At this time of year what better way to fulfil this calling than through the giving of special gifts in the name of Christ? What creative ways could the deacons use to witness to him? Here are 10 ideas.
1. Send a pre-paid phone card or money for minutes on a cell phone to college students.
2. Send a gift card from a national retail store to those who are away for Advent.
3. Give a shut-in a month’s subscription to cable television.
4. Call a local elementary school and see if you could collect winter clothing, mittens, scarves, knitted hats or gloves for children in need. Hang them on a special Christmas mitten tree in your sanctuary or fellowship hall and distribute them the first week of January.
5. Collect books and magazines for the local jail. See if you can receive permission from the local jail administration to start up A.A., Narcotics Anonymous or Gamblers’ Anonymous groups for inmates who are in desperate need of help for problems of addiction.
6. Put together gifts packs for soldiers overseas.
7. Assemble kits for needy school children: a small bookbag (many principals and teachers discourage the use of heavy backpacks these days) filled with three-ring notebooks, pencils, a ruler, a change purse, assignment pads, a small box of tissues, etc. so they do not have to carry these things in grocery bags.
8. Provide a special gift for members of your church who live in a home for developmentally challenged adults.
9. Promise two hours of weekly visitation to people in the church who have family members who need 24-hour-a-day attention (to give the caregivers a regular break).
10. Make special gifts for those who have problems that are unique in your area (patients in mental hospitals, veterans, residents in nursing homes, children receiving special medical treatment, etc.).
Of course, these gifts are only suggestions. When you get your deacons together in a prayerful mood you probably will think of dozens more. And you do not need to limit your giving just to Advent. Jesus is just as honored by your giving in March as he is in December!*
* For other suggestions see my book, The Presbyterian Deacon, An Essential Guide (Geneva, 2002), especially Ch. 6, “The Call For Creative Diaconal Ministry in the Twenty-First Century.”
Posted Dec. 5, 2003
Earl S. Johnson Jr. is the pastor of First church, Johnstown, N.Y.
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