Offering and Communion Starters | February 2026

Last year, we introduced a new resource to help 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.

What’s New: In 2026 the Communion and Offering Starters will be posted a month ahead, like the sermon resources. For example, March Starters will be in the February Equipper.

Below are the February starters. January Starters are here.

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:

• 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

February Theme: The Heart of Giving.

Scripture Focus: 1 Corinthians 13:3–7 NIV

Key Point: Regular giving is simply following an instruction. Giving in love demonstrates the heart of the Father, Son, and Spirit.

Invitation: May God help us see others through his eyes, giving us the desire to give so others may know him.

Sample Script (time: 2 minutes, not including giving instructions)

When Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, he reminded them to set money aside on the first day of each week in proportion to their income so that their giving could be a blessing to others. And that’s the key to giving — being aware of the needs of others. In this same letter Paul reminded the believers to give in love.

If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. I Corinthians 13:3–7 NIV

It’s one thing to give because we are instructed to give, or because we believe it is expected of us: it’s quite another thing to give out of love.

Paul is reminding the church in Corinth, and us today, that we are called to love others. Father, Son, and Spirit love everyone — with no exception. Jesus died for everyone — with no exception. The plan of salvation is offered to everyone — with no exception. Sadly, many still live in darkness, not realizing they have already been included in God’s love to the world. Love compels us to give so there are means to help others see and live in their true identity. May today’s offering provide opportunity to share his love and life with all — those living in the light and those still living in darkness.

Prayer

Communion

February Theme: Proclaiming the Lord’s Death.

Scripture Focus: 1 Corinthians 11:23–26

Key Point: The sacrament of communion enables us to proclaim the Lord’s death and what it means to and for all of us.

Invitation: May you receive the bread as an acknowledgement that Jesus invited you to partake of his body — in other words to be part of his body. May you receive the cup as an acknowledgement that you have been invited to participate in a new covenant — a covenant that goes on into eternity.

Sample Script (time: 2 minutes, not including giving instructions)

It’s easy to get distracted by casual or unplanned things and allow our focus to get off Jesus. This is what was happening in the church in Corinth. Paul addressed several issues with them and then he came to the Lord’s Supper, telling them their focus wasn’t where it should be. He reminded them what communion was all about.

²³ For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”²⁶ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 NIV

The bread symbolizes Jesus’ body — a body he gave for us, and a body he invited us to be part of. You are part of the body of Christ; the church is the body of Christ. When we take the bread, we acknowledge who we are. The cup symbolizes his blood, which represents the new covenant he has invited us into. This covenant is eternal. Paul reminds us that partaking of these elements is a proclamation of Jesus’ death and all it means. This is something we need to preach until he comes.

Prayer