GIVING FOR LIFE

IDEAS FOR ENGAGING
CHILDREN & FAMILIES

Prepared by the Giving and Resources Group

Introduction

Children are brilliant at giving!

Children are particularly good at fund-raising; just look at the Blue Peter Christmas appeal; but they are also good at challenging adults about issues that need addressing: they have been a significant voice in the raising awareness about the need to become more environmentally friendly.

We often overlook children – and their families – when we start talking and thinking about giving in church. We think of children as those we help, rather than those who belong to our ministry and are a part of the whole people of God. Liverpool Diocese make this succinct statement of the purpose for including children in your giving campaign:

We want children to make formative connections between giving and following Jesus and support for their local church. We neither want nor expect them to be part of the solution to the church's financial problems.

As part of children’s experience of discipleship and belonging we want to help them to be part of the churches thinking and action.

Make sure when you plan your Giving for Life event you and your team make a definite decision about whether children are to be included or not rather than just letting it happen.

The ideas within this booklet are given to get you thinking about including children in your conversation about giving. Please feel free to use them as starting points, they are designed so that any church will be able to take up at least one idea and use it with their children

Finally it is important to remember that the context is discipleship – the ‘vehicle’ (whether chocolate box or pot) is simply a concrete way of engaging with abstract ideas.

1A Year ofGiving:

  • Take or get hold of some really good, positive activities undertaken by your church, preferably locally but use deanery or diocesan images if they help.
  • Use these to produce a calendar with a photo of a different church activity for each month – involve the children in choosing the pictures.
  • Under each picture put a question e.g. Can you bring £4 a month to keep these activities going? Again try and involve children and their parents in asking the questions.
  • Make up and give a calendar to each family.
  • On each Sunday write “£1 needed today” over a special collection bowl/pot for the children to make their donations.

2Empty Your Pockets Day:

  • Designate one day each week as ‘empty your pockets’ day.
  • Encourage families to have a bowl on a sideboard or table at home.
  • At the end of the designated day everyone in the family tips out any loose change they have in their pockets into the bowl.
  • On Sunday the children of the house collect it up and bring it to church to put in the offertory plate.

3The 5% Cheque:

  • Design your own church cheque – involve the children in this activity.
  • At the top include the words “Every time I treat myself I promise to give 5% to the church”
  • Leave a space for a signature and a witness.
  • Encourage both children and adults to take part: If a child spends a £1 on sweets, then 5p to the church; if the adult spends £5 on a pair of earrings or a bottle of wine its 25p!
  • Encourage them to keep account of the money.
  • Every week, month or at the end of an specified period make a special collection from the children and their families for these donations.
  • Make sure the children and families are thanked properly and that the use their donations are put to is shared with them well.

4The Pocket Money Promise:

  • Invite children to think about giving 5% of their pocket money each week to the church.
  • Children can’t take out direct debits (“DD”) so use your time with them to design a “GG” – “Great Giving” form which will sign them up for a year to give regularly.
  • Although you may need to change the wording or delivery make sure the children are thanked for their commitment at the same time and with as much seriousness as the other regular givers in your church.

5The Permanent Pot:

  • Make (or buy) a savings pot that has no way of getting the money out without breaking it! Papier macheis a particularly fun and easy way to do this*.
  • If you are creative you could make it in a shape that symbolised the local church or local children.
  • Ask parents to put these pots it in a prominent place at home and encourage people to add money to it.
  • Have a ‘Potty Day’ at church when the pots are broken and smashed (which gives you a great link to the story of Gideon!)

*A simple guide to making a papier mache pig is available at:

6Ask The Family:

  • Pair up families in church.
  • Each family issues an invitation to the other to come round for tea/supper/lunch as appropriate.
  • After eating together invite the children to lead a discussion/challenge across the ages about giving.
  • Draw up a ‘Family Fortunes Treaty” at the end of the meal in which each family commits to what it will do in the next 3/6 months.
  • Suggest the families agree to have a meal again in 3/6 months time and see how they have got on.

7Awkward Questions:

Children are great at awkward questions!

  • After a meal, put questions on cards around the table.
  • Take time to talk about the answers and make a family commitment.
  • Ideas for discussion questions could include:

¿What’s the best present you have ever given someone?

¿What is the most valuable thing you own?

¿Which is the most important place in our village/community?

¿Which charity/cause do you think deserves money?

¿What’s the most precious thing that God has given to our family?

¿Where does your money come from?

¿How much does this family throw away?

¿How much should this family give away?

8Chocolate Change:

  • Share a box of wrapped chocolates in your family e.g Heroes.
  • Keep all the wrappers.
  • Invite family members to replace the chocolates with coins wrapped in the old chocolate paper.
  • See how full the box is now!
  • See if it can be filled up to the top with coins wrapped in other sweet wrappers.
  • When the box is full donate it to the church.
  • Encourage this to be a monthly challenge- or everytime there is a family birthday…

9Copy and Share with Others

Finally we suggest you share your ideas and experience with others, as a Church we are a family and we always have things to learn from each other.

As a start we would suggest looking at the Liverpool Diocese’s Giving in Grace website, particularly:

  • “Children and Giving”:

and

  • “Preach Exodus”: