Fill your boxes to the top with items our Send Chicago partners can use in their ministries and bring them to the Annual Meeting in Orland Park.
If the mission project seems familiar, it is. Previously featuring multi-colored five-gallon buckets, the collection is now called “Blessing Boxes.” The switch is because square boxes are more efficient to transport, but the goal is the same: Bless ministries with the supplies they need.
“Churches have responded so well the past two years,” said Shannon Ford, IBSA Missions Director. “We’re excited to bless some Chicago area ministries with what they need to restock their supplies as they serve needy families this fall and winter.”
The supplies list includes school supplies, diapers, wipes, hygiene items to make personal care kits, socks, half-gallon and gallon size Ziplock bags, socks, toboggan style winter hats, and gloves. (And did we mention socks! Everyone needs fresh, warm socks in the lakeshore winter.)
“We are partnering with the Send Relief ministry center in Chicago and the Chicagoland Baptist Association to provide items that their partners use to meet needs and show compassion in Christ’s name,” Ford said. Items will be distributed through the Send Relief center and partners like the Starting Point Community Church migrant ministry.
“Baptists like to collect things,” IBSA Associate Executive Director Mark Emerson once observed, and we’re good at it. Especially when the collection blesses children and churches and helps spread the gospel.
Check with your local Baptist Association office to pick up a box. Or bring the goods to the Annual Meeting in bags and put them in the Blessing Boxes there. IBSA staff will take care of the delivery.