Community Church has been running ‘The Box of Blessings’ for a couple of years now and it has been a great opportunity to be a miracle to people – bringing gifts, hope and love to people, at really difficult times. We have reached people from all over the community, as far as Batley, and not just those who come along to the Jubilee Centre groups. We want to give everyone in the church a chance to be involved in this because it is such a blessing to be blessing to others.
The scheme works as follows. A family, family hub, couple or individuals contact us offering to fill a box. We will then send out a current list of people we have heard about who need a blessing. The list contains a brief story of the people’s circumstances, but doesn’t give names and details in order to ensure confidentiality, safety and dignity. An example of this might be: ‘a family who lost one of their school-aged children and then a few months later found the mum had cancer’. The group or individual chooses one household and commits to pray for them. They then collect either gifts, shop tokens, an experience voucher, a food hamper etc., depending on what feels appropriate. We then tell the recipient that they have a blessing coming and ask them whether they’d mind it being delivered in person by those who have prepared the box, or whether they’d prefer to stay anonymous. If it’s the latter, it will be delivered by us, or the people/agency that referred them to us (such as Batley Outreach). In cases where details are not safe to give out, personal delivery cannot be an option. Then we, or the people involved, deliver the box with their blessings. Often, thank you letters from the recipients and, where appropriate, photos, are able to be shared with the people who have prepared the box, though this cannot be guaranteed.
Money and individual gifts can also be donated to the scheme and we will gladly allocate them an appropriate box. If anyone knows of a family or individual who is in need of a blessing, please let us know and we will pass the details on.
This is one of the ways in which we can make the love of God real in the real world. It is us being those who are loved into life and who live in love. It is also a practical and personal way of fulfilling the word from Jeremiah 29:7: “pursue the peace and welfare of the city.” It is us as a church family overflowing with God’s goodness and love into other households in our communities. Through these gifts, we can be the miracle that releases wellbeing, hope and faith into our town.
If you would like to know more about the Box of Blessings, please speak to Charlene Novak or Alison Lloyd.