Always Be Generous – The Generosity Challenge
“You will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous, and when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.”
As the result of a fall stewardship emphasis “Always Be Generous – The Generosity Challenge," the households at All Saints Lutheran, over the course of three weeks, collected and donated 3,500 books to the Phoenix Public Library, one ton of food items to Desert Mission Food Bank and 2,600 pairs of socks and underwear to Lutheran Social Services outreach ministries!
Utilizing an ELCA Generosity Project resource called “Live It Out,” all ages were challenged to grow in generosity by counting the total number of the following items in their households: Week One - Books; Week Two - Canned & Boxed Food Items; Week Three - Socks & Undies.
Each week households were also asked to consider the following “Live It Out” questions:
How many _____ do we own? Count them.
What would it mean to give away 10% or buy that many new _____ for others? How hard would this be to do?
Who needs _____?
All Saints added a prayer filled “nudge” and The Generosity Project blessing to each week's challenge.
Following three-weeks of “practice,” the Fourth Week households were presented with the following challenge:
"What is 10% of your income? How hard would it be to tithe 10% or increase your giving gradually to that amount? Now pray for God’s surprising nudge and end with this affirmation: God, with you all things are possible. Lead us and help our household grow in generosity. Amen.”
All Saints will tabulate the results of the final challenge over the next few weeks.
“At the end of the Generosity Challenge, one senior member gave an end of the year offering of $10,000. I asked her why she decided to give such a large gift. She simply replied, ‘it is important to be generous.’”
Senior Pastor Dan Hoeger reflected, “It was an inspiration for our adults to see so many of our children and youth sharing from their own possessions. Each Sunday there was a procession of Sunday school students bringing their own generous gifts forward… 47 children and youth who brought forward their own 2020 pledge cards, including their commitment to prayer, service, worship and acts of kindness. Instead of preaching about “money” for one week, we preached about “generosity” for a month. At the end of the Generosity Challenge, one senior member gave an end of the year offering of $10,000. I asked her why she decided to give such a large gift. She simply replied, ‘it is important to be generous.’”
More info:
Photos for the Generosity Challenges for All Saints found on Facebook at #aslcgenerosity.
Grand Canyon Synod page: The Generosity Project
