The official dates cover two Sundays to give churches double the opportunity to explore generosity when they meet on a Sunday – one to consider God’s generosity to us and the other to prayerfully work out our response to that generosity.
You can run a Generosity Week in your church to coincide with your Harvest Festival, but if that doesn't work for you, don't let it put you off. We are called to be generous 365 days a year, so run it whenever suits you!
Take a look below at the various resources your church might use during a Generosity Week. You may wish to use all the resources available or just a selection.
Overview
To help you start promoting Generosity Week and begin planning, take these four steps:
- Pick a week - the national week runs from Sunday 29 September to Sunday 6 October but if another time works better for you, do it then.
- Contact your local Diocesan Giving Advisor for help and advice.
- Choose what to do - think what your church needs, look through the resources available, consider how much people can help and choose between one and three activities.
- Plan your Sundays - two Sundays works well as it gives you one chance to explore gratitude and one to consider generosity. To get you started, there are service outlines, sermon starters and prayers – all generosity themed.
Walk Through the Resources
This document shows you how all the Generosity Week resources fit together, along with how and where to use them.
Generosity Week Newsletter
See back issues of the newsletter on this page.
Celebrating our Legacy
This session explores the material and spiritual legacy we have received from the things that we value, and what our role might be in passing on that legacy to future generations.
- Download Celebrating our Legacy Leaders’ Guide
- Download Celebrating our Legacy Participants’ booklet
Generosity Week and young people
Whether there'll be a Sunday school happening in the parish over the summer or not, this colourful table of eight mini challenges will offer something absorbing for children to do while helping them to think about generosity:
Engaging with the community
Download and read this helpful flyer (PDF) for ideas on engaging with the wider community during Generosity Week.
Films, Reflections and Activities
In this eight-day reading plan, Director of Giving, Jonathan de Bernhardt Wood, explores the simple, powerful moment in which Mary, a friend and follower of Jesus, displays the kind of astonishing generosity God Himself pours out on us.
Resources for Services
The Generosity Week online service for 2024 will be broadcast from Holy Trinity church, Roehampton. You'll be able watch it from here (the link will be added nearer the time).
Daily Morning Prayer
Eight Daily Morning Prayer Services (all PDF):
Evening Prayer and Compline
An outline service for Evening Prayer (PDF)
An outline service for Evening Prayer (Word)
An outline service for Compline (PDF).
An outline service for Compline (Word)
Weekly Service Material – Grace and Gratitude
Eucharist Material
- 1st Sunday of the week: A Eucharist to celebrate Generosity (PDF)
- 2nd Sunday of the week: A Eucharist to celebrate Gratitude (PDF)
Service of the Word
- A Service of the Word to celebrate Generosity (PDF)
- A Service of the Word to celebrate Gratitude (PDF
Service Content Packs
Marketing resources
To help you promote your church’s Generosity Week, we have prepared the following marketing materials:
Style guide
You are welcome to generate your own resources to support Generosity Week. If you do, please use these style guidelines to help you.
Promotional flyers
You might like to use this ready-made flyer to promote Generosity Week. You can use it as a download, or in Canva to edit as you wish.
- Generosity Week 2024 flyer - simply download and distribute
Canva users can access the Canva template for the flyer design using the link below, (you will need to login to your usual Canva account). You can then customise it with your own details, save and then download it.
This editable PDF can also be customised. Download it first, overtype your own text onto page 2 and then save into your usual files before distributing.
- Flyer design editable PDF download
Branded email signatures
Branded PowerPoint templates
Download a Generosity Week branded PowerPoint template
Social media graphics
A great way of promoting Generosity Week is to have a link to the daily podcasts or the daily activities on your church social media feed(s). In the files below, you’ll see one graphic for each podcast, and in a format that is suitable for either Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
When you have downloaded each PDF, open it and right click on the artwork for the day you want to promote. Choose 'Export As' and then choose jpeg to change the format to a single image that you can use on that day.
A general image to help you promote any other Generosity Week events you’re holding can be downloaded here. Open the image and click right on it to 'Save Image As' and then rename it to save it into your own files ready to use.
What happens after Generosity Week?
Generosity doesn’t end after Generosity Week. Generosity is at the heart of our faith and we need to continuously consider the steps needed to build a generous church. We have created the following resources to help guide your church: