MISSION & OUTREACH
The Advent serves our Lord Jesus Christ by engaging in his spiritual and material restoration of our city of Birmingham and our world. Our hope is to develop a culture where Adventers, through the work of the Holy Spirit, engage in evangelism, doing justice, and loving mercy. We regularly have food and coat drives, participate in local service days, and plan trips that facilitate deep, healthy relationships with other Christian organizations working in gospel ministry.
The Advent supports ministries that work to develop current and future leaders who serve unreached people with the gospel, who support the persecuted church, and who give in ministry to the poor. Through engagement with five primary ministry partners, we grow in relationships with others, shaped by mutual prayer, encouragement, and learning.
3 Ways to Serve This Holiday Season
Help the staff at Pathways host a great Christmas party for the women and children in their care on Thursday, December 12. Volunteers needed for set up, playing with children, or serving pizza. Please sign up here so we can fill all needed time slots that afternoon and evening. We are asking women of the Advent to consider donating a gift item for the women Pathways serves. For a gift list, contact Leslie Houseman.
Advent is glad to partner with St. Mary’s on the Highlands and St. Luke’s to pack holiday supply bags that go home with Glen Iris Elementary students during the Christmas holidays. Last year, dozens of volunteers gathered at St. Mary’s for a wonderful team operation of packing these food bags to help meet the needs of the hungry children in our city. Most of the students who attend Glen Iris Elementary often go without basic nutrition when school is out during the break. Our Episcopal churches bless them with fun and nutritious foods. Would you consider joining us in this effort this year?
Please sign up here to provide supplies. You can bring items to Canon Young or Anita Gray in the church office, or drop them off in Clingman Commons on Sunday mornings, November 24, December 1, or December 8. You may also make financial contributions to support this project by marking your check, made out to the Advent, as “Glen Iris Project,” or by giving online and typing “Glen Iris Project” in the memo field.
All items are due Wednesday, December 11th. Then join other volunteers on Sunday, December 15th 2:00-4:00 p.m. at St. Mary’s on the Highlands (1910 12th Ave S, Birmingham, AL 35205) for packing the bags.
Our friends at Oak Tree Ministries in Gate City will be hosting their annual Christmas in the Village store December 18-21. The CITV store is open to neighborhood parents to shop at deeply discounted prices, enabling them to provide Christmas presents for their children. We can help by “stocking the store” with new, unwrapped toys, valued at $85 or less. (No guns of any kind, including Nerf.)
You are also invited to help set up the store (sorting, pricing, etc.) on Sunday afternoon, December 15, or Monday, December 16. Email Lisa Yeager with your availability to volunteer those days.
Restoration Academy
Restoration Academy is a Christian K-12 school in Fairfield, Alabama that takes a holistic approach to education. Through classroom instruction and life-on-life discipleship, RA seeks to advance the greatest commandments in the lives of each student: to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love others as themselves.
The Advent hosts an annual lunch-and-learn for Adventers to learn more about the ministry of Restoration Academy and get involved as volunteers. RA students interested in ministry have also spent time with Advent staff members to explore possibilities in vocational ministry. We are excited to see how our relationship with RA can grow as more Adventers engage in partnership with them.
Anglican Church of
Rwanda and Shyira Diocese
In 2015, the Advent hosted Sam Mugisha and his family as Sam began his doctoral studies at Beeson Divinity School. Our friendship with Sam and Jacky and their girls (Iris, Ines, and Ingrid) has been a truly special one and we are grateful to God for our partnership with the Shyira Diocese, where Sam currently serves as bishop. The Rwandan church has much to teach us about the reconciling power of God, the joy of worshipping our risen Savior, and the love of Scripture.
Global Teams
The Advent has partnered with Global Teams for more than twenty years. As our only mission-sending partner, our support helps spread the Gospel across the world, to people with the least access to God’s word. Global Teams sends from everywhere, to everywhere. The gospel is for all people in the world, so only 10% of their field partners are from North America. While we support the broader mission of Global Teams, we have a special partnership with field partners located in Malawi.
Brother Bryan Mission
Brother Bryan Mission serves men in Birmingham who likely are at the lowest points of their lives. It offers two programs to support men recovering from addiction: a nine-month recovery program and a back-to-work program. The Advent hosts graduations of men completing their recovery programs, and several men in our congregation serve as mentors to other men working through Brother Bryan programs.
Bridge Ministries
Bridge Ministries is a front-line responder to crisis situations in Birmingham, and has provided a significant service to our church for years. Bridge staff members have a wealth of case management expertise, exercise creativity in working with clients to find solutions to difficult problems, and offer compassionate care to those who are at their most vulnerable.