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Generous Culture

The Offering

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Make the Most of Your Offering

The offering segment is your weekly opportunity to teach a biblical understanding of generosity and stewardship. However, for many corps, this moment is often left on autopilot.  Take the opportunity to make this a biblical teaching time and a worshipful time.

Talk to your Generous Culture Specialist on ways to make this a meaningful, reverant and relevant segment as you gather for worship.

Pre-Offering Thoughts

Introduction to the Offering

Whenever we bring our financial gifts & offerings to God it is a time of worship.  It may be in your weekly meeting, it may be home groups or Bible studies or Kingdom tables.  However we meet, there is opportunity to teach about giving and present the opportunity to give.  

We can be in danger of not bringing the sense of worship that this action requires.  When we do, it brings a new significance to what is happening.  Take 3-5 minutes prior to bringing our giving to God to set the scene. 

There are a number of things we can do:

Your Story or Testimony:  Our stories are powerful. If you have an example of God’s provision for you or your family at a certain time or situation, that would be great.  Think of the situation or the need, what was done and what was the result.

Interview:  If you would prefer to be interviewed by someone, that can happen. Drawing on your personal stories is powerful. Do you tithe? If so, why?  What has been your experience? Why do you tithe? Has God ever let you down?

Scripture:  There are over 2000 verses which refer to giving, generosity etc.  A majority of the parables Jesus told refer to money or possessions.  There is so much to learn from the scriptures so if there is a particular verse or passage or parable that speaks to you, then please share.

Song:  There are some wonderful songs which speak to us in this area so you may like to refer to some lines from one of those songs and then have it played as the offering is brought.

Take the song “Christ is Enough” - it reminds us that we don’t need other things of the world if we have Christ, because He is enough.  The TSA song book has some wonderful songs there which help bring us into this worship time and remind us that we surrender all to Jesus.

Include Everyone:  As this is a time of worship it is vital that no one is excluded, especially don't exclude the visitors.  Show a visual slide on how to give online, to newcomers and everyone else.

Exemplar Offering Introductions

TSA Authors

External Resources

The Offering Segment

  • From Generis: Understand the power in using the ffering moment to bring teaching on Generous Culture to your congregation - see Generis OFFERING MOMENT page.
  • https://generis.com/offering-moment/The church has a unique moment, 52 times per year, to engage with their givers in a real and meaningful way. What is that moment The 90 seconds during the typical offering. However, churches rarely handle this moment well. In many churches, the offering is treated almost as an afterthought. It’s clear not much planning or time has gone into this opportunity. Instead of using this time in a manner that would excite and engage their givers, they allow tradition, routine, fear of the money conversation, and other baggage dictate how these 90 seconds are handled.
  • This booklet may be helpful to you.  Please take the opportunity to read it. The_Offering_Moment.

Here are some other examples of what can be done:

Videos for the Offering on-Ramp/introduction

  • 'This Lie Can Keep You From Living Generously' - We recommend this video from the Bible Project as an example of what could be shown prior to the offering.