Many clergy and others who preach are reluctant to speak about money, giving and generosity. The subject is often completely ignored or outside speakers are invited to come in and share with the congregation instead.
There is a perception that this is something which is hard to talk about, or that people will think they are asking for money simply to fund their stipend, or that congregations are already giving as much as they can and so it’s not right to ask for more.
We want to help create and encourage a culture of generosity, and for this to be seen as a normal part of our everyday discipleship. Giving preachers the tools to become comfortable and confident in preaching about generosity is one important way that we can help embed these values in our Church.
Generosity
There are lectionary readings which are clearly about money and possessions and talk about generosity often focuses on financial generosity. Money is important, the Bible speaks about the financial aspect of generosity and the people of God are asked to support the mission and ministry costs of the church. However, there are many types of generosity which are not about money at all. We hope that, if appropriate for the particular readings, you will draw attention to this aspect of generosity in your contribution to this preaching resource.
The purpose of this resource is to give preachers confidence in preaching not just about money, but about generosity in every sense. A generous church grows from people being generous with more than money. People are generous when they give their time to others, especially when they are busy. To give someone your undivided attention is a generous act of love. People are generous when they use they use their different gifts and talents to serve and to care for others. People can be generous with their reputation. We all dislike being embarrassed or drawing attention to ourselves, but if we do so in the name of love, we are letting others know that we are disciples of Christ.
The project
This project is a Lectionary based preaching resource in which a generosity theme will be drawn each week from one of the readings to enable preachers to talk positively, in their own words, about generosity, giving and also money when appropriate.
These will be short. Not so much sermon starter as sermon sparker.
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