Cover Story

by Benjamin Tertin

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Advent Conspiracy
Transforms Christmas

Stan Patyrak from Living Water International tells Pastor Rick McKinley and Portland's Imago Dei Community congregation about people in Liberia and Nicaragua who have fresh water supplies because of Advent
Conspiracy's contribution. --Benjamin Tertin, photo

Hating Christmastime chaos, three disheartened pastors collaborated to form "Advent Conspiracy" before the onset of 2006's shopping season. Their goal, according to Imago Dei's pastor, Rick McKinley, "was to present one of the greatest theological truths to a stressed-out audience in a hurry to leave church and go shopping."

In one year, Advent Conspiracy has become a movement involving more than 600 churches from 50 denominations in 15 countries. Director Jeanne McKinley said churches continue signing on, between two and six each day, and that World Relief has adopted Advent Conspiracy as its Christmas campaign for 2007. An additional 500 churches are affiliated with World Relief.

The Conspiracy's swiftly spreading message: Stop excessive spending on Christmas presents, and spend that money on basic necessities for helpless people, particularly by funding projects that provide clean water sources to those who have none.

According to a 2007 survey by the National Retail Federation, the average American consumer will spend $923 on "holiday-related shopping" this year.

The NRF estimates that more than 40 percent of Christmas shopping began before Halloween and claims that the "must-have gifts of 2007" are plastic Transformers for boys and Barbies for girls.

"There have been years at our house," Mrs. McKinley said, "where Christmas was literally a tear-and-throw session with presents and more presents, and then we go on to the next family's house for more presents."

But people participating in the Advent Conspiracy program are leaving Optimus Prime and Island Princess Barbie on the shelves to opt, instead, for yarn, paper, colored pencils, paints, canvases and any other inexpensive crafting materials they can think of.

Xan, 12, and Servy, 14, from Imago Dei's junior high group, said their family will not spend any money on Christmas presents this year. Instead, they will make presents for each other and give the gift money to Imago Dei's Advent Conspiracy offering on Dec. 16. Still not decided on what to craft, Xan said he thinks he will probably work on a few paintings.

Servy said, "I'll definitely be making some three-dimensional drawings to give as presents."

"Everyone responds in a unique way," Mrs. McKinley said. Rather than fighting through tedious checkout lines, she and her husband spend time with their four children, creating things for other family members, she said. One of their family's "must-create gifts of 2007" is framed photography projects, "things that mean a lot to the grandparents," Mrs. McKinley said.

Her 10-year-old son is planning an origami collage, and her 8-year-old son is writing a short story and putting together a small book, complete with illustrations.

Mrs. McKinley said, "I've got 15-year-old twins, too, and at first they were like, 'Oh great, Dad had an idea, and now Christmas is over.'" But she asked them to consider Jesus' birthday from a different perspective -- His.

"We said to them, 'OK, how would you feel if we gave you a birthday party, and everyone came and gave each other presents, but they didn't give you anything?'"

Give to Jesus by giving to the weak and helpless people of the world, Mr. McKinley said, "The least of these."

Mr. McKinley, along with Chris Seay, pastor of Ecclesia Church in Houston, Texas, and Greg Holder, pastor of Windsor Crossing in Chesterfield, Mo., compared the $455 billion that Americans were spending on Christmas to the estimated $10 billion needed to provide clean water worldwide. According to the World Water Council, 1.1 billion people are living with no clean drinking water, 2.6 billion lack adequate sanitation, 1.8 million die every year from diarrheal sickness and 3,900 children die each day from water-borne disease. "Particularly in the Christian tradition," Mr. McKinley said, "there isn't a church that should be opposed to Advent Conspiracy's message. The Catholics, the high church, low church, traditional church, charismatic, conservative, emerging, mega, seeker...who? Who is anti-clean-water and pro-'Lets blow off the incarnation story so we can have stuff'?" The incarnation story provides the Advent Conspiracy name. Because Christ was a king who came quietly and subversively as a baby in a barn -- a countercultural concept -- Herod's empire was threatened, Mr. McKinley said. "So if Christians in America decide to not indulge and go into debt and spend thousands of dollars on Christmas so they can worship Christ better, and the empire freaks out, then so be it."

Mrs. McKinley said that Advent Conspiracy asks joining churches to commit 25 percent of their Conspiracy-related offering to clean water projects around the world. Beyond that, she said, "We're not trying to create rules; participating churches are free to distribute the money however they wish."

The three churches involved in 2006 raised $330,000 to redistribute. And with a portion of those funds, Living Water International provided more than 13,000 people in Liberia and Nicaragua with steady supplies of clean water from new wells and water-holding tanks.

In a promotional video clip on www.adventconspiracy.org, Mr. Seay tells viewers that Christ promised His people they would do even greater things than He had.

"At a wedding celebration, [Jesus] took wine and turned it to water," Mr. Seay said. "We could turn our resources into clean water," he said, "and the money that we would have spent on iPods, video games and plastic toys that enamor our children but mean nothing could instead be spent to give other human beings life.

"If we opted to celebrate the birth of Christ in this different way," Mr. Seay said, "we would engage a miracle that would be far greater than what Christ did at the wedding."

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