Adam McLane

5 Socially Conscious Christmas Gift Ideas

The retail world is made or broken based on what happens the 6 weeks surrounding Christmas. The entire world may not bow at the throne of Jesus, but a made-up celebration of his birthday is the biggest fiscal holiday on the planet. Jesus declares his glory even through the mundane giving and receiving of presents at Christmas. You simply cannot deny it.

But what if the world’s people started giving and receiving gifts that reflected the heart of the Gospel? Just like The Passion of the Christ radically transformed the movie industry… what if God’s people radically transformed the Christmas retail space by how they spent money?

Here are five gift ideas that would change things if masses of people did them.

  1. Kiva gift certificates
  2. Purchase a Community Supported Agriculture membership
  3. Sponsor a child with Compassion International
  4. Donate to a socially progressive organization
  5. Hire a socially progressive speaker, author, or organization to come to your town

You want to change the world? Let’s start with at least recognizing the connection between what we spend/support and where that money actually goes. Be good stewards. Be responsible. And the world will change to meet the needs of the worlds people.

That is the heart of capitalism, right?

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3 responses to “5 Socially Conscious Christmas Gift Ideas”

  1. Mariana Evica Avatar
    Mariana Evica

    Adam, I really appreciated your post! Your ideas so resonate with a campaign with which I am associated, I wanted to take the time to introduce it to you. Your words, “But what if the world’s people started giving and receiving gifts that reflected the heart of the Gospel?” immediately brought to mind the mission of “Redefine Christmas.” Redefine Christmas (while not a charity in and of itself) simply seeks to encourage folks to give at least one gift to a loved one that is a donation to that person’s favorite charity — and to ask that others do the same for them. I know many derive sincere pleasure from fulfilling a child’s Christmas wish, or from watching an adult open up a very deserved and special gift…but this is offset by all the gifts of cash, gift cards, “wild guesses” and gifts for those who “already have everything.”

    As an alternative, Redefine Christmas suggests using their website to navigate and browse through a multitude of vetted charities and recipients who very badly need our generosity.

    They sum it up here: “It’s about changing the way we look at gift giving and receiving. It’s taking money we usually spend on obligatory gifts with little meaning, and creating gifts of charity that give in multiple ways, to the receiver, the giver, and people who truly need.”

    We hope you and your readers will benefit from this information, as well as the many people and charities who suffer deeply during times of economic crisis the likes of which we’ve all been feeling for a while now.

    Here’s the site: http://www.redefinechristmas.org

    Thanks Adam!

    Reply
  2. adam mclane Avatar
    adam mclane

    Thanks for the comment. Good link. 🙂

    Reply
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