Sharethemiracle is urging Christians to buy and give away Easter eggs in their local community in an effort to build new links, show love and release hope through random acts of kindness in the run-up to Easter.
The idea is the brainchild of Dan Usher, who, in Easter 2013, bought 100 eggs and gave them away in his local community. He had such a great response that the vision has grown, Sharethemiracle was born and in 2014 the vision is to see 5,000 eggs given away nationwide.
"Last year when I gave away 100 eggs, I began to see what was possible through a random act of kindness. On many occasions there was a warm, elevated feeling, a sense of rightness and being hugely thankful," he says.
"It's almost as though there was a renewed faith in human nature, of the goodness that is in each of us but often gets lost in the busyness of life.
"It was this that helped spur me on and a vision was born to engage with others through 5,000 eggs in 2014. What if individuals and groups around the country could engage their local communities in this simple, fun and social way and could build friendships, open doors and potentially transform situations. I sense the opportunity is truly significant.
"The team overseeing the initiative formed through friendships and through various people that I have met along the way. Each one has caught the vision of sharethemiracle and is excited at the prospect of carrying this forward."
Sharethemiracle believes that this is an initiative that churches, schools, organisations, colleagues, friends and neighbours can do together and say it will help them to be intentional about their giving. Dan explains:
"Each egg comes with an Easter card containing an invitation for people to invite others to a community event (eg invite a neighbour to dinner, an elderly person to a social club, someone to an Easter service, a new mum to a mums and toddlers group or a young person to an activity weekend...).
"We believe that the giving of the egg can be a catalyst to achieve something that may not have been ordinarily possible and that this simple act of kindness can potentially transform a situation (the 'miracles'). We are encouraging people to capture and share their stories, pictures and videos on the sharethemiracle social media sites (Facebook, twitter, Instagram) and expect to see a multiplication effect as the stories are shared."
Sharethemiracle encourages people to get involved in whichever way they want to – either buying their eggs and producing invites etc themselves, or by buying 'Toolkits' direct from the sharethemiracle website, which include a vision statement, an Easter card with an invitation template and a 'Why Easter' booklet.
The team also encourages people to think about who they want to give the eggs to carefully, as each local area will have its own particular needs – and individuals and groups will have their own specific passions.
Dan reveals that there is a huge amount of interest in the initiative already: "The response has been tremendous and we expect to well surpass our 5,000 egg target for 2014.
"We have groups engaged from Falkirk to Canterbury as well as government and schools who have all bought into the vision of building community through random acts of kindness.
"We received confirmation last week that Great Ormond Street hospital will also be engaging in sharethemiracle, which is wonderful.
"Several churches have been quick to embrace sharethemiracle as a vehicle to engage their local communities and promote the Easter message. Some are using the invitation element to invite people to services, courses or other celebrations at Easter."
If you are interested in getting involved, and for more information, click here
