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The Christmas Offering
There are 876,000 Hoosiers who call Indianapolis home.
Will you help fight poverty & addiction in our city?
Gospel Hope for the Whole Person
The History
Through the Christmas Offering, we strategically partner with a local or global organization to spread gospel hope!
Throughout the years, we've invested in communities, medical care, refugee aid, evangelism, and more. By God's grace, the last seven Christmas Offerings have each surpassed $1 million.
Love Indy
This year, we have the opportunity to uniquely impact Indianapolis by helping meet the comprehensive needs in our city.
One portion of the offering will further our investment in the Brookside community. With the other portion, we're launching community counseling in partnership with NewDay Counseling.
The Impact
This two-fold effort will create jobs in Brookside and support addiction counseling. It will promote local business and improve mental health. Ultimately, it allows College Park to tangibly demonstrate: we love Indy.
The Vision
Simply put, our vision is for gospel hope for the whole person. Here's how we're supporting that goal through the 2020 Christmas Offering:
The Brookside Initiative
Brookside is a neighborhood located on the Northeast side of Indianapolis. Historically, Brookside was an area of high crime and low-quality education. But in the past fifteen years, the power of the gospel has completely transformed Brookside. Since 2008, College Park has invested in Brookside through three Christmas Offerings as well as through your generous giving year-round—a portion of which goes toward our Urban Outreach partners in Brookside.
So, why Brookside? We want to continue bringing gospel hope through the 5 Pillars of Healthy Community: Jesus-Centered Churches, A Culture of Place & Relationships, Strong Educational Structures, Safe & Affordable Housing, and Economic Development.
In line with that focus, we're giving 70 percent of the 2020 Christmas Offering toward the following Brookside Urban Outreach partners:
- Economic Development: Purposeful Design and Heart Felt Soaps are both longtime Urban Outreach partners started by College Park members. Our investments in both companies will increase production efficiency and create jobs.
- Safe & Affordable Housing: Our support of Covenant Community Housing will allow for the purchase and refurbishment of a duplex that will be rented at a subsidized rate.
- A Culture of Place & Relationships: Heart Change Ministries, which operates Heart Felt Soaps, exists to come alongside mothers in crisis to encourage them to be the women that God created them to be. We will provide funds to help Heart Change move into a new and permanent facility!
- Strong Educational Structures – We love students! That's why we're providing scholarships for Heart Change children who live in Brookside to attend The Oaks Academy—a Christ-centered school in Brookside. Go Oaks!
- Jesus-Centered Churches: We will continue partnering with Nehemiah Bible Church as it shares the good news of the gospel through a unique ministry project coming in 2021.
Community Counseling Initiative
First established in the 1990s, NewDay Center blends highly qualified professional treatment with Christ-focused ministry in a way that uniquely serves those in need of counseling. NewDay provides clients with addiction treatment, medical care, and family counseling.
Our partnership with NewDay will accomplish two goals:
- Addiction Counseling: We will leverage the expertise and credibility of NewDay, as a licensed and accredited addiction treatment center, to build and implement a church-based ministry that responds effectively and compassionately to the challenging problem of addiction.
- Development of Community Counseling Groups: In partnership with NewDay, we will launch a variety of community counseling including (but not limited to) the areas of divorce, grief, addiction, and general counseling.
By leveraging the expertise and credibility of NewDay, as a licensed and accredited addiction treatment center, we will build and implement a church-based ministry that responds effectively and compassionately to the challenging problem of addiction and addresses the mental health needs of Indianapolis.