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
September Theme: Good deeds
Scripture Focus: I Timothy 6:18
Key Point: Generosity and sharing are good deeds.
Invitation: Let us hear and accept the command to do good and be generous.
Sample Script (time: ~1 minute, not including giving instructions)
The author of I Timothy writes:
Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. I Timothy 6:18 NIV
If you are to be rich, be rich in good deeds rather than in possessions. True wealth lies in expressions of kindness and generosity.
What if you have a nice home with comfortable furnishings, but you never entertain guests? What if you have a collection of fine wines, but you keep it all to yourself? I think you get the point.
Wealth and possessions were meant to be shared, because intermingled in sharing, relationships are built. The triune God, who is the perfect relationship between Father, Son, and Spirit, has created us to be in relationship, too. This could be why Paul uses such strong language with Timothy: “Command them.”
Let’s hear and accept that commandment to do good and be generous.
Communion
September Theme: Trusting in God’s Faithfulness
Scripture Focus: 1 Timothy 1:13–14
Key Point: Paul reminds us that even during trials, we can trust in God’s faithfulness. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection demonstrate that nothing can separate us from His love. Communion reminds us of this enduring rescue.
Invitation: May the bread, Christ’s body broken for us, be a reminder of Jesus’ love through suffering. May the cup of Jesus’ blood be a reminder of the rescue that sustains us in every trial.
Sample Script (time: ~2 minutes, not including giving instructions)
Throughout his life, Paul shared openly with fellow believers about the trials and persecution he faced, always giving credit to Jesus for lifting him up, giving him strength, and giving him one reason after another to trust God to deliver him. He acknowledged who he was before his conversion and said this to his young prodigy, Timothy:
Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. I Timothy 1:13-14 NIV
Paul told Timothy (and us) that we would go through trials, but that we could always trust in the Lord’s rescue. He reminded Timothy, and us, to “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness” (1 Timothy 6:11 NIV). In other words, pursue Jesus, who is all of this. Jesus rose above all the trials, persecutions, and challenges to remind us we can look to him. He has rescued, continues to rescue, and will always rescue us.
Nothing can get in the way of his love for us. May the bread, Christ’s body broken for us, be a reminder of Jesus’ love through suffering. May the cup of Jesus’ blood be a reminder of the rescue that sustains us in every trial.
