Ramadan starts August 11 and ends September 9, 2010. The fourth pillar, or duty, of a Muslim is to fast from sunrise to sunset during this time period. Coinciding with this month is a prayer movement, currently coordinated out of France and operating since 1993. It calls upon Christians to make a concerted but respectful effort during this month each year to learn about, pray for, and reach out to Muslim neighbors—across the street and around the world. Ramadan is chosen for this 30 day prayer focus because during this month many Muslims, including those who are normally not very devout, will become more serious about their faith. It is a month when Muslims hope that Allah (God) will be more attentive to their prayers.

Let’s pray as a church that God will indeed show Himself to Muslims during these days!

Pick up a prayer guide starting August 1 at the information center. There is an adult and a “Just for Kids” version.

“I feel hungry a lot.  It feels empty in me”  -Jilani, age 7  (Inq. 6/22)

How heart breaking would it be to hear those words from your own child and not have something to give them to fill them up.

On August 1 and 8 in the church lobby we will be collecting non-perishable food items.

These will be delivered locally to the West Chester Food Cupboard (545 Gay Street) and then be distributed to families in need.

Especially needed are:
dried beans
canned fruit juices
tomato/spaghetti sauce
diced/stewed tomatoes
and medium grain rice

If you and your family would like to help with delivery to the Gay Street location on Tuesday mornings August 3 and August 10, please contact Don and Barbara at 610-692-6093.

You may also contact them with additional questions.

Be intentional – Buy, Bring, Share !

UPDATE: August 14, 2010

Over the past two Sunday's, Christ Community collected food to donate to the West Chester Food Cupboard.  We collected 70 bags all together - that equates to almost 415 pounds of food you gave!

The West Chester Food Cupboard believes that 'no one should go hungry and that there is enough food for everyone.'  The W.C. Food Cupboard provides a 5-7 day supply of food on a monthly basis to people in need who live in the West Chester area.  Your generous donations will help in meeting that need. Thanks so much to all who contributed to this effort.  Special thanks to the Heberling's, Udinski's and Reed's for organizing this effort.

Since Saturday 6 March, at least 32 foreign Christians from across Morocco have been rounded up, questioned and swiftly expelled from the country. No official charges or explanations were given for the majority of these expulsions. This action has been carried out nationwide, leading many to believe that it was systematically planned from the central government in the capital, Rabat.
The Christians that were singled out for expulsion came from a broad range of nationalities and occupations. Most had lived in the country for a long time, had invested much energy and resources establishing businesses and services to benefit Moroccan society, and had chosen to raise their children there. All have been shocked by the sudden unannounced change in policy and feel that their lives have been turned upside down.
The most shocking news to emerge from Morocco has been the closure of an orphanage for abandoned Moroccan children, triggered by the expulsion of 20 foreigners. This orphanage had previously operated legally within Morocco for 10 years, prior to being shutdown overnight. The center had benefitted the community by placing forgotten children into stable and loving families.
However, the Christian foster parents have been accused by the authorities of being underhanded, using the center as a guise to proselytize Christianity. In truth, the orphanage has always been open to the authorities about having a Christian ethos, and all volunteers are contracted to only share their faith if asked.
This recent action by the Moroccan government comes in the wake of a number of police raids on Christian meetings in the last year.
• In March 2009, police raided a women’s Bible study in Casablanca and expelled five foreign visitors from the country.
• In November 2009, the police raided a Christian meeting in the north and sent five foreign workers out of the country.
• In January 2010, the police raided a Christian meeting in Marrakech and sent the visiting speaker out of the country.
It is also significant that King Mohammed VI has recently appointed a new Justice Minister and a new Interior Minister.
Since the early days of the Church, opposition has often led to increased boldness among local Christians and also a growing number of those turning to faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. In Acts 11
we read of great persecution and dispersion, and yet . . . “The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of them believed and turned to the Lord.” - Acts 11:21
Please pray for God’s purposes to be accomplished in the land of Morocco!

Give a unique and special gift to the special lady in your life this Mothers Day!
Check out the Sisters in Service website and participate in their Mother's Day challenges.

http://www.sistersinservice.org

Give a Rosebud and a Promise
At the World Congress on Women, the rosebud was adopted as the universal symbol of the girl.

Rosebuds make Mother's Day count for Mother's here and Mother's there…around the World.

Women make up:
70% of the poor
80% of people trafficked
65% of illiterates

Child mothers are:
      -abused
      -malnourished
      -oppressed

Together we can:
rescue and restore mothers and children.

Participate in the 10,000 Men to Champion the World’s Most Vulnerable Women

Stand and Make the Pledge:
I will not sit still for the abuse and exploitation of priceless women and girls.
In honor of the women and girls God has blessed me with,
I will leverage my freedom to speak and my resources to set them free,  
   equipping them for a stronger future, In Christ’s Name.

Give a rosebud and rosebud gift card.
https://ssl31.chi.us.securedata.net/sistersinservice.org/giftcardorder.asp

Kids In Service: Rosebuds for Mother's Day Contest
Show your mother, grandmother, aunt or sister how much you appreciate them by creating an original work of art, along with two paragraphs telling " Why I want to honor you on Mother's Day".
Your award? Your creative work will be posted on the Sisters in Service website, maybe even in their Life Change Report, for all to see, and Sisters In Service will give $100 worth of education and food, in your name to a child overseas, making you an honorary SIS!

http://www.sistersinservice.org/mothersday.asp#KidsContest

This is an invitation to the college age individuals among us. Are you interested in exploring God’s call on your life?  Are you ready to give up your small ambitions and go somewhere you’ve never been?
Every summer, people like you go to The Edge. For six to ten weeks, you will learn about what it means to live in another culture as you join with what God is already doing among the nations.
Discover God’s love for all peoples. Learn the value of culture as you befriend its people and learn their language. Serve long-term workers as you partner with existing ministries and pioneer some new ones. Grow in your understanding of God, yourself, and what the future might hold.
For more information check out http://www.pioneers.org and click on “the Edge”

"...and who scatter to represent Christ in the world" is the last line of Christ Community Church's mission statement.

There are many ways in which we do that as a church community both locally and overseas.
On Sunday, February 21, there was a meeting to present the 2010 global partnership service opportunities.
Overseas we will be going to Indonesia (June 20-July 2), Mexico (July 24-31) and Egypt (September 10-19).
Locally, there will be three prayerwalking trips to college campuses -  right in our own backyard at West Chester University (March 24 & 25), the Jersey Metro area (April 5-9) and Tidewater, VA (April 18-23).
There is still plenty of opportunity for you to join any of these teams.

Other upcoming opportunities are:

• A class on TCKs (Third Culture Kids) on March 7 at 10:30, room 214.

Todd Corbin will share about TCKs and how we can be involved with them and help ease their transition into college.Todd works with PIONNEERS and his primary ministry is to track with, visit, help and care for college TCK’s as they return to the States for schooling. 

• An orientation on Foster/Respite Care will be offered on the evening of Wednesday, March 17th, 7pm in room 201.

This training is a follow up to our classes in the fall of 2009 on Orphan Care.

• A worship concert with an Indonesian focus will take place on March 14 at 7pm in the main sanctuary. If you want to learn more about Indonesia and a great opportunity to partner with new ministry partners, Jon & Carley…come for a night of prayer and worship.

There are so many ways to scatter and to serve.
If you have any questions on these, or other similar opportunities, contact  Barbara at  .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

TThe Samaritan's Purse special offering which was taken for emergency relief in Haiti totaled $15, 322. Thank you for your generosity.

Samaritan’s Purse specializes in meeting critical needs for victims of war, disaster, famine, and epidemics in the world’s most troubled regions. Currently, teams are working with local churches to deliver emergency relief supplies to victims of the massive earthquake that rocked Haiti last week. 
A network is set up to deliver supplies such as hygiene kits, plastic for shelters, blankets, and solar flashlights to beneficiaries located in and around Port-au-Prince.  This distribution network is expected to provide aide to at least 300 families per day. Last Sunday, their workers installed a high-capacity water filtration unit at the Baptist Haiti Mission.  The community filter will provide safe, clean water for patients and staff at the 100 bed hospital and the mission.  More water filtration systems and tanks are arriving.  A barge is in transit with large trucks for transporting equipment and fuel, 5,000 rolls of plastic, and other emergency items.  Also, Doctors and nurses with Samaritan’s Purse are already there alleviating suffering from survivors of the quake.
This Sunday, we are receiving financial contributions which will go directly to Samaritan’s Purse, for emergency relief in Haiti.  Please, make checks payable to Christ Community Church and use the envelope provided.

Thanks to the many, many families who together contributed 384 pairs of pajamas to people in need in the Coateville area.
We partnered with the wonderful staff of the Coatesville Salvation Army for this Pajama Drive Project.

For the last two weeks, more people from Christ Community Church Women's Bible study gathered at the Salvation Army to sort these pajamas so the families can receive this gift for their children in time for Christmas.
What a wonderful opportunity to join together to serve.

Have a wonderful Christmas! Thanks for helping to provide a warmer and cozier Christmas for many others!

As Christmas approaches, serve with us and share the love of Christ to our neighbors (local and global).

For the third year we have the opportunity to provide pajamas to families in need within the Coatesville area, in partnership with the Salvation Army. We need 350 pairs of pajamas. This is a great opportunity for the whole family. Kids love picking out pajamas to give to other kids! Cards to choose from will be available in the main lobby for 2 Sundays - November 22 and 29. These will have a child’s gender and size listed. You are asked to buy the pajamas, put them in a grocery bag with the card taped to the outside, and bring it to the church lobby on November 29 or December 6.

Christmas From the Heart
All women are welcome to join us as we bring Christmas to our community in service.  During the first two weeks in December we will break from our study groups to touch our community in a wide range of hands on care, resource support, and direct service with 8 different local ministries December 1st - 2nd - 3rd and December 8th - 9th - 10th. We will put into action what we study each week in God's Word. Download a description of each service effort here [PDF] and sign up in the Main Lobby or email us.

Student Center Angel Trees
The student ministries are partnering again this year with Camp at the Old Mill to provide gifts and camp sponsorships for the kids attending the camp.  We have 40 angel tree kids and 10 camp sponsorship kids.  Please pick up your angel in the Student Center before Wednesday, December 2.  A $25 gift idea is suggested for each child. 

Looking Back:

It was a fun weekend in which the body of Christ could be found working together to serve others.
Fifty Christ Community Church families provided the supplies for Thanksgiving dinner to families in Chester through World Impact.
One hundred and eighty families baked, cooked, transported food, and served at the Salvation Army in Coateville on Sunday afternoon.
Thanks to all who participated in these events.

We also heard 2 reports from recent returned global outreach teams -a construction team to Budapest Hungary and a childcare team to Rome, Italy.
Each team reported on how they were impacted as well as the people they went to serve. Thanks for the contributions and prayers from many who made these trips possibile.

Many attended Justin and LeeAnne's Cafe on Friday and Saturday. They had a constant flow of visitors come to chat and listen to great music. Justin and LeeAnne are ministry partners who live in Budapest Hungary and are in the mist of opening a cafe there.

Looking Ahead:

For the next 2 weeks will be collecting pajamas for families in need in Coatesville (in partnership with the Salvation Army).
We have about 140 more cards to be picked up. Each card provides a child's name, gender, age, size, and favorite color.
You are asked to buy the pajamas, put them in a grocery bag with the card taped to the outside, and bring it to the church lobby by December 6.

Nine ladies from Christ Community are now on their way to Rome, Italy.  They will serve our missionary partners and their team with Campus Crusade by taking WOW Kid's Club to their children while the parents are in a retreat.

Be sure to keep them in their prayers as they travel and are serving this week.  They arrive back in PA next Tuesday, November 3.