The Art of Tithing Halloween Candy

The Art of Tithing Halloween Candy

When Mamie Broadhurst, pastor at First United Church in Oak Park, Illinois, was brainstorming ideas to teach the concepts of tithing and stewardship to the children, she remembered something Second Presbyterian in Nashville had done when she was a Young Adult Volunteer there a few years earlier. Kids were asked to bring to church, the Sunday after Halloween, a tithe of their Halloween candy. It was a way to get families talking about stewardship, and a way that children could learn about tithing and how we usually want to hold on to our possessions.

This year First United Church decided to try it as a very immediate way of teaching the children how the church cares for others. When teachers explained that the candy would either be placed in a candy jar in the waiting room of the church's Walk-In Ministry, or would be distributed in homeless people's bag lunches, the children felt that their offering of candy would really make a difference in these people's lives.

The first choice for collection was to have the children actually place their tithed candy in the offering plate, but with young families in worship each Sunday morning that seemed a recipe for disaster, so the candy was collected during church school instead. The Sunday the children brought their candy in became special for them, their families, their teachers, and the whole church community. The process of thinking about giving away something they themselves liked, and of caring for others as equals, affirmed not only the joy of giving, but the more intense joy of giving sacrificially. It was all done on a level the children could understand, and it was a witness to the whole congregation of the power of generosity, kindness and love.

Will First United do this again next year? "Absolutely," replies Mamie. "If we can get the children to start thinking in terms of abundance, of sharing joyfully what they have with others, of recognizing God's overflowing blessings on all of us, then we will have taken a big step in teaching them one of the basic tenets of the Christian faith."

But it wasn't only the children who ended up learning. A few days later a mom shared the following story. "We had three bags of candy left, so I told the kids we'd just donate one of the bags. My daughter immediately protested that we were only supposed to tithe, so we emptied the bags, counted all the pieces, and put aside one tenth. I was immediately amazed at how small the tenth pile was and how large the remaining pile was. There was still so much left for us. It was one of those moments of overwhelming realization, that God asks for so little, and gives us so much. So I called the church treasurer this morning, and I'm having my pledge automatically withdrawn from my checking account each month. What I give back to God is important, and I don't want to miss doing it."

G. K. Chesterton said, “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” May the joy of gratitude be something we all experience.

Elaine Pierce is the PEER Network Project Coordinator.
This article was first published in the PEER Post, November 2006.