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Okay, so this is more than 2 weeks
early, but today is the FFAC Church Family’s Christmas party. We wish to give a
warm welcome especially to our invited guests and friends here, near and in
far-away places.
In case you’re wondering what the
First Filipino Alliance Church is all about, here’s who we are and what we do
in a nutshell.
Who are we? We are a bunch of
ordinary people who have experienced Jesus’ love and forgiveness. His sinless
life, death and resurrection and God’s boundless kindness and care for people are
the greatest and best news ever. What do we do? This inspires us to live for
Jesus and compels us to invite as many people to check out what it’s like to
commit their lives totally for Him without the hang-ups of “religion” or
“church.”
Twice on Sundays (10:30am and 6pm) we open the
church building so people can gather to worship Jesus. We love to sing and make
music. We choose a balanced selection of songs that are uplifting and
substantive to turn our attention away from ourselves and focus only in
admiring and adoring God. We’re also big on hearing instruction from God’s
Word, the Holy Bible. It’s full of liberating truths and principles that are
good guidelines for all aspects of life. In case you missed it, we’re excited
about Scriptures. Our pastors preach it and in small group gatherings all over
the city and throughout the week, we study, pray and encourage one another to
live by it. We even host courses to train people how to handle God’s literature.
Generous. It’s not just our current
2-sermon series this Christmas; it’s one of God’s essential qualities and we
encourage our people to emulate it. We do whatever we can to live generously.
While we are not able to meet every
need, we certainly try to do what we can to give a helping hand. If you’re new
to Edmonton, you’ll eventually engage in the great Canadian tradition among
newcomers – “lipat-bahay” (it’s a moving experience – pun intended) If we hear of friends who
need help in moving, we may just come up with a few more helping hands and
maybe even a vehicle to load things.
In case you haven’t noticed, the
whole city has turned into one gigantic walk-in freezer. If you know some
newcomers to Canada who need warm blankets and proper winter gear, would you
let us know? Last year, we hosted a welcome party for new Edmontonians and gave
away stuff to keep people warm. We like giving away stuff especially if it
keeps people from getting stiff.
So that we can keep on doing what we
love to do, share Jesus with people and help meet practical needs, we encourage
folks here to give generously and serve. We not only do it here in the city, we
also like to extend our helping hand abroad.
Towards the end of the year, a small
group of us are flying to Manila and Isabela to serve meals to children, get
them seen by some health and dental care professionals and give away meds,
vitamins, clothes, toys, school supplies and food. If you’ve received much
blessing from God, we’re still receiving moneys or goodies we could bring if
you find it in your heart to give. In fact, folks at FFAC have been thinking
and praying about what we would give for our December 20th Special
Offering, which we’ve called “My Birthday Gift to Jesus.” All proceeds will go
to the needy people we serve in this mission trip and/or our other
compassionate ministry partners like Action International Ministries and Hungry
for Life.
If you like this idea of living for Jesus and giving of ourselves so others can
live for Him too, then come, stay and be a part of the FFAC church family. We’d
love to have you here. You’ll learn more and more along the way that it’s not
about us. It’s not about church or religion either. It’s all about Jesus, the
Christ.
ricky p. mapa, pastor
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