OGHS Offering Reminder

Below is a simple idea for reminding your members of the upcoming One Great Hour of Sharing offering date. You can use the idea, or modify it to suite your congregation. Have fun with it…

 

Prayer Station or Offering Reminder: A Piece of the Puzzle
Ephesians 3:14-21

Age Range and Setting: This prayer station may be used with all age groups except for those for whom a puzzle piece would present a choking hazard.

The prayer station can be incorporated into a worship service as a sermon response, as a prayer opportunity, as part of a benediction, or in another place that fits your congregation’s culture and order of worship. It could also be set up in a foyer or fellowship hall as a reminder of the One Great Hour of Sharing offering date.

Intention: Through the selection of random puzzle pieces that show only a piece of the picture, participants are invited into imagination, wonder, and connection. This activity reinforces the idea that we are all part of God’s work in the world, even when we don’t yet see the whole picture!

Materials
Assorted puzzle pieces
Baskets or containers to hold puzzle pieces
(optional: printed/projected introduction and instructions)

Instructions: Fill as many baskets as needed for your context with puzzle pieces. You need enough for each participant to take one. These may be varied in size and may belong to different puzzles. The baskets can be placed on a table, which people can approach on their own, or they could be passed through the congregation in the style of offering baskets.

Provide introduction and instructions verbally or through projection or printed signs.

Introduction: (may be spoken or displayed)
Today we have an opportunity to prayerfully consider our piece in the bigger picture. We may not see all that God is doing in and through us, but we trust that we are connected and that God is doing more than we can imagine.

Invitation: (may be spoken or displayed)
Prayerfully select a puzzle piece that appeals to you. Take a minute to consider its shape, its size, and the suggestion of an image or colors that you see on this puzzle piece. Imagine what it might form! Maybe it is part of a mountain view, or perhaps a seascape.

Perhaps you have a corner piece or an edge, or you may have a piece from somewhere in the middle. This puzzle piece, just like us, was made to connect. You are part of the big picture! God will use our gifts given to the One Great Hour of Sharing offering to fill in the gaps and to do More than We Can Imagine!

Take this puzzle piece with you today and place it somewhere where you will see it throughout the week. Let it be a reminder to you that your gifts and your connection matter to the bigger picture!