SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2025
We are in the midst of our Christmas series, A Christmas for Misfits. Jesus was born into a misfit world with misfit parents and was visited by misfits like the shepherds and the wise men.
Being a misfit is part of the human experience, and as we will see this Sunday, we are all misfits in our own way. All of us feel, or have felt, forgotten, broken, or like we do not fit. But the good news is that as Jesus lived and ministered in a broken world, it was clear He came for the misfits, the marginalized, and those on the fringe of society.
Join us this week as we see Jesus loving, honoring, and redeeming the misfits everyone else ignored.
COMMUNION: Dec 21
This Sunday, we will celebrate communion together during the service. Communion is a meaningful way to pause, remember Christ’s sacrifice, and reflect on the grace we share as a church family. As always, all are welcome to participate. Those joining online are encouraged to prepare elements and join us as well.
CANDLELIGHT CHRISTMAS EVE
Join us for our Christmas Eve candlelight service, Made to Belong, on December 24 at 4 PM and 6 PM. It will be a beautiful and meaningful way to celebrate the hope of Christmas with your church family.
CHRISTMAS OFFERING:
From Local to Global, One Mission of Love
The Christmas Offering helps meet needs within our congregation and community while also supporting ministry partners locally and around the world.
In 2025, these gifts helped individuals with housing, utility bills, groceries, counseling, medical expenses, auto payments, auto repairs, and fuel cards. The offering also supported ministry partners including Mobile Food Pantry, Loaves & Fishes, Prison Ministry, in2Action, Love Columbia, Won by One to Jamaica, Bethany Christian Services, Urban Empowerment Source Summit, and Columbia Supreme.
With your continued support, we can make an even greater impact together in 2026.
FAMILY MEETING: Dec 28
Please plan to join us for a family meeting on December 28, right after the service in the auditorium. The Elder Board will share information and updates of interest to the entire church.
MOBILE MARKET UPDATE
Woodcrest volunteers and friends served 176 households with groceries at the Food Bank Mobile Market on Tuesday. Neighbors received three pounds of hamburger, frozen entrees and desserts, potatoes, onions, milk, fresh corn, stuffing mix, bread, and bananas.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this possible. Our next Mobile Market will be held on January 20.
LAST WEEK’S INSIGHT
Last week Matt launched “Christmas for Misfits” by exploring what it feels like to never quite fit in. From Rudolph and the Island of Misfit Toys to C. S. Lewis and the Nativity story, he traced our longing to belong “east of Eden” and showed how Christmas is God coming down our lane to bring misfits home.
Watch or rewatch last week’s message here: A Christmas for Misfits
We all chase belonging
From “6–7” chants to pet rocks and Beanie Babies, we’ll do almost anything to feel part of something.
We live east of Eden
Sin, shame, and doubt push us out of “home,” so we go “westward leading, still proceeding,” trying money, stuff, and relationships to fix it.
God keeps choosing misfits
Zechariah and Elizabeth, night-shift shepherds, foreign magi, and a poor young couple with no room at the inn are the ones God builds Christmas around.
Jesus buys the room we could never afford
Like the rich friend at the hotel, Christ makes a way into God’s presence for people who could never pay their own way.
Christmas is the misfits’ homecoming
The letters that changed Rudolph’s ending echo our own hearts, and God answers by sending Jesus to take misfit hearts all the way home.
THE TAKEAWAY
If you feel like you never quite fit in, Christmas is God’s invitation in Jesus to stop wandering and finally belong.
OTHER IMPORTANT STUFF
• Check out Kidcrest, our children’s ministry HERE
• The Loop: sign up for our student ministry newsletter HERE
• Watch services at WoodcrestWorldwide.org
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• Download the Woodcrest App: CLICK
• Last, but definitely not least: Set up a recurring donation