TL;DR:
Nazarene churches traditionally collect the Alabaster Offering twice a year. Named after the alabaster jar mentioned in Luke 7:37–38, the offering expresses sacrificial love. Contributions help purchase property and provide churches, schools, medical facilities, missionary residences, and other ministry buildings worldwide.
Believers worldwide are praying that God will meet their needs for a building in which they can worship, receive medical care, or go to school.
We know God hears their prayers. We know that He will answer them. Could it be that He will answer them through you?
"I had a sweet little pre-K friend bring me an Alabaster box yesterday at church. She was so excited that she had collected change to 'help build churches far away.'" — Allison White, Nazarene Bible College student
| Day of the month |
Suggested gift Amounts are in U.S. dollars and cents |
|---|---|
| _______ 1 | 5¢ for each bottle/can of pop in your home |
| _______ 2 | 25¢ for each clock you own |
| _______ 3 | One dollar for each car/truck you own |
| _______ 4 | 60¢ for each type of cereal in your cabinets |
| _______ 5 | 75¢ for each type of cologne or perfume on your dresser |
| _______ 6 | 15¢ for each pet you own, plus an additional 25¢ for each large pet |
| _______ 7 | 50¢ per hour of television your family watched today |
| _______ 8 | 35¢ for each time you ate out last week |
| _______ 9 | 30¢ for each pair of shoes you own |
| _______ 10 | 45¢ for each piece of jewelry you own |
| _______ 11 | 20¢ for each game you own |
| _______ 12 | 55¢ for each houseplant you have |
| _______ 13 | 25¢ for each radio you own |
| _______ 14 | 50¢ for each trip you made to a store of any kind this week |
| _______ 15 | 40¢ for each type of shampoo you have in your house |
| _______ 16 | 50¢ for each beverage other than water that you drank today |
| _______ 17 | 10¢ for each telephone call you made or received today |
| _______ 18 | 80¢ for each hobby represented in your family |
| _______ 19 | 15¢ for each tie or scarf you own |
| _______ 20 | 25¢ for each power tool or labor-saving device you own |
| _______ 21 | 15¢ for each picture or painting on your home or office walls |
| _______ 22 | 14¢ for each mile you drive to church |
| _______ 23 | 5¢ for each book you own |
| _______ 24 | 95¢ for each sports team you keep track of |
| _______ 25 | 35¢ for each musical instrument in your house |
| _______ 26 | 20¢ for each computer game you own or website you have bookmarked and regularly use |
| _______ 27 | 25¢ for each snack item purchased this week |
| _______ 28 | 5¢ for each hour of recorded music you listen to each week |
| _______ 29 | 25¢ for each type of flower, tree, or shrub in your yard |
| _______ 30 | 75¢ for each entertainment-related activity you did this week |
| _______ 31 | 50¢ for each hour you spent online this week |
"Give up a want to meet a need."
For years, small cardboard containers about the size of animal-cracker boxes and bearing the word "Alabaster" have sat in Nazarene homes. They have helped collect millions of dollars for ministry facilities worldwide.
The idea for the Alabaster Offering emerged during Elizabeth Vennum's twelve years of service on the Nazarene Missions International Global Council. In the late 1940s, the Church of the Nazarene experienced a shortage of missions funding. At the 1949 meeting of what is now the General NMI Council, Elizabeth was asked to come up with a promotional idea that could raise money for land purchases and construction projects in Nazarene mission areas. As she rode the train home to Florida from that council meeting in Kansas City, Vennum said the Lord gave her the details for the Alabaster Offering. "And the rest is history," said former General NMI director Nina Gunter.
The offering promotion was based on the biblical story of a woman pouring perfume on Jesus from an alabaster jar. Building on that story, Mrs. Vennum initially encouraged Nazarene women to postpone buying perfume or a new dress and give that money to world missions instead, just as the woman gave her bottle of perfume to Jesus.
Mrs. Vennum promoted her offering idea with the slogan: "Give up a want to meet a need." Since its inception, the semiannual Alabaster Offering (in February and September) has raised more than $100 million for land purchases and construction at thousands of sites worldwide.
Without public fanfare, Mrs. Vennum also assisted and financed the education of local pastors and evangelists in several developing countries. In addition, she personally mentored numerous young preachers and Christian lay leaders in the U.S.A.
It seemed particularly fitting that Mrs. Vennum's homegoing in 2000 came shortly after Alabaster's 50th anniversary year.
The Alabaster box was not Elizabeth Vennum's only creative contribution. Along the way, she also developed materials and methods for Christian education at the local church level. As an ordained Nazarene elder, she was also innovative in leading people to share their faith with friends and family members.
Elizabeth Vennum's father was a Nazarene pastor. Feeling a call to ministry, she began her training in Nashville at what is now Trevecca Nazarene University. She later transferred to Eastern Nazarene College in the Boston area, graduating from that school in 1932. She married Earle Vennum in 1934. Together, they served the Lord as a pastoral team for churches in Florida, Indiana, and Tennessee.
“A woman came to [Jesus] with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head . . . ‘Why this waste?’ they asked. . . . Jesus said to them, . . . ‘Wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.’” — Matthew 26:6–13, NIV
Early in 2001, I walked through a dimly lit, abandoned warehouse on NW 10th in Oklahoma City. The inside of the building was a mess. I was told that aircraft parts had been manufactured there during World War II.
Greenvale Elementary School was just a few blocks away, surrounded by lots of apartment buildings. For 20 years, a teacher there had prayed that the Church of the Nazarene would come to the blighted area and make a difference for her students who came from families often referred to as "the working poor."
On Easter Sunday of 2000, God answered the teacher's prayer. New Life Community Church of the Nazarene began holding services in that very school where she had often silently cried out to the Lord on behalf of the children and young people living in all those apartments.
From the start, the dream for the Greenvale church plant was not limited to Sunday church services. The vision of the congregation's leaders included a wide range of ministries specifically aimed at its racially diverse neighborhood. Making that dream come true would require more than the use of a school cafeteria on Sunday mornings. That was when the fledgling church began dreaming about buying the abandoned warehouse.
Alabaster funds were a key part of the financing package. Then, the loving hands of volunteer craftsmen from Nazarene churches in the area began transforming that warehouse into a ministry center. Even the woman who runs the tavern across the street has been impressed. Her grandson became active in the youth group.
"Giving up a want to meet a need" was an early Alabaster Offering slogan. The Alabaster Offering certainly helped meet a need on 10th Street.
Thanks, Alabaster, for helping answer a teacher's prayer.
Originally published in Holiness Today
More on the Alabaster Offering in Nazarene mission book Our Balanced Attack
For Elizabeth Vennum, the slogan "giving up a want to meet a need" became a powerful way to think about the biblical story of the woman with the expensive alabaster jar of perfume (Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, and John 12:1-8).
Here's how the slogan "giving up a want to meet a need" reinforces the Alabaster Offering concept:
Giving up a want to meet a need. Dare we try to follow the woman's example?
Like acrostics? Here are more of them.
"What a wonderful help it's been to find your website! Thanks for a fabulous site. God was good to let me stumble onto it!" — Cheryl L., North Carolina, USA
The twice-a-year Alabaster Offering supports the Nazarene global building fund, which purchases property and provides churches, schools, medical facilities, missionary residences, and other ministry spaces.
Our local church uses legal-size paper (8½ by 14 inches) for Sunday morning worship bulletins or folders. Those sheets are folded into three panels, 8½ by approximately 4⅝ inches.
Using artwork from the global office of Nazarene Missions International, I created a series of missions information inserts to fit into those Sunday morning bulletin folders. These could also be used as missions posters or even as starting points for missions bulletin boards.
Select an image to open a full-size PDF of that insert.
