During the Christmas season at East Cooper, angel trees are placed around the building. This opportunity provides a way for church members to extend the love of Christ to children in a tangible way by giving a gift to children in our community. In years past, the ministry has focused on children with parents in prison. This year, however, we felt moved to expand the ministry to include foster and refugee children. This expansion occurred out of a desire to engage and share the gospel with the growing number of refugee families in the area.  

Every year, around fifty thousand refugees are resettled in the United States. In 2023 and 2024, South Carolina was federally approved to receive 600 refugees from across the globe. “God is bringing people from countries we cannot enter for long periods of time to our city. This is an opportunity to engage the nations by crossing the street or the bridge,” Moriah Bruner, East Cooper’s Local Outreach Coordinator, shared. With a desire to engage the growing refugee community in the Charleston area, nearly one hundred tags including the names of refugee children were added to the angel trees this year with the hope of surprising these children with gifts and showing them the love of Jesus. 

Twenty three people from East Cooper delivered these gifts, along with Bibles, to 90 refugee children in the Charleston area. Most were invited into the homes of the refugees and had clear and long gospel conversations. Each refugee family received a Bible in their heart language so they can continue learning about Jesus. For many of these families, mostly from Muslim backgrounds, this was their first time hearing about Jesus. People from unreached places around the world are more accessible now that they are moving into our neighborhoods and cities. Many of these East Cooper families hope to continue building and investing in relationships with these refugees.

We are excited to continue this program and have the opportunity to continue engaging the nations in our neighborhoods. Look for the angel trees throughout the building this Christmas season, and sign up to give a gift this year.