As Christmas gets closer the issue of charitable gifts certificates as Christmas presents was a hot topic of discussion in the Anglican Media Sydney offices last week.
Anglican Media's CEO Allan Dowthwaite and Your.sydneyanglicans.net editor Mark Hadley held vastly different opinions on the giving of such items as Christmas presents.
While Mr Dowthwaite felt such gifts were a nice option among more traditional items, Mr Hadley had three different reasons for why giving such gifts was not good form.
Mr Dowthwaite believes that in the right context giving charitable gift certificates are good alternatives, either as an additional gift or instead of something more "consumerist'.
"My wife tells me that it's the "done thing' to give our daughter's child care teachers a Christmas gift. Now, there are 20 kids there on the day my daughter goes, and most of the teachers work full time," Mr Dowthwaite explains.
"My guess is that they'll go home at Christmas with a dozen or so boxes of chocolates, a garden's worth of flowers and enough soap to last the rest of the decade.
"Perhaps giving them a card that expresses our thanks and lets them know that instead of buying them yet another box of chocolates, we've spent the money buying an African child school supplies for a year is not a bad thing."
Mr Dowthwaite beleives such a gift might provoke a worthwhile response in the receivers.
"It might cause them to stop and think about the plight of kids, just like the ones they look after each day, in third world countries. And maybe they'll even ask us about the organization we're supporting through the gift."
A different perspective
Mr Hadley realises that supporting an opposing view may make him seem like Ebenezer Scrooge or the Grinch that stole Christmas, but he holds his strong views for what he feels are good reasons.
"I realise I'm putting my head on the chopping block, because who can argue against charity? But I'm not arguing against giving, I'm arguing against the method," he says.
"Charity is an essential part of every Christian’s life. I do it and I want to encourage other people to do it too but I think this substitutionary charity-giving thing " let's just say there are a few hairs on this particular dog."
"When somebody sends you a card saying "You and I are both very rich and have too much stuff, so with the money I might have spent on you I have given to people overseas' they are essentially saying to me that I don't need anything," he explains.
“This may be the case - or it may not.”
Mr Hadley thinks these sorts of gifts only work if people know each other very well.
"From a parent with two kids and a mortgage in Sydney, when someone writes to me telling me I don't need a another pair of socks, it just tells me they haven't seen my sock drawer," he says.
"A pair of socks sound like a throw-away gift to some people but that would be six dollars you don't have to find in the family budget. If people want to really be charitable, they could begin by asking someone what they actually need, rather than pretending living in the west means we’re all over-flowing. They might discover they could be meeting the same basic needs inside of the country."
Mr Dowthwaite agrees with Mr Hadley that such gifts can sometimes be given because of relational thoughtlessness.
"I'd agree with Mark that they can be used as an unthoughtful cop-out by some people, and they're certainly not suitable for your entire Christmas gift list, but used in the right way I think they can be a fantastic option," he says.
A provocative solution?
However, Mr Dowthwaite says he knows at least a few people who really don't need another Christmas gift.
"Take some fairly well off relatives of mine. They're very materialistic and certainly don't need anything " if there's anything they do need they can afford to buy 10 of them without even blinking," he says
"By including, say, a vegetable garden for a family in India as part of their Christmas gift, we sending a message that our values are different from theirs, and hopefully challenging them to think beyond their own processions."
However, Mr Hadley asks if vouchers actually limit generosity.
"The system seems to work by ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’,” he says, “as if we had to do one or the other.”
“If we as rich westerners have so much, why don't we aim to do both - give meaningful gifts to the people we know and meaningful gifts to those that God has put on our hearts to help?"
"I’m reminded of the conversation Jesus has with the Pharisees in Mark 7 where he criticises the Pharisees for saying, "Mum and dad, whatever I might have been able to bless you with I have given to the temple'.
“Jesus says to keep the law and honour your parents as well. There is a way to both be generous to loved ones and be charitable to strangers."
Finally, Mr Hadley says he’s always been more than a little uncomfortable about the sort of charity that announces its generosity.
"You're sending a note to someone saying "I have given money overseas, because I have realised we are crassly material, you included, and now I'm gong to rise above it and set an example for you'," he says.
"Doesn't it sound a bit like the Pharisees Jesus condemns for walking up to the temple to donate money but blowing trumpets first so everyone can see what they are doing? Better to give, and not let the right hand know what the left it doing.”
To receive is to give
CMS Australia's Federal Secretary, John Thew, says giving gifts like those from the CMS Christmas Gift Catalogue makes a statement to Australian society that Christians have a different perspective on giving and receiving.
"The purpose is to be counter-cultural " all the time our culture is trying to force the church into its shape and world, which is consumerism," says Mr Thew.
"The actual significance of people choosing to give a gift like this is startling."
John has planned to give gifts from the CMS catalogue to his nieces and nephews for Christmas.
The catalogue asks whether people are tired of receiving the same presents every year, and whether they feel their family and friends don't need the gifts they give them.
Mr Thew has planned to give gifts from the CMS catalogue to his nieces and nephews for Christmas, and says the advantages of these gifts extend beyond simply receiving unwanted gifts.
"I'm the old man of the tribe and I'm helping my young nieces and nephews to extend their vision of the world, and God's love for the world," he says.
"I'm allowing them to partner with me in doing something really useful, and there's no sense from them of "darn, I missed out on a Christmas present'."
He maintains that this way of giving gifts doesn’t need to be confined to Christian friends and family.
"It works well when the recipient is a Christian," he admits.
"But even when they're not, you're saying "I value your friendship and I value you as a person, but I value the world as well and I include you in that concern'."
CMS has been inspired by organisations such as TEAR Australia, whose "World's Most Useful Gift Catalogue' has been one of the main "groundbreakers' in introducing charitable gift certificates into the Christian market.
However Mr Thew says the CMS catalogue differs from others in its overtly Christian content, which focuses on gospel ministry and biblical training.
"We agreed that a catalogue like this was a good idea, but there was a gap, particularly in the area of training Christian leaders," he says.
"The actual significance of people choosing to give a gift like this is startling."
Donations from CMS-NSW's calendar last year paid for two years of Bible College training for a student training for university ministry in Indonesia and provided for Kriol Bibles to be given to all members of the team translating it, and travel costs to be paid so that members could promote the Bible in their own communities.
