What Can a Thai Commercial Teach Us About Generosity?

 
As most of you know, I love wasting vasts amount of time on Facebook.  I only do it for research purposes, of course, because at least once or twice a day there are links to some real gems that people send out. Recently, this Thai commercial for life insurance has been making the rounds. 

                                                             
 
This commercial is great for a variety of reasons:
 
1.  It unabashedly seeks to inspire.

2.  It is informed by faith. 

3.  It shows that generosity can cross international and religious boundaries.

4.  It is about a culture that is (literally) foreign to us – our world gets to be a little less US-centric and more globally oriented.

5.  You want to experience it over and over again – and that’s the kind of experience we’d like to give people who walk into our churches.

6.  In three minutes good triumphs and converts naysayers – which, of course, is pretty darn inspiring; if that guy in the commercial can do it – maybe we can too.

7.  We want to become better people because we watched this video – we can visualize how our small actions really can make a difference in the world. 

This is another powerful way that visuals can be used with your congregation.  Imagine if you used this as a lead into your offering time and if you followed it by telling about one ministry that will be impacted because of the gifts people provide.  Surely the spirit of generosity so lovingly showed in – of all things – a commercial would translate to the hearts of people in your pews. And, as a bonus, no one will ask them to buy Thai Life Insurance.

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Cesie Delve Scheuermann is a consultant in stewardship, development, and grant writing.   Over the past decade, while working as a volunteer and part-time consultant, she has raised over $2 million dollars for numerous non-profit organizations.  She served as the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference Lay Leader from 2008-2012.  She also loves tear-jerking commercials.  Her position with the Conference is funded through a generous grant from the Collins Foundation. You can reach her at inspiringgenerosity@gmail.com.
 
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