If we want to have stewardship-minded adults who are generous with their time talent and treasure, the place to start is to teach them as children. Here is a fun guide that has bible-based activities and lessons on generosity that you can use in Sunday school or a special session to accompany your stewardship campaign. From the Salvation […]
You don’t have to wait for Thanksgiving to encourage “thanks-living.” Here’s a list of 10 short videos about random acts of kindness and gratitude. Use these films as discussion starters with your youth groups, faith formation classes, or other venues in your faith community. (Photo: marco antonio torres, Creative Commons)
Here’s a great way to lift up stewardship in your congregation during Lent. Check out 40acts 2017 “Romans 12 – A Living Sacrifice” and examine what it means to give your best: when it’s hard, when it hurts, with excellence. You’ll find Bible studies, small group resources, prayers, worship ideas, resources for youth, and more.
“Human generosity, far from being a thin veneer of cultural conditioning atop a Machiavellian core, may turn out to be a bedrock feature of human nature,” concluded UC-Santa Barbara psychologists in a recent study. Writing in Scientific American, author Maria Konnikova cites research supporting that it is more blessed to give than to receive. (Photo: Asenat29, Creative Commons)
Author Tim Shapiro suggests six measures for whether your congregation is celebrating and cultivating generosity as a way of life. How is your congregation stewarding the call to help people develop lives of deep faith and generosity? (Photo: taxcredits.net, Creative Commons)
If generosity is how we honor and express human value, than any act of kindness counts in the bigger picture. We can all be kind. We can all be generous. This is one of the key teachings of all the world’s religions. So we decided to look into our databases of quotes collected from our reading and see what teachers of our times and earlier ones have said about the spiritual practice of generosity. Read this assortment of quotes and observations, share them, and make them a part of your own development. (Photo: Bert Haymans, Creative Commons)
What a wonderful world it could be if our hearts and eyes were in sync! This article offers some good food for thought about how tithing could make a real difference if the entire Church decided to do it. (Photo: Evan Jackson, Creative Commons)
Lectionary Reflection for the 24th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B, November 8, 2015
This week’s readings bring us glimpses of two widows: two women on the margins who nonetheless manage to see abundance rather than scarcity. To first century audiences, their situations would have appeared hopeless and their choices absurd—give away all your money or share your last bit of food with a stranger. How will our congregants hear these stories today? (Photo: olearys, Creative Commons)
Here’s a wonderful reflection by Kimberlee Cloutier-Blazzard employing the familiar “stone soup” story as an entrance into discussion about stewardship, sharing, and community building. It’s a perfect option for your Thanksgiving service, for a children’s time, or for a discussion-starter with your youth or adult study group. (Photo: shawndwturner, Creative Commons)
Here’s an interview with the director of the documentary film GIFT, about the gift economy. On the rise in secular culture, the notion of “gift” has long been a principle of faith communities. How might we encourage and heighten awareness of how our congregations can participate in the gift culture? After all, we are all […]
