This post is sponsored by one of our favorite mission organizations: Rice Bowls. Rice Bowls offers a simple and effective way to feed hungry kids around the world, and their Rice Bowl campaigns are the perfect service project for kids! Order rice bowl coin banks (Rice Bowls will send them to you for free here). Families fill them with coins and money, then SMASH THE BOWLS (everyone’s favorite part), and you return the money to Rice Bowls to use to feed kids around the world! Learn more about getting involved with Rice Bowls and hosting your own Rice Bowl campaign here.
As children’s ministry leaders, we love helping kids learn to be thankful. November is full of lessons, crafts, and conversations about gratitude, and rightly so. But if we stop there, we miss something important. Thanksgiving isn’t just about gratitude; it’s also about generosity.
If you’re only focusing on gratitude in the month of November, you’re missing a key element of the Thanksgiving holiday. Just look at the name: Thanks + Giving. Gratitude and generosity.
These two ideas are inseparable. Gratitude without generosity is incomplete. When we truly recognize how much we’ve been given, it naturally overflows into how we give to others. Gratitude should always lead us into generosity.
In children’s ministry, we spend a lot of time helping kids understand the importance of being thankful by writing gratitude lists, talking about blessings, or creating crafts that remind them to say thank you. But what if we took it one step further this year? What if we helped kids see that thankfulness doesn’t stop with the words we say but continues through the ways we give? (One easy way to do that is with a Rice Bowls campaign!)
The Apostle Paul connected these two ideas in 2 Corinthians 9:11 (NIV):
“You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”
In other words, God blesses us so that we can bless others. When we practice gratitude, it shifts our focus from what we lack to what we already have. That mindset of abundance allows us to live generously. Gratitude fuels generosity, and generosity produces even more gratitude in ourselves and others. It’s a beautiful cycle that reflects the heart of God.
So as you plan lessons and activities this month, consider helping kids connect the dots between being grateful and being generous.
- If you’re doing a gratitude jar, add a second jar where kids can collect ideas for how to give this week.
- If you’re looking for a simple but impactful service project for kids, order Rice Bowls today.
- If you’re talking about blessings, brainstorm ways to share those blessings.
- Help kids focus on Scripture centered around gratitude.
- If you’re giving thanks for our food, help kids give their time to prepare food for others.
- If you’re focusing on saying thank you, also focus on showing thank you through action.
- As you express gratitude for warm, safe homes, help kids extend warmth to others.
- If you’re teaching about generosity, use a Generosity Gospel illusion video about how God provides generously so we can be generous with others.
- If you’re talking about serving others over the holidays, give kids a tangible way to spread Christmas cheer.
- Help kids develop a habit of journaling their gratitude.
- If you’re looking for a way to express gratitude to your volunteers, be generous with your volunteer appreciation.
Let’s teach kids that Thanksgiving isn’t just about giving thanks. It’s about living thankfully through generosity.
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