In Advent, we celebrate and give thanks that in Jesus God came to be with us, among us. But how did Jesus make his way to us? He came to shepherds, who were considered unclean—they were rejected and impoverished, on the bottom rung of society. He came to rich Arab wise men who, like the shepherds, had no place among the people of God. And he kept that pattern up, relentlessly, throughout his life on earth.

In other words, when Jesus came, he went to the outskirts, to the edges of community, to where exclusion happens.

At Shalem, through WrapAround, Restorative Practice, the Congregational Assistance Plan, RE-create and our Counselling Centre we seek to follow Jesus into the margins, the edges of our lives and our communities—and there to encounter the living God and the extraordinary courage of people.

Read our complete Advent Appeal here.