When I was in Aldergrove we decided as pastors to prepare a kindness to go bag that the church members could give to their neighbors and friends. And so in December, just before Christmas seemed like the perfect time, we gathered up all the items that we thought would be nice to have in this kindness to go bag.
We wanted the church members to be proud to give this gift away and so we included items for every member of the family. A bun of bread from Silver Hills, coloring book and crayons for the kids, $10 gift card from IGA, a coffee mug, some chocolate candy kisses, and much more that totaled about $25.00/bag (most was donated by church members or business).
We prepared 200 bags and put them up front of the church on the stairs and after church each family was allowed to take 2 bags to give away to a neighbor friend.
My wife and I decided to give one of the bags to a neighbor family with 3 kids and who’s dad worked for CTV television. We went to their home to give them the bag and no one was there so we hung the bag on the door with a little note, “Merry Christmas from your neighbors across the street”.
That day we left for a few days and when we arrived home, we noticed something hanging on our door knob. It was a bag with some coloring books for the kids, some Christmas chocolates and a note reading, “Merry Christmas from your neighbors across the street. Thanks for the gift.”
What an exciting thing that was to do. Every church member who took a bag or two received a blessing from giving it to someone else and everyone who received a bag was blessed with kindness.
We want to give each one of you the same opportunity to give a blessing and receive a blessing by providing each of your families with 2 kindness to go kits.
Each kit contains a coffee mug, a pocket version of Steps to Christ, some chocolate kisses, and a few more items with a meaning. These gifts are not for you but for you to give to one of your neighbors and to let them know that someone cares about them.
Merry Christmas from your neighbor across the street.
