STEPPING UP TO THE PLATE

A message from Keith (Vicar)

Thanks for all you do/have done for our church community. This year we are asking you to increase your financial giving, if possible.

Church finances show that average weekly giving needs to be per individual or family £5 per giver per week.

Your help towards this is always appreciated. Thank you.

Keith

A call to participate in God’s love and provision

Stewardship is a term frequently used to describe regular, planned giving within your local Parish - the act of contributing to the care of God's gifts and community.

Our challenge

Many people are surprised to learn that parish churches like ours do not receive direct funding from the wider Church of England. Instead, we rely on the generosity of regular giving by parishioners in order to sustain our buildings and clergy, our ministry and mission.

Over the past few years, however, income has fallen considerably short of expenditure, this has forced us to rely on the generosity of past benefactors by using reserves. However, our reserves have now run out.

To bridge our income gap, and enable our ministry to flourish, we are asking all of our congregation and supporters to think carefully about all we receive from God and prayerfully review their giving.

It goes without saying that, at the same time, our Parochial Church Council (PCC) is working to identify and act on opportunities to reduce our expenditure and make savings, where it will not cause detriment to those who need our support the most. However, with a Grade 1 Listed church to maintain, the challenge is considerable.

Our church

Our giving sustains our church building - a sacred place dedicated to worship, prayer, pastoral care and community outreach. It sustains our clergy, here and across our diocese. It also helps our diocese prepare for a sustainable future by training new clergy.

Our giving sustains our ministry, measured in every single:

sick person visited
confirmation and discipleship course run
bereaved family comforted
baptism celebrated
sermon preached
communion celebrated
event run, and
person shown the love of Christ through our care and compassion

Our giving sustains mission both here in our local community, as well as across the UK and overseas, for people we may never meet but to whom we are able to give comfort and practical support through our ministry.

Our vision

In the coming year we hope to:

bridge our income gap challenge; and
continue to provide a welcoming and vibrant focal point for the whole community

How to give

How do we decide how much we should be contributing? Circumstances are individual and there is no one, easy answer for everyone. There are some very practical things you can increase existing regular giving to help meet our Church’s needs, by:

Joining the Parish Giving Scheme

This the most effective and preferred way that you can give to St Michael’s Church. View the video below for a better idea…

We would encourage all church members who plan to give regularly to use this Scheme. If you already give by Standing Order then we would encourage you to change to the Scheme. The Church cannot accept Direct Debits but the Scheme can. It makes Gift Aid processing much easier for the church and allows you to arrange for your giving to keep up with inflation!

Setting up a standing order

Monthly giving is absolutely vital to our mission as it enables us to plan ahead and work together on organising effective, long term projects to bless the local community and beyond.

We are very pleased to receive Standing Orders but we would prefer it if you would consider using the Parish Giving Scheme. Using this scheme for regular giving makes Gift Aid processing much easier for the church – and it helps you to keep up with inflation! See the section above.

If you still prefer to use a Standing order then we suggest you set this up by using online banking.
Our bank details are:
Account Name PCC St Michael-in-the-Hamlet
Sort Code 20-50-82
Account Number 80688142

Please use your initial and surname as the Reference for identification and Gift Aid purposes.
You may also wish to email us to confirm your payment date and amount.

Leave a legacy through making a will

A gift in your Will can keep our church alive in our community and transform its future!

Writing a Will helps secure the future of the people you love. Leaving a gift in your Will helps secure the future of our church! We could carry out repairs or alterations to our building, work with young people, run courses, reach out to people in need.

At the end of the day, how much to give is a thoughtful, prayerful decision only you can make. Love is generous, love is kind and love is selfless - we see that in all God gives to us; how will we respond?

If you have any questions about donations, Parish Giving Scheme, Gift Aid or our envelope scheme, please contact our Treasurer, Carol, on 07745609477 or our Gift Aid Secretary, Dave, at dave.mccall@hotmail.co.uk