#GivingTuesday reminds us after a weekend of buying that there’s much more to life than what can be delivered to our front door.
Every year, the final weekend in November is marked by a frenzy of spending. It starts with Black Friday – this year on 28 November – which is the day after Thanksgiving in the US and the traditional launch of the Christmas shopping season.
Cyber Monday follows swiftly, offering yet more deals and digital discounts to tempt us to spend. Then, as if by divine counterbalance, comes Giving Tuesday – this year on 2 December – a global movement that flips the focus from consumption to contribution.
After a weekend of buying, Giving Tuesday invites us to pause. As the desperate quest to find the perfect gift begins and lists grow longer, we’re offered a moment to ask a different question: how can we bring God’s generosity into this season?
If not consumerism, then what?
The endless stream of offers and sales taps into something deep within us – a longing for abundance, satisfaction and security.
Yet the message of Jesus turns this upside down. He reminds us that life does not consist in the abundance of possessions, but in the richness of relationship with God and the posture of our hearts towards others. Generosity reorients us. It helps us remember that what we have is a gift from God, entrusted to us for the good of others.
This #GivingTuesday, what if the Church led the way? What if, instead of letting consumerism define our Christmas, we allowed generosity to shape it?
Here are four ways to take part:
1. Gift your savings
Grabbed a bargain? Commit to give the money you save on your best deal to a church, charity or Christian worker of your choice.
2. Give a gift
Make generosity infectious by giving a donation to a charity in lieu of a physical present this year. You could buy something small but thoughtful to go alongside it to remind the recipient of your care.
3. Put giving on your wish list
If you feel the pressure of having imaginative ideas for others to buy for you, buck the trend and ask for money for your ‘generosity pot’. If you have a Stewardship Giving Account, you could add this as a balance. Then in grey January or throughout the year, you can give without a second thought to support a cause that grabs your heart.
4. Give to the unnoticed
Think of people in your community for whom Christmas may be a time of loss or loneliness. How could you include, support or bless them this season?
#GivingTuesday is more than a hashtag. It’s a chance for us, as followers of Jesus, to remind the world that true joy isn’t found in what we buy, but in what we give. After all, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ - Acts 20:35.
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James Bishop
James is our Digital Marketing Manager and works within our Purpose team to connect Christians to the causes they care about and to inspire them to live out the freedom that active generosity offers. He works on website content and email newsletters, advertising on social media and making sure people using search engines can find us. James also contributes to campaigns such as 40acts and the Generosity Report.
Before joining Stewardship in 2025, James worked in marketing departments of all sizes, from a biotech startup to a large civil engineering consultancy and most recently a learning disability charity.
James lives in Surrey and serves in a local church as a director of their non-profit community café and on their AV team. James is reluctantly making a middle-age transition from football to golf and loves making homemade pizza and good coffee.
