Angel Tree Outreach - 2022

Another annual outreach of our church is called the Angel Tree Outreach; in which we work with several local orphanages to provide Christmas gifts to the children. We have done this outreach for the past five years and each year I am astounded at the generosity and joy we experience as we give to bless others.

Orphans in Korea are sheltered and well fed. They are given opportunities for school and are given government help for many of their physical needs. However, the orphanages and child care system is understaffed and not suited to provide for their children in important emotional or spiritual ways. They lack the love of family. Our church longs to step in and try to help, to offer the love of Christ in as many tangible ways as we can. Pre-covid we did monthly outreaches and we hope to begin these again now that restrictions are lessening.

Our team reached out to the staff at each orphanage, collecting names, age, gender and desired gift for each child. They arranged a tree in the sanctuary of our Church and placed information cards that families of our church could pick from. Many families chose multiple children and even bought gifts for the staff.

One child's card broke our heart as a member read it to us. The card was a from a sixteen year old girl and stated that the only gift she would like to receive was a "hand written note" addressed to her. The family that chose her of course wrote her a note, but they took it one step further and bought her a Bible, writing in the note that the Bible was "God's letter" written to her!

Families of our church responded again this year by providing gifts for over 140 orphans at three different homes. We began collecting the gifts the first Sunday in December and delivered them on December 17th, just in time for Christmas. These are beautiful opportunities for ministry that we cherish, truly bringing joy to our Church!