wfn.org | Christmas Joy Offering Invests Big Money in Big Dreams

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

19-November-1999 
99393 
 
    Christmas Joy Offering Invests Big Money in Big Dreams 
 
    1999 Campaign expected to reach goal of $6.2 million 
 
    by Evan Silverstein 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Christmas Joy Offering can enable a young person to 
escape a threatening neighborhood or help a retired minister in need. 
 
    The offering, whose organizers hope to raise $6.2 million this year, 
provides funds with which the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Board of 
Pensions offers financial assistance to retired church workers and helps 
eight PC(USA)-affiliated racial-ethnic schools and colleges keep their 
doors open. 
 
    On Dec. 19, the traditional day for congregational participation in the 
65-year-old annual offering, Presbyterians nationwide will have an 
opportunity to make a difference. 
 
    The holiday offering netted $5.4 million last year. The offering's 
coordinator is confident that this year's offering will exceed that total. 
 
    "I feel really good about what we're doing this year," said Stevie 
Finn, associate for interpretation with the Congregational Ministries 
Division. "It's a terrific offering. People continue to be enthusiastic, 
and every year we get more and more churches participating." 
 
    Funds are raised by seeking donations from church members and selling 
stained-glass Christmas tree ornaments, a feature that debuted last year. 
The three-inch "Wise Man" decorations are priced at $3. Bulletin covers 
with art depicting the campaign theme for 1999 - "The Fruit of the Spirit 
is Love, Joy, Peace" - are available free of charge. 
 
    Finn said pledge booklets promoting the program, complete with order 
forms, a history of the event and activities for children, were mailed last 
month. More than 16,000 were shipped to Christian educators, congregations, 
churches, synods and presbyteries. Additional packets are available on 
request. A record number of guest speakers are traveling the lecture 
circuit to talk up the offering. 
 
    For some, the offering means the difference between thriving and 
surviving. 
 
    "This offering is crucial for the Board of Pensions and the 
racial-ethnic schools and colleges, because there are many people who would 
not be able to accomplish their goals in life if it were not for this 
offering," said the Rev. Mary Newbern-Williams, the denomination's 
associate for racial-ethnic schools and colleges. 
 
    Newbern-Williams described one young woman who, thanks to the Christmas 
Joy offering, went from high school dropout in a dangerous Los Angeles 
neighborhood, to the green campus of Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Ala. 
(one of the eight schools that benefit from the offering). 
 
    "Her life is going to be radically different now," said 
Newbern-Williams, a member of the offering's planning committee. "She's 
going to get an education. She's going to go on to accomplish her dreams. 
Whenever I think about it, I tear up." 
 
    Ornaments and covers (in packages of 50) may be ordered by calling the 
Presbyterian Distribution Service at 1-800-524-2612, or through the 
offering's official Web site <http://www.pcusa.org/cjo/>. 
 
                               How it works 
 
    The Christmas Joy Offering is one of four special annual offerings 
designated by PC(USA)'s General Assembly to give congregations a direct 
means of supporting specific causes. 
 
    Receipts from the offering are distributed equally to the Board of 
Pensions (BOP), for assistance programs, and the National Ministries 
Division of the General Assembly Council, for support of  the Presbyterian 
racial-ethnic schools and colleges. 
 
    BOP's assistance programs offer help to both retired and active church 
workers and their families. These programs supplement the individual's 
regular employment benefits in cases of extraordinary need. 
 
    Income supplements are available to retired church workers and their 
spouses when their total income drops below a level established by BOP. 
 
    Shared grants are provided for eligible church workers or surviving 
spouses in an emergency or special financial need. BOP and the employing 
church, organization or presbytery share in funding these grants. 
 
    Last year, through Christmas Joy Offering funds, BOP assisted more than 
500 church workers, mostly retired. 
 
    "It's a wonderful way in which the church can help those who have 
served the church through the years and enable them to meet their needs 
often in later life, after they've retired," said Peter Sime, manager of 
BOP's Assistance and Retirement Housing program. "It really is the ministry 
of the church and the spirit of what Christ has called us to do for one 
another and exemplifies the community nature of the church." 
 
    The Presbyterian Church has long supported minority education by 
founding and funding racial-ethnic schools. Christmas Joy Offering funds 
are used for basic operating costs and allow schools to provide a greater 
number of scholarships. 
 
    Newbern-Williams said the eight schools that benefit from the offering 
should receive $180,000 to $340,000 from this year's program. 
 
    This year's campaign ends Feb. 1. Donations received after that will go 
to the 2000 offering. 
 
                                  History 
 
    The Christmas Joy Offering dates to 1933, when the former Presbyterian 
Church in the United States (PCUS) launched the program to supplement 
inadequate retirement and supplemental medical insurance for former 
ministers, missionaries and church workers and their families. 
 
    In the former United Presbyterian Church in the United States of 
America (UPCUSA), a Christmas offering called "the White Gift" was first 
collected in 1960. The receipts were used for general mission and world 
relief. In 1964 the name was changed to the Christmas Offering and the 
receipts went to improve health and welfare of children. That emphasis 
continued until 1973, when the offering was used to support former church 
employees with inadequate pensions. Minority education was added in 1974, 
nursing and home-care assistance in 1979. 
 
    In 1987 the offering was renamed the Christmas Joy Offering. In 1991, 
the 203rd General Assembly revised the distribution of funds to the current 
formula - 50 percent to BOP and 50 percent to the Presbyterian 
racial-ethnic schools and colleges. 
 
    The eight schools supported by the Christmas Joy Offering are 
Barber-Scotia College, Concord, N.C.; Cook College and Theological School, 
Tempe, Ariz.; Knoxville College, Knoxville, Tenn.; Mary Holmes College, 
West Point, Miss.; Menaul School, Albuquerque, N.M.; Presbyterian Pan 
American School, Kingsville, Texas; Sheldon Jackson College, Sitka, Alaska; 
and Stillman College, Tuscaloosa, Ala. 

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