Six months ago United Church of God Fort Wayne member Brian Brumley had the idea to collect spare pocket change to send in as a gift to the Good Works program. Little did he know that it would be multiplied to more than $1,000!

He mentioned the idea to some friends at services and soon there were nicely labeled mason jars with slotted lids to hand out at church so people could take them home and start dropping in pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.

When the jars were collected after sundown at the congregation’s annual winter social on December 10, there were 11 jars containing $730.76. The one packed tightest contained $151.36 (lots of quarters!) and the smallest one contained $2.36, no doubt from a child. There were a few bills of “folding money” in some of the jars, and half a dozen people had already turned their coins into the form of checks. All told, the contribution totaled $1,060.66!

The congregation is contemplating whether to repeat the process in 2012, but in any case the experience showed how one little idea can grow dramatically and bear good fruit. Maybe your congregation should try it out!