Stewardship Officer, Robyn Rooney explains why she is trying to make 2026 a year of generosity.
In 2026 I’ve started a year of generosity.
Inspired by many TikTok videos in December, I saw people being wonderfully generous, with Angel Tree shopping (where people in need put a gift tag on a tree with a present suggestion and someone else buys it for them), food bank donations, baking for bin men and much more. I started the year wanting to carry that feeling of giving on, and so I decided to have a year of generosity in 2026.
In fact, this thought started at last year’s National Giving Conference, where we were each given £10 to do something generous with and report back – a boomerang offering. The stories this has started to generate are so heart-warming and it’s amazing to see what ripples this is making in the wider world.
As a structure for my year of generosity, I have decided to follow a few rules:
- At least one intentional act of generosity a month.
- Saying yes when I’m asked to round up on a payment for charity.
- Saying yes when I see an ask for generosity from a friend on social media, things like sponsored events etc.
- Saying yes to my PGS inflatory increase.
- Talking about generosity whenever possible.
I am around generosity every day in my working life as Stewardship Officer. I spend a lot of my working time looking after the mechanisms of giving, things like the Parish Giving Scheme, contactless devices and QR codes, but I would like to have more conversations and grow my understanding on some of the deeper elements of stewardship and generosity.
I want generosity to be a cornerstone of my faith and for this to be an important part of my journey towards (God willing) ordination. So, I have also promised myself to spend prayerful time regularly contemplating generosity and reading my Bible in such a way that I am always looking for where there are stories of generosity. In this way, I am hoping to put myself in a mindset of gratitude rather than lack.
Lent is often seen as a season of lack, focusing on what we are going to give up, rather than seeing the many things we have been given, and I wanted to make sure that I incorporated it into my year of generosity. I always struggle to decide what to do for Lent, I know I want to do something, but I am pretty rubbish at actually committing. Then I heard about Stewardship’s 40 Acts campaign. Each day during Lent they email a prompt for an act of generosity. Simple things like writing out the blessings we felt in the week before, sharing a bar of chocolate with someone, carrying a kindness kit, praying for those you encounter, or paying someone a compliment. It’s not all about monetary acts, generosity happens in so many ways.
I am conscious that I am privileged and financially secure, so I can commit to a few extra monetary acts, however I am not in a position to do some of the huge things I’ve seen on social media. But it’s not about everyone doing massive things, I think it’s more about everyone doing a little. Every little helps as the saying goes (and if you’ve ever heard me preach on generosity you’ll know that’s my biggest tip!) If 10 people do 10extra acts of generosity and then each person who benefited did their own and so on just think on the ripple effect that could have!
So, I have downloaded the 40 Acts app and am looking forward to being guided through a generous Lent. I hope this will build habits that will deepen my faith and help me to embed this into my daily life after Easter, and beyond 2026. I am also excited to see where this leads me and my mindset. The world feels really heavy at the moment, I need to do something to boost my mood, and giving does that. It might be a selfish way of looking at it, but I am excited to see how being generous will change me, as well as the people I hope to bless along the way.
I am using social media to document what I get up to throughout the year in a hope this will keep me accountable and a way to look back and see what happens when I live a year fully embedded in generosity. You’re welcome to follow me on Instagram or TikTok (@revintraining)
I would encourage anyone else to give it a go to, and I would love to hear the stories that develop over the year!
Robyn.
Building a generous church | The Church of England
The national giving team have two acronyms that we work with for growing a generous church:
MINT = Mechanisms, Impact, Need and Trust
This is this first step, in growing generosity. You need the mechanisms for people to be able to give, and as churches across the diocese, we are pretty good at this part. Over half out churches are on PGS and nearly half have a contactless machine in place. Impact and Need go hand in hand; we need to express the Impact we to be able to make the ask and show the Need that’s there. Children in Need are a really great example of this in practise. During the television appeal they use films of families which show the Need, with stories that pulls on all our heartstrings, then the happier music starts and we see what a difference the donations have made to the family, the Impact your money could make. Then comes the Trust, people need to feel they trust where the money is going and will do the things it’s meant to. That it’s stewarded well. And then they need to be thanked, to feel they are apricated and making a difference.
IDEA takes this deeper; Inspire, Disciple, Embed and Activate.
When I was watching those TikTok videos in December I felt inspired, I wanted to get involved and make that feeling last longer. I was seeing wonderful things happening and the impact that had on others and I wanted a part of the action. Leading from a place on inspiration and positivity, rather than that of fear and negativity can make such a difference to what comes back. We all know ourselves that hearing from an inspirational sermon can make us engage much more.
Disciple is then how we relate this back to our faith. We have an extremely loving and generous God, who made us because of his love for us, and as we hear quite often in church “all things come from Him and of His own do we give”. All that we give is from God and is doing His work. Part of our discipleship is to live a life as Jesus would, to go out and be a living sacrifice in the world and in doing acts of generosity we are honouring that and doing what Jesus does. The wedding at Cana is a prime example of Jesus’ generosity. The very first of his “signs” his miracles was to provide something for others, to pour out generosity on others and share with all.
And once we being to understand and grow in our discipleship of generosity we can then Embed it in our everyday lives. It can become who we are, as an individual and as a church community. Embedding is about making it our go to, our default setting.
And then to Activate, to make opportunities for people to be generous, as well as activating opportunities for us to be generous individuals. That’s what I hope to do with the “rules” I have set myself. Seeking out the opportunities and saying yes to them.
