Alabama Baptist churches collect 9,441 Christmas backpacks for children

Alabama Baptist churches collect 9,441 Christmas backpacks for children

Alabama Baptist churches helped make Christmas brighter for thousands of children this year through the Christmas Backpack ministry.

Pat Ingram, missions and ministry consultant for Alabama Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU), said Alabama churches have collected 9,441 backpacks as of Dec. 7, more than 2,300 more than they collected last year. The majority of Alabama’s backpacks went to sites in the Mississippi River Ministry (MRM). More than 1,000 of these backpacks were provided as churches and associations partnered directly through MRM with specific ministry sites.

Working together

Alabama Crenshaw Baptist Association was one of these associations, providing 430 backpacks to a ministry that works with MRM in Kentucky. Two associations partnered with churches in Appalachia as well, Ingram said.

MRM received requests for 12,835 backpacks this year. In partnership with the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions and Alabama WMU, churches across the state dropped off their new backpacks, filled with supplies and goodies, at collection sites around the state during the week of Oct. 29–Nov. 3.

On Dec. 1 some 50 volunteers from five Alabama Baptist churches — Millbrook Baptist Church, in Elmore Baptist Association; River Falls Baptist Church, in Covington Baptist Association; First Baptist Selma, in Selma Baptist Association; Macedonia Baptist Church, in Etowah Baptist Association; First Baptist Fairhope, in Baldwin Baptist Association — and Pickens Baptist Association, plus members of Lakeshore Church, New Orleans, held a block party to distribute backpacks and reach out in a fun way to families in the neighborhood around Lakeshore Church.

Volunteers from the Alabama churches brought hot dogs, snow cones, popcorn, drinks and nonperishable food items to give away at the event.

There also were games, a bouncy house and a clothing giveaway.

Meeting needs

Volunteers shared the gospel every 10 to 15 minutes, and 275 backpacks were given out to kids in the neighborhood.  “We had a busy, God-honoring day,” Ingram said.

MRM partners with churches and associations to provide backpacks filled with gifts each year to the families in the Mississippi River Delta. The backpacks contain food, toys, art supplies, hygiene items, Bibles, candy, socks, gloves and all kinds of useful and fun items. Each backpack also includes a copy of the Christmas story.

The concept works, according to MRM network coordinator Marshall Ingle, who works alongside his wife, Janell, at MRM.

Ingle said MRM gave away 9,560 backpacks in 2017 with 417 professions of faith reported.

“Backpacks open the door for the gospel,” he said. “It’s hard to share the gospel when someone’s hungry and when they’re worried and distracted by other things.”

The Mississippi River Delta has a high population of working poor families, Ingle said. They live paycheck to paycheck, often working seasonally on the region’s many farms. Christmas gifts are out of their financial reach, and that’s where the backpacks come in.

Children’s excitement

“A couple of years ago a 16-year-old girl in Arkansas told one of our pastors that the backpack was the first Christmas gift she had ever gotten,” Ingle said.

Ingle has heard many similar stories and has seen the excitement on the faces of children as they receive their gift.

“We are thankful for the support of Alabama Baptists,” Ingle said. “As a child of God, we should be trying to share the gospel any way we can.” (TAB)

The Ingles are available to speak to churches about ministry partnerships in the Mississippi River Delta. For more information, go to MississippiRiverMinistry.com or call 318-315-0743.