Outreach Idea: Thanksgiving... it's more than turkey and dressing

By David Wheeler

As we approach Thanksgiving, I have to wonder what would happen if those of us who are greatly blessed with health and resources caught the spirit of the woman in scripture who willingly gave all she had because she radically loved her Lord. Her generosity and spirit prompted Christ to remark, “I assure you . . . this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.”

So ... you might be wondering, “what can I do to demonstrate the love of Christ?” Here are a few suggestions for this Thanksgiving:

• Purchase gift certificates from a local grocery chain which entitles the recipient to a free Thanksgiving meal. Hand deliver the certificates to local needy families expressing that in a season of thankfulness, Christ is everything!
• Adopt women from a local battered women’s shelter and provide them with a safe haven to experience Christ’s love.
• While some churches may provide volunteers to serve at homeless shelters, one church leader told me how their church actually picked up the homeless from the local shelter and brought them back to their church with the aim of feeding, serving, loving, and affirming their worth to God.
• A person can do the same by adopting college students, neighbors, and co-workers who have no place to go for Thanksgiving. This is a great way to teach your children the importance of serving others. This was always a regular practice of my parents. The deep impressions of love and giving still remain in my life.
• Consider providing meals or at least deserts for the local police or fire stations, emergency room staff, or public utility staff that work through the holiday.
• Is your town located near a high-traffic interstate? Provide comfort and assitance to the many holiday travelers by setting up hospitality tents at highway rest stops with a large supply of coffee and donuts.
• Go to hospital waiting rooms loaded with sweets and goodies. Be ready to listen, love, and share!
• Finally, disperse your congregation into Wal-Mart parking lots and malls across your area early (at least an hour before the stores open) on the morning after Thanksgiving. Provide them with plentiful supplies of donuts, coffee, and hot chocolate to give to those waiting in line to get into the stores.

In each of the above suggestions, be ready to respond with the gospel as the Holy Spirit opens the doors. As one friend reminded me, “it’s never Thanksgiving . . . until it first becomes Thanksliving in us!”

Daivd Wheeler is a church planting national missionary and professor at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virgina.