REVISITING AND INCREASING OUR FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE CHURCH
Dear Church
Over the next few weeks, the PCC and the whole church leadership are inviting all of us who consider ourselves to be a part of St Mary’s and the Heath, to join together and to increase our giving to church funds.
Many of us already make a regular offering to the church, whether monthly straight from the bank, through the website, or using the ‘tap and go’ machines at the back of church. Others of us make one-off gifts, again through the bank, or in response to a particular campaign, or after a service. Each one of these gifts matters and makes a difference.
As a church family we are clear about our purpose and mission. We exist as a community because God has called us into relationship to each other and to him though Jesus and given us the task of making disciples of all ages in readiness for the coming of God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. We want to see the good news of Jesus and his kingdom change lives, families, and churches, again and again. We exist to witness to the truth of who Jesus is and to offer the gift of salvation to everyone we can. And we want to share this with our neighbours, colleagues, families, friends and children. Freely we have received. Freely we give.
It is in response to God’s love and grace to us and for us that we pool our resources together – our time, our abilities, our gifts, and our money – and to give ourselves away for the sake of others. As we sow our gifts, we pray that God will use them to bless others and grow a harvest – 30, 60 and 100-fold.
Giving financially is a natural response to God’s grace and normal Christian behaviour. It is something we do, not just because we know that everything costs something and we know that the church has bills to pay, but because we are grateful for all we have received.
As we grow in our discipleship and in faithful obedience our patterns of giving develop and our discipline and commitment grows. We notice that God stretches us to sacrifice beyond previous levels of comfort and we learn to enjoy the adventure of being increasingly financially generous.
Then, as our vision for God’s mission matures, our attachments to the present age diminishes and our anticipation of the age to come increases, we are able to give even more freely. Ultimately, we learn together what it is to live in love and to give out of love – love for God, for his purposes, for his church, and for the world.
In light of this, and in anticipation of our Annual Meeting where we review our budget and plans for the year ahead, over the next few weeks, each Monday, in addition to our weekly bulletin, there will be a ‘Giving Bulletin’ that will aim to help us all reflect and re-evaluate our levels of personal giving to the work of the church. I look forward to sharing the needs of the church, the hopes we have for the future, and also the challenges we want to meet.
All of this will climax on Sunday 17th March, when we will be holding what I have called a ‘Reconsecration Sunday’, as part of our journey through Lent, where we will be looking to encourage one another in recommitting our lives to God, to the church and to one another. As a part of this we are inviting everyone as we have often done in the past, to make a new financial pledge to the church as we are able. Please pray and seek God for how you sense he is calling you to respond.
This Sunday we are returning once again to our theme of God’s abundant grace. May he bless us as we gather and rejoice together in all he has done for us in sending Jesus.
See you Sunday
Richard
