More Than Money at Christmas

This is a guest post from Charlie Swain, the Lead Pastor at the Church at Cane Bay.  You can get information on writing a guest post for one of our blogs here.

Like many others, The Church at Cane Bay will promote and take up a special Christmas offering in December.  This will be a huge step for our small church plant as many of our attenders are non-givers or “tippers.” So we want to use our Christmas offering not only as a monetary boost for some special projects but also to teach our folks about tithing.

To be honest, only some of this is original. Here’s what we are going to do…

On December 2nd, we will begin our Christmas series. I will preach a basic Advent style message with a simple challenge. I’m going to ask our congregation to go home and count every non-perishable item in their kitchen pantry. I’ll ask them to calculate the total number of items. Then I’ll ask them to bring 10% of the items to church the following week (Dec. 9th). We will put all the items on the stage, celebrate the generosity, then truck them to our local ministry for families in need.

On December 9th, I will again challenge them a step farther by doing the same thing in their closets. I’ll ask them to count every garment they own (including kids) and bring 10% of their clothes to the church the following week (Dec. 16th). We will place everything on the stage, celebrate the generosity, then take them to a local ministry.

On December 16th, for a final time, I will challenge our church to give sacrificially. This time it will be 10% of their income for the month. So on December 23rd, when we take up our special Christmas offering, many families will tithe for the first time.

Its a simple idea that takes simple steps and teaches the point. I pray this might be a great opportunity for your church and your community.