A SEASON OF GENEROSITY. Generosity Activities Idea List

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1 A SEASON OF GENEROSITY Generosity Activities Idea List Transformation of hearts and lives is more likely to occur because of activity and direct experience than simply listening to words about new ways of being and living. That s one of the reasons that participation in mission trips is so powerful and life-changing for so many people. When we actively practice sharing and generosity in a community of faith, when we see such experiences as a way to strengthen faith, and when we are intentional about talking together about what regularly shared experiences of giving and generosity have meant to us, we will deepen our personal relationships with our God. We will also begin to transform the cultures of our congregations into ones that see the world through the lens of God s abundance and our congregations will give more freely, joyfully, and robustly to do God s work in the world. How to Use The Generosity Activities Ideas List: 1. Pick one, two, three or four activities for the whole congregation to do together during the 4 to 5 week Season of Generosity. Avoid having the activities become busy work assignments. Bring meaning to the assignments by assigning group leaders to help those involved process what they are involved in as a faith-based, generosity activity. Start the activity with a brief Bible study related to the activity, why we share, do God s work, help the poor, care for the environment, or whatever the activity is. If you are going to be entering a special setting (poor part of town, homeless shelter, nursing home, polluted beach area, etc.), talk about the people, setting, etc. you will be entering, who are the people, how did the setting evolve, what can we learn, how should we act, etc.). Then do the activity. After the activity is completed, process the time spent. How did everyone feel about what you did? How was this God s work? How was this generosity? Sharing? Giving? What did those receiving the assistance gain? What did the volunteers gain? Did we learn anything? How will the experience change our lives and behaviors? What will we do next as a result? 2. Allow church boards, committees, the choir, Sunday School classes, etc. (any established group at the church) to select an activity or come up with their own idea to do either during the Season of Generosity period or during rest of the church year. Have each group process within the group the results of the group s activity. Then at some public time, arrange for all of the church to come together to report to one another about the various groups generosity activities during the year. Some 1

2 people, who may be in more than one group, may participate in more than one activity. You will need to figure out opportunities for those who are not on established boards and committees to participate in a group activity. Use the guidelines under #1 above to introduce and review/process activities. Examples of established church groups: Men s Group Women s Groups Choir Deacons Church Council Outreach/Mission Stewardship Finance/Budget Buildings and Grounds/Trustees Shawl/Quilting Group Book Group Youth (pre-junior high/high) Junior High/High School IDEAS LIST (Use the list as a starting point feel free to brainstorm more ideas!) 1. As a group Identify some of the most littered areas of town and organize a regular litter brigade. 2. Organize your group to offer a free parent s night out or Saturday off babysitting services for families in the congregation using the nursery at the church or teams going to people s homes 3. Teach craft/artistic skills to others, sharing what your gifts with others. Talk with your group about how such sharing makes you feel. 4. Sing/perform for shut-ins, at nursing homes, hospitals, etc., doing this once or organizing your group to do this on a regular basis. 5. Adopt shut-ins from the congregation or in the neighborhood, offering to regularly stop over to rake leaves, sweep walks, mow lawn, shovel snow, etc. in season. 6. Consciously adopt more courteous driving habits, keeping some sort of journal and reporting back to one another in the group. 7. Participate in the Lenten Carbon Fast Add into your life one new intentional act of kindness toward someone each day for a month, keeping a record, and then discussing the impact of this activity on your life with other members of your group. 9. Read three books with generosity or giving as their theme or message (fiction or non-fiction), discussing the books with your group. 2

3 10. Select three films to watch with your group that have generosity or giving as their theme or main message, and discuss with your group. (Pay It Forward is one example of a film.) 11. Give three new gifts during the course of a designated period of time, then discuss the gifts you ve made with your group why you made them, how you made the decision about how much to give and what cause to support, and how the gift giving made you feel. 12. Make a commitment as a group to try proportional giving as a spiritual practice, using a percentage of income as the basis for church giving, rather than simply choosing a flat amount. Discuss this practice as a group. 13. For an agreed upon period of time, each member of the group makes a commitment to give up something that is part of his or her daily/weekly activities that will result in personal sacrifice and financial savings. The financial savings are set aside and at the end of the agreed upon period of time, the members of the group pool the money that has been saved and choose a mission or outreach activity (or charitable organization) to which to direct the money. The project may be something that the members are actively involved in carrying out or simply a cause or need that the group has identified together. 14. For younger children a version of Item 13 children of Sunday School age are given information about two or three places in the world or even locally where there is great need. They could be shown pictures or video to help them understand the context of hunger, environmental issues, etc. The children vote to adopt one of the projects. Then for a specific period of time (4-6 weeks), children do extra tasks and chores at home or even for others in the congregation to earn money to contribute for a gift to the project they have chosen. A group activity could also be included, provided that the children actually do all the work (for example, if there was a bake sale, the older children could do the baking and the younger children could help arrange the baked goods on plates and help with decorations and the sale). Adults must not do the activities for the children and parents must not simply give children money for the project. 15. Pray for intentionally within your group for others. For example pray for each member of the congregation one or two people each day. Or pray for people in the city s government, the state legislature, or the U.S. Congress. Pray for such people by name. Discuss as a group how to pray with generosity and how to pray with love, even when you may not agree with or like those for whom you are praying. Over time talk within the group about how this experience of praying for others has affected those doing the praying. 16. For a period of time agreed upon by your group, each member of the group agrees to say one kind thing to someone in his or her life each day. The group discusses the impact this activity has had on the group members lives and on the lives of those who were on the receiving end of the kind remarks. 17. As a group choose a project that will enable the group to lend a volunteer helping hand to someone or some organization in need in the community. 18. Become educated about organ donation and sign organ donation forms together as a group. Educate others in the congregation about how organ donation is an act of generosity. 19. Explore the many practical aspects of environmental stewardship and how living with less, recycling, buying locally, and other eco-friendly activities may allow us to have more to give while preserving our earth for generations to come. Groups can identify specific green activities to adopt individually and to promote within the church (for example green kitchen ideas, green office ideas, etc.). 20. A group could grow a vegetable garden together, giving the vegetables produced to the local food pantry. 21. A group with younger and middle-aged members could offer free chore services to retired older members of the congregation, focusing on tasks that are harder for older people to tackle things requiring ladders, for example. 3

4 22. Gardening help could be offered by a group willing to help older folks or single women who may still like to garden but who may like some help with digging of holes, removal of old plants, or similar heavy lifting sort of work. 23. Designate a particular month a Month of Thank Yous. Make a commitment with your group to write a thank you note to someone each day for a month. These could be thank yous for current happenings or for things that happened long ago (for example, you could write a thank you to your first grade teacher that teacher had on your life something you d always wanted to tell him or her). After the month is over, the group members discuss how this activity has affected them. 24. Write stories, poems, or songs about acts of kindness and love. Share these with one another in the group. 25. As a group, meet together for several months of special generosity meals, with each person bringing part of the meal. Share stories of generosity after the meal is eaten. The stories could be ones that you ve experienced personally, read in the newspaper or heard on the radio, found on the internet, heard from a friend, read in a book. End the gathering with prayer. 26. As a group, try out individual acts of anonymous generosity for a specific period of time one act a day. Keep a journal or record of each thing that you do so that you can share with your group. After the time period is concluded share what you did with the rest of the group and discuss together how this kind of generosity made you feel. (Examples of anonymous generosity : Strike up a conversation with someone who looks like they need a friend. Tell a public service employee how valuable they are. Play the role of doorman for 15 minutes. Do someone else s job/task, especially if it is a menial one. Tell a public service employee how valuable they are. Acknowledge an act of kindness by someone else and thank them. Pay for the person behind you in line. Strike up a conversation with an elderly person. Donate your favorite book to the nearest library with a note inside on why you love it! Bring a little gift and leave it on the desk of someone whose been having a tough time of it at work. Compliment someone s dress/tie/hair, especially if they look like they rarely get such compliments Make more generous tips to waiters; send a tip to the cook [who often nets less than the waiters]). 27. Your group could adopt a local government or non-profit agency this year and show appreciation to the staff, by bringing special gifts of cookies or treats each month or periodically (Valentine s Day cookies, St. Patrick s Day, Easter, May Day or Cinco de Mayo, July 4 th, etc.). Staff at such agencies often are overworked and underpaid; think how surprised they d be to know that people in the community recognized their dedication! 28. Jesus talked about money and possessions more than any other subject except the Kingdom of God, and it is certainly true that we human beings are attached to our stuff. Discuss this subject within your group, starting with some of the pertinent scriptural passages from the New Testament. Resolve to do some decluttering and to give away one thing that is important and valuable to you. (It is relatively easy to give away things that we no longer care about and that no longer have value to us such as old clothing that no longer fits or that has gone out of style.) 29. As a group organize a FREE garage sale. Hold the sale at the church so that people know that this act of generosity is sponsored by your church. 30. As a group, organize to offer respite care for caregivers for a period of time. 31. For high school youth, a fundraising project could raise money to donate to the high school for fellow students who might not be able to afford prom tickets or yearbooks or other necessities of high school life. The high school guidance counselor no doubt knows who these young people are. This would be an act of anonymous generosity. 4

5 32. As a group try the practice of fasting, choosing one meal to forgo. Pool the money saved from not eating that meal and decide as a group how to be generous with it. During the fasting period support one another with prayer and consider a group devotional activity reading a book together, doing a Bible study, exploring a topic related to hunger or economic injustice in the world, etc. Keep a journal about your thoughts and feelings while on your fast. Patricia Bjorling, Associate Conference Minister for Generosity Ministeries, CT Conference UCC, patsyb@ctucc.org,