Stewardship

Stewardship

November 2014

Dear Friends

We are very pleased to be able to write to you with some good news about our financial position.

You will recall that last year Nick, our former vicar, wrote to us all and told us that Holy Trinity Church had a serious financial problem, that our income would not cover our regular outgoings and that we had a significant capital debt. He asked us all to consider prayerfully and carefully how we could respond to the Stir Up Sunday appeal.

The good news is that you did respond most generously and the churchwardens and PCC would like to say a big thank you for what you did.

As a result we are now more than paying our way so that we have been able to begin repaying the capital debt. We planned to repay £50,000 this year and have already repaid £40.000. This has been made possible by an increase in regular giving, some generous one-off gifts and the fundraising events organised by members of the congregation during this year.

The congregation’s regular giving has increased by 32% for which we are very grateful. However we still need another 25% to be able to repay the loan by February 2017. All members of the PCC have again agreed to consider increasing their regular giving by a further 25% to help meet this target. The Churchwardens and PCC realise that this a great challenge for all of us and are asking you also to consider increasing your regular giving by 25%. We realise that some people are already giving all they can but any increase would help.

“Creating a Stir” began on the Sunday next before Advent last year, Stir up Sunday, when the set Prayer Book collect is

“Stir up, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by thee be plenteously rewarded.”

Traditionally this has also been a reminder to stir our Christmas puddings! In this advent season we are praying that we will all be stirred again to help make us free of debt as soon as possible so that we will be able to concentrate on our mission of Making Christ Known.

You can help Create a Stir in a number of ways which we have listed below.

Yours sincerely

Brian Cutler & Kate Berry
Churchwardens

How you can help Maintain the Stir

1. If you are already part of the Planned Giving Scheme please review your regular payment in the knowledge that the Church needs to increase its monthly income by 25% to repay its debt by 2017. If you are still using Envelopes or paying by Standing Order please join the Parish Giving Scheme. The great advantage of this is that our administration costs are considerably reduced and any Gift Aid is added to your payment each month before it reaches us.

2. If you are not part of The Planned Giving Scheme please consider joining and ask Isobel Simmonds or Gerry Larner for an application form. Regular giving helps us manage cashflow.

3. If you are able to make a one-off gift to the Church, please consider doing so now, even if you have been kind enough to do this before.

4. Please think about organising and running fundraising events for the Church. Some of these can raise many £000s. Smaller scale activities are equally vital (think for example of Rosemary’s sales of peg bags and books on most Sundays and the slices of cake for sale with coffee after the 9.45 service).

5. Consider leaving the Church a legacy in your will. Legacies are a valuable way of contributing to the Church’s financial well-being and supporting its mission well into the future. Leaflets are available in Church.

Thank you for taking time to read this and for your help.