For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. (2 Cor 8:9)
We pay $40 a month, and TEAR uses that money to buy a monthly gift for poorer people in developing countries - goats and other animals, peace building, literary and education, leadership and human rights training, tree seedlings and other food producing items, toilets and other infrastructure.
TEAR provide us with an advent-style calendar that has a little flap for each month. Behind the flap is information about how the money is being spent that month. We also receive a monthly email letting us know more information about that month's gift.
It's become a fun thing in our family at the start of the month. Everyone has to try to guess what the gift will be - someone always guesses that it's a toilet, others vary our guesses based on what areas have been chosen lately.
It achieves a few things:
- it encourages us in generosity as we see monthly that it's not so hard to give money away;
- it grows us to continue becoming like God as we reflect his generosity and concern for the less advantaged in our world;
- it's visible - the larger part of our giving is done through direct debit and 'invisible' to P, so it's good for some of it to be done in a way that she can appreciate;
- it grows in us a concern for those who are poorer than us - realising that our gift is primary schooling, seedlings or some chickens makes us realise that some people don't have them;
- it helps us realise how rich we are - because we do have all of these things;
- it's a fun family thing to do together - we enjoy guessing and having a sense that it's one of the things that makes our family what it is.