Editor's Note
This article is based on a presentation Cherise Vermeulen gave at the Ministry Fundraising Issue Network’s Africa Roundtable on the Theology of Generosity & Fundraising and a further interview.
A Child’s Generosity That Sparked Faith‘
In Ghana, a child began coming home from school hungry.
At first, his father was puzzled. Had the family packed too little food? But the truth slowly emerged: the boy had been sharing his lunch, and even his small pocket money, with a friend who had nothing to eat. Day after day, he quietly gave away what he had. That friend did not know Jesus, but he was drawn to church after experiencing kindness and love through this one child. In time, that witness opened the door for the friend and his family to come to faith.
For Cherise Vermeulen, founder and executive director of Generous Generations, that story captures a conviction the global Church can no longer afford to ignore: children are not too young to be discipled in generosity. They may be among God’s most powerful witnesses through it.
“We all know all the different generations – Gen X, Y, Z, Beta, Alpha, all the rest of them,” Cherise says. “But there’s one generation that hasn’t been mentioned, and that is the Generous Generation.”
Why Generosity Must Start Young
That phrase is more than a name. It is a vision. Generous Generations, often called Gen G, was born out of the belief that generosity should not be introduced only in adulthood, after habits have hardened, but rather cultivated early as part of Christian formation.
The idea took shape after Cherise attended yet another adult-focused generosity gathering with her husband. Driving home, she asked a question that would not leave her: “Why do we wait until we are all grown up before we learn of this stuff?” By then, she reflected, mindsets are formed, habits are set, and scarcity thinking may already be deeply rooted.
Why would we not also teach children what it means to live open-handedly?
Her point was simple: We teach children to tie their shoelaces; We teach them to brush their teeth; We teach them to say please and thank you; Why would we not also teach them what it means to live open-handedly?
Too often, both society and the church act as though children should be shielded from conversations about money, stewardship, and giving. Yet children already understand fairness, sharing, loyalty, and loss. “If we don’t teach them biblical generosity, stewardship, and understanding of kingdom finance from a young age,” Cherise says, “we are not protecting them. We are simply handing that formation to TikTok, advertising, their peers, and the world.”
The Vision of a Generous Generation
That conviction eventually became Generous Generations, a ministry shaped from the beginning by collaboration. In 2023, Cherise joined the Global Children’s Forum in Brazil, where leaders from countries including Pakistan, Canada, the United States, Australia, India, Zambia, Togo, Ghana, and Egypt helped refine the vision. Their involvement gave the resource an international flavour from the start and helped ensure it could serve many cultures.
Today, Gen G offers generosity discipleship experiences for children aged 6 to 12 and a youth track for ages 13 to 18. The younger material is highly interactive, while the youth version is built around conversation, creating space for questions, honesty, and discovery.
Just as important, the ministry emphasises that generosity is never only about money.
Testimonies of Generosity in Action
That truth has surfaced powerfully in Kenya, where Scripture Union of Kenya has integrated the curriculum into Bible clubs and Sunday school settings. During one vacation Bible school, children began using their own pocket money to help pay for the tent needed for the programme. No one pressured them. They simply saw a need and responded.
In China, the impact has taken another form. One teenager who completed the curriculum told a local leader, “I used to spend all my money on trendy clothes, but now, I spend some of my pocket money to help my grandparents with their medical bills.” There, the resource has also become part of an access ministry. Because direct preaching is restricted, one Gen G leader teaches English classes to children and uses the material in that setting.
Then there is Zambia, where the ministry began flowing in an unexpected direction. After the children went through the programme, parents approached the local leader and asked whether there was something for them too. The result was an adult discipleship track – an upside-down strategy in which children begin discipling their parents.
If children are both the largest mission force and the largest leadership pipeline, then discipling them in generosity is not a side project.
If children are both the largest mission force and the largest leadership pipeline, then discipling them in generosity is not a side project.1 It is part of preparing the Church for the future. In Africa, especially, where a significant share of the world’s children will live in the coming decades 2, the generosity being formed now will shape Christian witness for generations.
What makes Generous Generations relevant is its collaborative and contextual approach. Gen G trains what it calls “multipliers” – leaders who can disciple children and young people in generosity and help others do the same. Rather than replacing existing ministries, it works with churches, schools, Bible clubs, and networks that are already serving children.
Multipliers Playbook: A collaborative tool for leaders
The ministry’s online Multipliers Playbook is available through its website. After registering, leaders can access the free training and downloadable resources. The training uses agricultural imagery – preparing the soil, ploughing the ground, planting the seed, watering, and celebrating the harvest – and begins with prayerful discernment. Leaders are encouraged not to rush into activity, but to ask what God is already doing in a community and how these materials can strengthen that work.
These resources can be used in urban churches, village ministries, schools, youth gatherings, or community outreach. They are designed to work in both well-resourced and low-resourced settings. In some places, children use simple props such as sticks, leaves, or shoes for activities and games.
Across the stories from Ghana, Kenya, China, and Zambia runs a single thread: when generosity is rooted in the gospel, it becomes contagious. A child shares lunch. Children contribute to a tent. A teenager helps with medical bills. Parents begin asking to be discipled because their children are already changing.
A generous generation does not emerge by accident. It is prayed for, formed, and multiplied – one child, one conversation, one faithful act at a time.
For leaders seeking practical ways to form the next generation, Generous Generations offers more than a curriculum. It offers a way to nurture a culture – one in which children and young people learn early that everything belongs to God, that generosity is part of discipleship, and that even small acts can become powerful testimony.
A generous generation does not emerge by accident. It is prayed for, formed, and multiplied – one child, one conversation, one faithful act at a time.
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Endnotes
- Lausanne Movement, Children and Family Issue Network, https://lausanne.org/network/children-and-family
4/14 Movement, https://414movement.com/ - Regional Youth Populations, Lausanne Movement, State of the Great Commission Report, https://lausanne.org/report/demographics/regional-youth-populations