Giving

Help us plan more confidently for the future

We are so grateful to God for the contributions and commitment made by so many people to the life of the four churches in our parish. As we each commit our time, money, prayer and love, we are seeing our churches and communities change – one life at a time. We are ordinary people led by an extraordinary God, whose love inspires us to welcome, to serve and to grow as we follow Jesus together.

We are determined not to rest on our laurels, but to continue to serve the parish and grow in our faith as the Holy Spirit leads us. As you will appreciate, everything we do, and want to do, has a cost in terms of resources required; whether time, skills, effort or money.  The day-to-day running of our churches costs over £400k per year. You may not realise that we receive no income from the national church: we are entirely reliant on giving from our congregations (plus some funds from hiring out our buildings, and fees from weddings and funerals) to cover our day-to-day activities and clergy/staff costs.

Because our income depends almost entirely on voluntary donations, it can be hard for us to plan for the long-term when we do not know what our income will be. Planned financial giving by our members therefore plays an absolutely crucial role in helping each individual church to make plans for the future.

Parish Giving Scheme: increasing confidence,decreasing work

A key part of our strategy and foundation for the future is the Parish Giving Scheme (PGS), which was launched in 2018. It is a simple and easy way for anyone to support our on-going work financially. The PGS offers a secure way to give by regular Direct Debit, helping our churches to receive money and Gift Aid payments in a timely manner, improving cashflow. The Parish Giving Scheme helps to increase our confidence in long-term planning and decrease our administrative burden.

What we are asking our members to do

If you consider any of the 4U Team churches to be your homechurch, we are encouraging you to switch or to start:

  1. To switch to the PGS if you already give by Standing Order via your bank,or give via cash envelopes; or
  2. To start making a regular financial contribution to our church if you donot already do so.  When you do, you will discover the joy of giving andof the spiritual benefits it brings, on top of the resources it releases to thechurch.

What to do next?

  • Watch the video – A one-minute animated film which explains how the PGS works.

PGS Animation from Parish Giving Scheme on Vimeo.

There are three easy and secure ways to donate through the Parish Giving Scheme. You can set up your Direct Debit online, or fill in a physical paper Gift Form, or call the PGS team and they will take you through it, step by step:

We greatly value your contribution Please prayerfully consider your response to this request. We need your help if we are going to continue to welcome, serve and grow, as we follow Jesus together, so please do commit yourself to giving something regularly. However small the amount you give may seem to you, it will be a significant contribution to the future of the 4U Team of churches. By using the Parish Giving Scheme, and through your generous contributions, we can plan more confidently for the future with a regular, admin-efficient source of income to help support the ongoing mission and ministry of the churches in our parish.

One-off or short-term donations

If you are a church member and would usually give via collection plate / blue envelopes / contactless machines, our team has set up online giving facility for the 4U churches using the give.net donation platform (operated by Stewardship). Here you can make a regular weekly offering or a one-off gift.

Please click here to be taken to the site where you can make a donation by credit/debit card, and Gift Aid can be processed if applicable. If you want your gift to be directed to a specific church then please state which one in the comments/reference section. You can also make your gift anonymous if you would prefer to do so.

Easyfundraising

There is another way of giving financially to support the work of the church. If you buy goods or services online, there are more than 4,300 organisations, including John Lewis and Partners, eBay, Argos, ASOS, M&S, that will make a charitable donation on your behalf if you shop via easyfundraising.