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Money for God's Sake
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None of us take God for granted; at least not all of the time. What we often do, however, is to accept His generosity and presume it's one-way traffic. And yet He has given us an amazing example of unconditional love
He gave us His Son. What are we offering in return?
The careful and generous stewardship of God's gifts is not a new idea, but we often have a problem getting it right. Scripture shows us how to be disciples, but we seem to pick and choose the bits we like. This message gives us the opportunity to once again refresh our thoughts about the way in which we are disciples.
Gift Aid - Good News!
If you pay tax, the taxman will give the tax back!
Amazing but true - your church can receive an extra £28 for every £100 you give provided you have made a Gift Aid declaration. If you haven't yet made one, please do so now.
What Next?
* Part of our response to God is our worship and this includes our
financial offerings.
* 'Count your blessings, name them one by one...' God gives us so much.
What do we give in return?
* Take time to pray and think about what you give to God.
* Why not make a new commitment to give regularly, generously and
realistically?
* Don't forget Gift Aid. It adds 28p to every £1 given - so please if
you're a tax payer fill in a declaration form.
* Ever thought about what proportion of your income you give to God?
Look at the easy to read chart below. What percentage do you give?
£50 £75 £100 £200 £300
1% is 50p 75p £1.00 £2.00 £3.00
2% is £1.00 £1.50 £2.00 £4.00 £6.00
3% is £1.50 £2.25 £3.00 £6.00 £9.00
4% is £2.00 £3.00 £4.00 £8.00 £12.00
5% is £2.50 £3.75 £5.00 £10.00 £15.00
10% is £5.00 £7.00 £1.00 £20.00 £30.00
How Money Moves Round The Diocese
Where it comes from...
58% from parish contributions including fees
33% from investment income
9% from grants, national bodies and other income
How it is spent...
72% on parochial clergy and their housing needs plus national training costs
19% on support and sector ministries, as well as church schools costs
9% on local and national administration costs
What We Do Together
Support 650 church buildings, of which almost 90% are listed.
Provide for 200 clergy and 160 retired clergy who carry out;
1,700 weddings, 6,000 funerals and burials
and 4,450 baptisms and thanksgivings.
Support the life of 146 church schools.
Enable the administration of the state church at local and diocesan level.
Maintain all the clergy houses.
Supply youth and children's workers.
Manage the land and financial assets with which we are blessed.
Provide for the training and development of all lay people, including 366 local ministers and 235 Readers.
Support the ongoing training and development of curates, ordinands and ordained ministers.
Provide chaplaincy in local colleges, industry and commerce, local government, hospitals, the rural community, and those in need such as the deaf community.
Provide legal and financial expertise.
Evading the Issues...
It's so easy to use a variety of reasons for not thinking about giving....
but are they reasons or excuses?
Money is not a spiritual issue.
Patently untrue! Just see how often Jesus talks about money,
and possessions and our attitudes to them.
My money is my own business and private!
It's God's business too. "All things come from you and of your own do we give you".
You can't ask people to give any more.
As with everything else in our Christian lives we have to review regularly where we are going with God.
The Church has plenty of money already.
Oh no it doesn't! The fact is that the money that comes in doesn't cover what it costs to run our Church and there is no subsidy from the Government.
You could spend less on administration.
Is this really the case? Compare the central staff of the Diocese with other organisations - we are probably as slim as we could be!
God wants us to be committed in the way we give and do it regularly.
That's part of what being a Christian is all about.
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