the commandment to love one another. He goes so far as to say that the world will know that they are followers of Jesus if they have love for one another.
The importance that Jesus placed on loving one another has its foundation in God’s eternal character. There was love among the members of the Godhead before time began. And it was out of this love that God created the world and formed man in His image. Yet God’s greatest expression of His love was sending His Son to earth to take on flesh and live among us, so that by His loving sacrifice we might be reconciled to Him and enabled to love one another.
This month, we have an opportunity to demonstrate this kind of love to our missionaries through the Christmas in September initiative. Our missionaries serve the Lord sacrificially as they look to fulfill the Great Commission. They have chosen to uproot their lives and take daring steps of faith to proclaim the gospel in every corner of the earth, so it is only right that we would “do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God” (3 John 6).
Christmas in September is a ministry intended to bless and support our missionaries during the Christmas season. While we look forward to gathering together with our families during the holidays, many of our missionaries spend Christmas in the field away from their families. Each September, we gather notes of encouragement and financial gifts from our church family, which are then compiled and given to our missionary families in December.
Last year, we began a new and creative way to send Christmas greetings to our missionaries. Our church family is now able to create digital Christmas cards by uploading a family photo to our website and customizing it with a personal Christmas message. Simply select the family to whom you would like to write, include a personal message, and upload a picture of your family or a digital version of your family’s Christmas card. Cards will also be available on Patio and can be returned to the Patio table any Sunday in September for mailing.
For those who would like to support our missionaries still further, please prayerfully consider giving a financial gift that will specifically go toward allowing our missionaries some extra funds to buy presents for their children.
“And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Colossians 3:14). May we reflect the love of Christ in our commitment to prayer and care to our families serving throughout the world.
Visit the Patio table on any Sunday morning in September for information about how to send a digital card or financial gift, instructions on sending a card to our classified missionaries, or to handwrite a card for our missionaries. To send a digital card, visit gracechurch.org/sendacard.