By Rick Carrol

As we look back over the course of the year 2022 at PORTICO Community Church, the church embodied the nature of God in the way PORTICO families lived and served, sacrificially.

In the Winter, time and resources were spent on caring for first responders.

In the Spring, financial support was provided for our brothers and sisters displaced by war in the Ukraine.

In the Summer, new believers found their way back to God through outreach events at community parks.

In the Fall, professional help was offered for those in need of mental health care, and families prioritized their schedules around growing in God’s Word as a community.

Throughout the year, the pastoral care team prayed for spiritual and physical healing, visited the sick, and grieved with those in mourning.

And then finally this Christmas season, over $25,000 was donated to provide meals and gifts for families in our community who would otherwise have no resource to celebrate the Messiah this Christmas season.

Christmas is the time of year when we’re reminded that the incarnate God, the Messiah, rearranged everything to leave a place of comfort to come down to earth to serve His children who were in need of saving.

Let’s be sure that whenever and however we celebrate over this Christmas weekend, we remain focused on the sacrificial love of the Messiah our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas everyone!