The Loop / December 12, 2023
Catch Up with the Current series:
This Week’s Announcements:
BELIEVE // LIVING NATIVITY AT HERITAGE BAPTIST CHURCH
Our friends at Heritage host a “living nativity” event each Christmas season, and this year’s rendition will be on Friday, December 15 from 6:30-8pm. This is a free event, and it comes with a gift! No tickets are necessary, and all are welcome. Let’s support our friends at Heritage (and get in the holiday spirit) together!
BECOME // SERVING OUR NEW HOSTS AT THE SCHOOL!
One of the awesome things about being in a local elementary school like Mills-Parole is that it gives us a chance to serve our neighbors in a tangible and impactful way. We are incredibly fortunate that MPES already has a Community Liaison Officer who is hard at work caring for the children and families in this community… and they have already reached out to us about ways we can help! Here are some opportunities for you to get involved that are coming up very soon:
Holiday Shop: a donation-driven chance for kids to “shop” for their family members from school! This event will begin Monday, December 18 and run through Thursday, December 21. Volunteers are needed between 9am and 2pm. A volunteer form must be filled out by all folks who want to help;if you think you might be available/interested, email Kenny at kenny@revolutionannapolis.com
Christmas Dinner Boxes: in partnership with the Anne Arundel County Food Bank, MPES will be distributing Christmas Dinner Boxes to school families facing food insecurity. This event will be on the afternoon of Friday, December 22. Volunteers will need to help pack the boxes in the morning between 9-10am, and then boxes will be handed out 1-230pm. A volunteer form must also be filled out by all folks who want to help; if you think you might be available/interested, email Kenny at kenny@revolutionannapolis.com
BELONG // HOLIDAY GATHERINGS SCHEDULE
Although we are excited to continue celebrating the Advent season at Mills-Parole Elementary, we won’t be there every single Sunday in December! Revolution’s weekly worship services will be held at 10am at Mills-Parole Elementary on December 3, December 10, and December 17… but we will not be meeting on the morning of December 24! Instead, we will be joining other Annapolis churches for a combined candlelight service that evening at Heritage Baptist church. We will also not be meeting on December 31–instead, we will be sharing an online service that week for you to listen to when you have time during what it is always a busy week. Regular services will begin again on January 7 and continue throughout the winter/spring. Thank you for being flexible, and we hope this balance of worship opportunities will give all of us a chance to celebrate the holidays not only with one another here at Revolution, but also with our brothers/sisters in other church communities and our friends and families, too!
BECOME // THE GIVING TREE!
Please remember to bring gifts back this Sunday so they can be taken over to Lighthouse Shelter for distribution Sunday afternoon. Important (and time-saving) reminder: gifts should NOT be wrapped ahead of time! Thank you all for making this such a fun and successful way to love our neighbors well. This event is one more way we are committed to supporting the amazing work our friends at Annapolis Lighthouse Shelter are doing in our city. If you would like to learn more about this organization (or even sign up to volunteer with them on a regular basis!), you can check them out at annapolislighthouse.org!
BELONG // MULTI-CHURCH CHRISTMAS EVE CANDLELIGHT SERVICE
We will be joining several other churches in Annapolis for a combined Christmas Eve service on Sunday, December 24 at 6pm. The service features speakers and musicians from every congregation, and it is an amazing opportunity to worship alongside our brothers and sisters from other traditions and denominations. Truly, it’s a great event, and we would absolutely love for you to be there!
BECOME // AN IMPORTANT CHILDREN’S MINISTRY TRANSITION
We also have a very important announcement about our kids’ ministry here at Revolution: our Children’s Pastor, Shawn Livingston, has decided to step down from his position at the end of this year. Shawn has served as the Children’s Pastor at Revolution for the last 6 years… and he actually worked in this role once before, during the earlier days of this church. Shawn has had an enormous impact on our community, not only by ensuring that children can learn about God in an environment that is fun, loving, and supportive, but also by being a faithful and consistent advocate for the kind of open, humble, and curious church Revolution strives to be. He will be greatly missed in this role, and we want to encourage you, if you have had a beneficial experience with Shawn or with RevKids, to reach out over these next few weeks to tell him “thank you” for his generous service.
Shawn’s absence will be deeply felt. And it is also going to create new needs for us in RevKids! While our Lay Leadership Team is working on filling Shawn’s official position on a more permanent basis, this is an important time for everyone to consider how they might step in to make sure that the kids’ environment here continues to be healthy, safe, and exciting. This church is absolutely blessed by the number of families and children who attend , and we want to make sure that this part of our community continues to grow! If you would like to learn more about how to help, please talk to Shawn, Kenny, or any of the teachers or leaders in this ministry: we would love your help.
BELIEVE // HOW WE CAN GROW TOGETHER
This year, Kenny has talked several times about the importance of reimagining spiritual growth as something we do together. But what does that really look like? Here are a few ideas for us as we close out 2023:
Join a Small Group: Small groups are where we find the space and the encouragement to share our stories with one another, ask deep questions, and learn how to practice that mix of gracious patience and faithful challenge Kenny described. If you haven’t taken the step of visiting a group, this would be a great week to give one a try! There are online and in-person options available… whichever format makes you most comfortable, what matters is that we invest our time and attention in one another!
Serve Together: Our weekly services create great opportunities for us to step in and serve alongside one another. If you are passionate about kids ministries, Shawn would love to talk with you about serving in RevKids… and if you’re not sure what your best fit might be, you can always just drop by a little early (we get to the theater at 8) or stay a little late to help pack up. This is your church… we want everyone to feel connected!
Pray for Each Other: Prayer binds us together: it connects us with God, and as we ask God to bring healing and hope to others, it connects us with our friends. We can all make more time to talk to God–indeed, talking to God can become part of the rhythm of our days. This might seem like a solitary practice in our spiritual lives… but it isn’t at all! Prayer is the glue in a church community. Give it a try this week!
BECOME // SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES: RESOURCES FOR YOUR JOURNEY
Our theme for 2023 is Discipleship, and we’re working together on some of the disciplines we can all practice in order to better participate in the spiritual growth God desires for us. The following are some encouragements and resources for you to use as we try to make this series “stick” in the Revolution community!
For Prayer: Make real and regular time for prayer where you can in your day: wake up a little earlier, take a 15-minute break in your day, or use a resource like Echo Prayer to send you reminders and organize what you’re praying for! Learn the Lord’s Prayer… so you always have something to “say”! And consider joining Revolution’s Prayer Team when it launches later this year… in the meantime, you can talk to Kenny or Jon Connelly about it!
For Study: Use a resource like The Bible Project to help inform your study, and find a reading plan you can stick to on the YouVersion Bible app or using another study tool. You can also sign up to be a part of the Revolution Online Bible Study on Monday nights!
For Giving: Pray for wisdom, clarity, and conviction as you explore ways to share what God has given you generously and faithfully. If you feel led to support Revolution, you can always do so using our website or making a donation on Sunday mornings. And if you’d like to support some great non-profits in our community, you can do that, too! No matter what, continue to taking steps forward towards the goal of radical generosity.
For Service: Learn more about our friends at Lighthouse Shelter and the Heritage Food Pantry! Reach out and set up a time to visit or volunteer… and pray for God to show you a place where you can serve your neighbors on a regular basis.
BELIEVE // COFFEE, ANYONE?
Do you have questions? Doubts? Would you just like to talk through things with someone? Kenny is also always up for that, too! Just send him an email (kenny@revolutionannapolis.com) or text (803.727.8500).
BECOME // SUPPORTING REVOLUTION CHURCH
At Revolution, we believe that our church needs to be a witness to God’s bottomless love and an example of what it means to wrestle and grow with our faith together. Following Jesus isn’t easy! But even in our doubts, if we take the things we are struggling to believe and put them into practice together, we learn to ask better questions and live in ways that are more beneficial for others.
If you want to join us in this mission, you can be a part in a few different ways:
First, you can commit to presence: it is our sincere hope as a church that you find real purpose and meaning in being a part of our services and groups at Revolution. They exist for you! But have you ever thought about what you have to offer those gatherings in return? Your unique perspective, hopes, experiences, and struggles are part of the bigger story of our church. You have an important part to play here, and that part begins by making faithful presence a priority!
Second, you can commit to generosity: we want to imitate God’s generosity by looking for ways we can share what we have been given with others to bring hope, justice, and safety to our neighbors. One way you can practice that generosity is by supporting our ministry here at Revolution financially: we are a non-profit organization committed to maintaining a Christian ministry in Annapolis, forgiving the debts of our neighbors, and financially supporting both church plants and existing churches in our area. Your gifts help keep this commitment going! But we also want to make sure you know that giving is important no matter where you do it: find a non-profit, charity, or aid organization whose cause you support and make a plan to be faithful and generous towards them! God can do more with our resources than we can… and giving is one of the practical ways we put our trust in what He can do.
Third, you can commit to service: here at Revolution, we are in need of all sorts of volunteers to keep our ministry going. If you are available to help out on any of our Sunday morning teams, or with any of our groups or other outreach ministries during the week, we need you! This is a great way to contribute to the church… and to make new friends.
The city of Annapolis needs help, too! If you are able, make time in your week to participate in a routine act of service for our community. There are multiple food pantries we support, all of whom need help, as well as opportunities to work with kids in need of tutoring, care for unhoused residents in our city who need assistance, and serve as an advocate for a variety of justice-seeking non-profits working to make Annapolis a more equitable place to live. For help a place to serve, just talk with Kenny (kenny@revolutionannapolis.com) or our Community Engagement Lay Leader, Liz Wheeler (liziwheeler@gmail.com).
BELONG // STAY IN THE LOOP ALL WEEK LONG!
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