Here’s How
Do you lead a church staff? Serve on one? Volunteer in your congregation? Work with parish volunteers?
Then chances are you work with lots of people. Chances are, you give and receive several inexpensive gifts at Christmastime. And chances are, that even in a relatively short career, you’ve accumulated all the fast-food gift cards and snowflake soap cakes you need for one lifetime.
It’s the yearly Christmas challenge in churches: How can I give gifts to my colleagues that are meaningful, unique, and welcome? (And without demolishing my budget?)
Some thoughts:
- Make it personal by enclosing a handwritten note with the gift. Even a sentence or two of specific thanks for a job well done through the year will lift a volunteer’s spirits. (Or a supervisor’s!)
- Find a way to build the relationship. Instead of leaving your gift on someone’s desk, set aside some time to sit down with that individual or the group. Express your appreciation for your God-given friendship. Share a Christmas devotion over hot cider.
- Search the Web. Running from store to store is an ineffective way to find gifts—especially specifically Christian gifts—on the kind of budget you probably have. Type “inexpensive Christian Christmas gifts” into your search engine to find ideas. (Or better yet, look here: www.CTAinc.com!)
- If you bake or do woodworking as a hobby, consider making a gift. I still treasure the small wooden cross I received from the eighth-grade class in the school where I was a student teacher. One of the kids’ fathers had made it.
Several years ago, CTA created the Ornaments of Faith® line, in part to meet the need customers expressed for inexpensive, meaningful, and uniquely Christian gifts. Steve Darr, co-owner of CTA, notes:
The purpose of CTA’s Ornaments of Faith® products is to provide unique and attractive ornaments to encourage the faith of believers and to plant the seeds of faith in pre-Christians. We do this by combining traditional Christmas and biblical symbols designed in interesting and engaging ways and packaged attractively with a simple poem and corresponding Scripture.
All these elements work together to share the good news of Christ’s coming. Ornaments of Faith® products include children’s ornaments and unique ornament Christmas cards, as well as a line of quality pewter-finished ornaments manufactured in the U.S.A.
Many customers have started collecting these ornaments and purchase them annually to give each Christmas. They really seem to appreciate the value and the purposeful designs our product development team creates each year.
For Christmas 2009, three new ornaments join six customer favorites:
- The Names of Jesus Star
- Christ the Savior Is Born
- The Christmas Cross
New this year, too, every one of the pewter ornaments in the Ornaments of Faith® line comes packaged in a festive gift box. And all come with a red satin ribbon for easy display on a Christmas tree or fireplace mantle.
So step away from that “soap on a rope.” Write a note. Bake some bread. And consider an ornament your friends will treasure for many Christmases to come!
Editor’s note: Each ornament comes with its own free downloadable devotion—perfect for closing any church staff or volunteer Christmas gathering. Limited time offers: Order 10 ornaments of the same design and get two more free; buy 18 and get six more free! www.CTAinc.com