The Church That Does: Tucson Lutherans Turn Peanut Butter Into Abundance

What can a congregation averaging just over 70 people in worship accomplish?

At New Spirit Lutheran Church in Tucson, the answer this summer was 1,440 jars of peanut butter—and a powerful reminder that the size of a congregation does not determine the size of its impact.

New Spirit participated in the annual Peanut Butter Party organized by Interfaith Community Services (ICS), which invites Tucson-area congregations and organizations to collect peanut butter for neighbors experiencing food insecurity. When the results came in, New Spirit had collected the most peanut butter per capita—about 22 pounds per worshiper—and the third-highest total collection overall.

And New Spirit wasn’t the only Grand Canyon Synod congregation among this year’s “Peanut Butter Powerhouses.” Tanque Verde Lutheran Church in Tucson was also among the top five donors, contributing 1,187 pounds.

Behind New Spirit’s numbers is a story Pastor Greg Hartman believes is really about something else: a congregation learning to move from scarcity to abundance and discovering what God can do through people willing to act.

We’re delighted to share Pastor Hartman’s reflection in full…

The Church That Does

By Pastor Greg Hartman, New Spirit Lutheran Church

In 2022, New Spirit Lutheran Church participated in Interfaith Community Services’ annual Peanut Butter Party. Over the course of the 4 weeks in July, congregations and other organizations are encouraged to collect as much peanut butter as possible. That year, 105 jars were collected.

In 2023, I stood in front of the congregation and challenged them to collect double the amount of the previous year. It meant that we would need roughly 4 jars per person who attended on an average Sunday. That’s a respectable and SMART goal to have for a smaller church. Then something happened: peanut butter kept showing up. By the time we reached August 1st, the official end of the Peanut Butter Party, we had collected 332 jars of peanut butter! We had more than tripled what was collected the year before.

So, when it was time to start the 2024 Peanut Butter Party, I thought, I am going to give the congregation a really audacious goal. Let’s double last year’s 332 jars. Of course, there were some stunned faces, and more than one person did the half chuckle that communicates, “yeah, sure, ok.” That year we collected 700 jars, our record year!

I wanted to try something different in 2025. What if I didn’t set a goal or really promote the Peanut Butter Party? What would happen? Are we collecting what we are collecting because every Sunday I say, “don’t forget we are doing the Peanut Butter Party this year” or “we are only XXX away from our goal this year for the Peanut Butter Party”? That year we collected 472 jars of peanut butter. That told me something about the congregation; it told me that they had taken that step from scarcity to abundance.

In June of this year, I decided, let’s really go big or go home. I looked at the top collectors of peanut butter from the previous year and realized that if we collected 1,000 jars, we may qualify as a “peanut butter powerhouse.” It took 2 weeks for the congregation, which is currently averaging just over 70 people in worship, to collect 1,000 jars of peanut butter. We still had two weeks, so what would be a real stretch goal that, if we reached it, great; if not, no big deal? On the third Sunday of July, I looked at the congregation and said, “Can we do 1,400? Can we double our largest collection ever?” There were the chuckles and the looks, but there was also a determination that came across the faces looking back at me. Then New Spirit did what New Spirit does. By the time August 1st rolled around, 1,440 jars of peanut butter sat in front of the altar. At that point I thought, “well done, good and faithful servant.” There are going to be a lot of people who are now fed because of those 1,440 jars of peanut butter. That’s almost 14 times the amount of peanut butter from 2022. That is a job well done.

I thought the story was done. I was abundantly proud of the congregation and amazed at what God had done. On August 12th, I received a phone call: New Spirit Lutheran Church had collected the most peanut butter per capita, roughly 22 pounds of peanut butter per person, or around 20 jars per person on an average Sunday. What I found even more interesting when looking at the social media post from Interfaith Community Services was that not only had we donated the most per capita, but we had the 3rd highest collection overall. I had to look and see how we compared overall to those two churches. One of those churches is roughly double our size, and the other is more than 5 times our size. On a per-capita basis, we not only stood toe to toe with those other larger churches, but we stood victorious.

This year we joked about “we are going to win at charity,” and now we can say, “yeah, we kinda did win at charity.” Beyond that funny “we are going to win at charity” line, a more important thing continues to happen: the congregation is believing that things like this are possible. They can come together, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, what seems impossible is achievable. Most importantly, even after all of the fun and celebration, 1,440 people or families will be reminded that there are people who care, who show up, who live into the calling of “for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.” We may never be a huge church, but what matters is that no matter how big we are, we can have a big impact on our neighborhood with the help of God. God has taken us from “the little church that tries” to “the church that does.”