Our own Whitney McLean again shared her artistic talents on Christmas Eve, creating a beautiful painting at the front of the sanctuary during the worship service. Since then she has continued to put the finishing touches on her artwork, and now it's complete! You can see the painting in the photo above, and it will be on display at the front of the sanctuary over the next two Sundays. Thank you, Whitney, for sharing your gifts to enrich our faith through art!

 

International Newcomer Academy Volunteer Day

This Tuesday, January 18, 1:30 PM

Thanks to this amazing crew who helped us get the furniture and household good donation room ready for newly arrived refugee and immigrant families at our partner school International Newcomers Academy!

We will have another work day Tuesday January 18th at 1:30 PM.  Meet at 7060 Camp Bowie in the back corner portable.  For questions or to RSVP email allison@ridgleachristian.org

 

Donate Winter hats, gloves, and coats
for M.L. Phillips Elementary School

With the weather finally turning colder, we are collecting warn hats, gloves, and coats in children's sizes (between 6 and 12) to donate to Mary Louise Phillips Elementary School. Over the next two weeks you can place your new or gently-used donations in the bin in the foyer, or drop them by the church office during the week and Pam DeVoe will deliver them to the school.

 

Groceries for Refugees

Over the last several months there have been 5-10 Afghan refugee families arriving to Fort Worth each week through Refugee Services of Texas!  As a church we have been providing groceries for 1 family each week.  We take a shopping list, fill up our carts and deliver it so that when they arrive their pantries and fridge are full of food that tastes like home.

There are 2 ways you can help

1) Donate at www.shelbygiving.org/ridglea and choose "Refugees" from the Fund drop-down menu.

2) Be a grocery shopper and deliverer.  When we learn each week the time of arrival of our family you will receive a text.  If you are able to help shop and deliver that day we will get you a shopping list, delivery address, and money to shop with. To be added to the grocery shopper volunteer list email allison@ridgleachristian.org.

 

 

Each year Ridglea tithe's 10% of our budget to help our neighbors through our outreach giving.  One of the organizations your generosity supported in 2021 was DRC: Community Solutions to End Homelessness. Your generosity and kindness made a direct impact on over 3,000 households providing the support needed to continue their journey from homelessness to housing.  Your generosity helped individuals get critical identity documents so they could rejoin society, helped support case managers who placed people out of homelessness into their own homes and continued to provide support after they were housed, made emergency shelter available when the weather was bad and night shelters were full and alleviated the burden of first responders! 

Thanks church!  

To learn more about our partners at DRC Housing Solutions and how you can get involved visit www.drc-solutions.org
 

 

Weekly Updates
 

1) Ministry Across Generations Presentation
We shared about Connect Ministry Mission Trips with youth ministers across our denomination!  Check out the presentation here: https://youtu.be/753GsPCYaPo

2) New blog posted about our work with Refugee & Immigration Ministries
A new blog was published about the work that 2 of our 2021 mission trip groups did alongside Disciples Refugee and Immigration Ministry.  Check it out here: https://www.docfamiliesandchildren.org/single-post/connect-ministries

3) Registered Groups for Summer of 2022
We currently have 10 groups registered for summer of 2022 from Kentucky, Indiana, Texas, Iowa, Missouri and Ohio! Between our 3 sites we have space for 7 more groups! We have spent this week in conversation with congregations and schools who are still planning their summer mission trips. If you know of a group who would love to empower their young people to put their faith into action this summer help connect us!

4) Ministry Internship Applications Open  Up Next Week
Next week will open up applications for Summer 2022 Ministry Interns for Connect Ministries.  Interns will help to plan and lead groups in all 3 of our sites (Fort Worth, Nashville & Tucson).  This is a great opportunity for anyone but particularly candidates considering a career in ministry, education, social work, or community organizing. If you, or someone you know, would love this opportunity to serve, teach, connect and do justice check out the website www.connectministrytrips.org on Monday when the application goes live!

2022 Community Garden Workdays
Wednesdays at 10:00 AM

So far over 30 people have been participating in a book study with our friends from Community Christian Church and South Hills Christian Church! Every other Wednesday we gather on Zoom and then split into breakout groups of 5-6 participants to discuss a chapter of the book Be the Bridge: Pursuing God's Heart for Racial Reconciliation. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, January 26 at 7:00 pm, and the pastors of the three churches discuss the reading for the week and share it as a podcast by the Monday before the meeting. On January 26 we will be discussing chapter 10. If you'd like to jump in and join the conversation, use the link below to log into the next Zoom meeting:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81658261772?pwd=N2wyM1hzdHM0YWI3SnpNZXl4MjZ3Zz09
 
Meeting ID: 816 5826 1772
Passcode: bridge