Thirty years ago, a simple double-page spread tucked inside a Tearfund magazine invited supporters to order a “present” that didn’t just sit under a tree, but would instead support communities to take steps out of poverty through health care, livelihood support and water and sanitation infrastructure.
In return, supporters would receive a simple gift certificate with a ribbon, ready to tie on the Christmas tree.
That first double-page spread spelled it out:
“Many Christmas sales try to sell you the perfect gift for the person who already has everything. The Great TEAR Christmas Sale is a way of buying a present for those who have hardly anything.”
The response was beyond what anyone expected.
“We couldn't believe the avalanche of responses that came in,” says Steve Bradbury, who was Tearfund’s National Director between 1984 and 2008.
“We actually had to have one or two nights when all the staff here got together in someone’s home and spent all night punching holes and threading ribbons on to gift certificates to send back to supporters.
“It was just a very simple idea, and we had no idea that it would have the impact that it did.”
Steve says there were two streams of thought behind its creation.
“The gift catalogue came out of my head initially as a response to two things. One was what I saw as the excessive consumerism at Christmas, which was just rampant when we started the catalogue. I was getting very grumpy about the way in which the secular Christmas was impacting on how Christians saw Christmas and celebrated it.”
“And then the other thing in my thinking was finding a way to help people understand that even if they could only give a small amount, which was true of most people, that that could achieve something significant for people in other parts of the world when that money was spent wisely,” says Steve.
“People would say to me sometimes, ‘We’re not rich, we don’t have a lot of money. And $30 or $40 doesn’t achieve anything.’
And I’d say, ‘I could show you, from the budgets of some of the programs that we're funding, that $30 spent in another part of the world can actually achieve quite a lot.’”
What started in that small office in Hawthorn three decades ago has gone on to raise more than $60 million to support the work of Tearfund’s partners around the world – and 130,000 Australians have been part of the journey.
Along the way, the central message of Useful Gifts – championing compassion over consumption, and impact over excess – has remained. In fact, Steve Bradbury says it’s more important than ever.
“I’ve checked, and last Christmas it’s estimated that there was $30 billion spent by Australians on Christmas. It’s mind boggling. So things haven't changed.”
When Steve conceived of the Useful Gifts Catalogue, his own children were old enough to have conversations about giving, generosity and the true meaning of Christmas.
“And I remember sitting down saying, ‘you have to remember Christmas is Jesus’ birthday, not yours’,” he said. “And when it comes to Christmas, the question we ask them is, ‘how do you give Jesus a Christmas present for his birthday?’
This giving and this support fits into an understanding of the nature and character of God, and the yearning of God’s heart for how he wants us all to live on this planet.
And that automatically takes you to that passage in Scripture: ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in …’ (Matthew 25:35), picking up on that really important theme in the New Testament.
“I think what we have to try to understand is that this giving and this support fits into an understanding of the nature and character of God, and the yearning of God’s heart for how he wants us all to live on this planet.
A God who is a God of justice: and justice requires a redistribution of resources and wealth so that those who, for whatever reason, are missing out can be brought back in to enjoy that common wealth that is here as a result of God’s generosity and God’s creation."
“So it’s about justice. The Bible teaches us that God is love, and talks about the centrality of love in terms of our experience of who God is, and then how we can respond to that in responding to the needs of others.”
In that edition of Tearfund’s magazine back in 1994, Steve put it like this.
“How do we commemorate the birth of a Saviour who, on the one hand, embraced the joy of celebration, yet on the other, condemned shameless excess?
What if our Christmas gifts could reflect his heart—bringing not just momentary joy, but lasting change?
Today, we invite you to continue being part of this Christ-centred legacy.
By giving Useful Gifts, you’re building on decades of difference-making, pushing against Christmas consumerism and shaping a more just and compassionate world, where everyone has what they need to flourish.
Gifts of good news! Useful Gifts – the original way to buy a goat and other poverty-fighting gifts.
