We hope you find this new resource helpful as you prepare for the time of giving and taking communion in your Hope Avenue. These are meaningful formational practices that we can plan with care and intentionality.
How to Use This Resource
An outline is provided for you to use as a guide, followed by a sample script. Both the offering moment and communion can be presented as a short reflection before the congregation participates. Here’s how to use it effectively:
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- Scripture Reflection: Include the relevant Scripture to root the offering and communion in biblical teaching.
- Key Point and Invitation: Briefly highlight the theme’s key point and offer an invitation that connects the theme to the practice.
- Prayer: Include a short prayer that aligns with the theme. Invite God to bless the gifts and the givers. Ask God to bless the bread and the wine and the partakers.
- Logistics: Explain the process; this helps everyone know how they can participate. For giving, indicate whether baskets will be passed, if there are designated offering boxes, or if digital options like text-to-give or web giving are available. Clearly explain how the communion elements will be shared and that participation is voluntary.
- Encouragement: For the giving moment, invite congregants to reflect on their role in supporting the church’s mission, reminding them that their gifts impact both local and global ministry. For communion, encourage congregants to express gratitude for Jesus’ love poured out for us and the unity present in the body of Christ.
For more information, see Church Hack: Offering and Church Hack: Communion
Offering
July Theme: Our reasonable act of worship
Scripture Focus: Colossians 3:17
Key Point: Do it all in the name of God
Invitation: How can you express your thanksgiving and worship this week?
Sample Script (time: 1 minute, not including giving instructions)
Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Everything we do, whether in our speech or actions, we do in the name of Jesus — always giving thanks to our heavenly Father, the hallowed Father who gave us his one and only Son.
Do you see how the Triune God is a giver? The Father gave his beloved Son. The Son set aside his glory to become human, giving us salvation by the laying down of his life, then giving us the Spirit who empowers us. Our great God is caring for us from creation to salvation to sanctification and on to glorification. Our reasonable act of worship is to do all that we do to his glory! How can you express your thanksgiving and worship this week?
Communion
July Theme: Jesus, Our Vine
Scripture Focus: John 15:5
Key Point: Jesus is the true vine, and we are his branches — through him, we are connected to the Father, Son, and Spirit.
Invitation: May the bread remind us of our life in Christ. We are sustained and nourished by him. The cup reminds us of our unity with Christ. We are joined with him in his love and purpose.
Sample Script (time: 2 minutes, not including giving instructions)
Ordinary Time is an appropriate time to focus on our abiding in Christ. In John 15, Jesus reminds us that he is the true vine, and we are the branches of that vine. In other words, we are one with Christ. We are an extension of who and what he is. We are connected to him and live in his faith. We live in the truth of who he is in communion with Father, Son, and Spirit, and who we are in him. Through his faith, we are transformed to righteousness, we are made whole, and we are learning to live in that identity of being whole in him.
We read in the next chapter of John, that Jesus explains that these words should always encourage us to remain in the faith regardless of what happens to us — regardless of the persecution we might face. He is our all in all.
As we partake of the bread and wine, we are reminded that we are partaking of the body and blood of Christ. We are being reminded that he is in us by the act of eating the bread and drinking the wine, and the result is a constant reminder that he is in us. He is the vine, we are the branches, and he protects our faith by reminding us of our communion with him.
