Passing on the Christian faith involves a partnership of generations, individuals and families.
GIFT is the acronym for Generations in Faith Together.
GIFT events provide an opportunity for people of all ages to explore God’s love for them by sharing the gift of each other and the gift of faith.
We encourage congregations to host a GIFT event once a term. We have developed a kit of suggested activities and templates that you can use with your congregation. For 2018 the themes will include Lent, Pentecost, Serving Together and Advent. You can also purchase Baptism, Prayer, Trinity, My Bible and Martin Luther kits created in previous years.
LENT
GIFT Lent 2018 is a combination of all of the GIFT Lents created by Grow Ministries. It has been completely updated with additional ideas for you to share with your congregation. GIFT Lent encourages generations to share their Lenten rituals and traditions as well as spend time together making resources that can be used at home during the weeks of Lent.
PENTECOST
Pentecost is an exciting time of the church year when we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit. A Pentecost GIFT event is an opportunity to have a party to celebrate the birthday of the church and offers activities based around how the Holy Spirit lives in us and guides our lives. This version is a compilation of all GIFT Pentecosts created by Grow Ministries with new sheets and updates.
SERVING TOGETHER
GIFT Serving Together has been designed to help you to celebrate opportunities to be Jesus’ hands and feet by serving as a family and as part of your congregation. It brings all generations together and provides a wonderful gift of learning, sharing faith and relationship building.
ADVENT
Advent is the time when we reflect on and count down to the coming of Christ. This GIFT event provides a time to share the Advent rituals and traditions that have been passed down through many generations, and to make new ones.
MY BIBLE
GIFT My Bible is full of many wonderful resources to encourage you to delve deeper into the Bible. There are games, activities, dramas and intergenerational opportunities to learn about the authors of the books, the key characters and how the Bible speaks into our lives today.
MARTIN LUTHER
Who is Martin Luther and why is he so important to Lutherans? God's great gift is his Word. Throughout its history the Christian church has had to struggle to proclaim and teach the truth of God's Word. Toward the end of the Middle Ages (in the 15th and 16th centuries), serious false teachings and abuses had developed in the church. God in his grace chose Martin Luther to be his servant for a most important work: the reformation of the church.
PRAYER
The Prayer GIFT event offers an opportunity for people of all ages to come together and learn about the importance of prayer in our Christian lives. This resource will provide an opportunity for participants to discover the origins of prayer and practice some fun, simple ways to pray through drama and activities. Together you will discover that talking to God is easy! Download today.
CELEBRATION OF BAPTISM
We live as baptised people of God every day. A Baptism GIFT event provides an occasion to remember the promises of baptism and to share and celebrate the new life we have in Christ through baptism.
TRINITY
Our one true God is Father, Son and the Holy Spirit - three distinct Persons in one God. The Trinity GIFT event will help people of all ages explore the mystery of the Trinity and how each Person serves us in different ways.
