Giving Pack
The Giving Pack is now ready for everyone to download. If you downloaded the draft version last week please make sure you update with this final version.
It is vitally important that everyone engages fully with the finances of St Thomas' church and with their own relationship to God and money. The Giving Pack is large in that it runs to 22 pages. The whole thing though is highly accessible and should be easy to read for every member of the church. I am a slow reader, a very slow reader, and I can read it through in 20 minutes. Please make yourself a cup of tea or coffee, and sit down and spend some time reading this vitally important document. Thank you!
Download here: Giving Pack
Giving
No church can run without the voluntary financial giving of its members. St Thomas' Church is blessed with a fantastic number of very generous people. The bottom line is, the more that is given, the more the church serve the community and the world, the more people can know about Jesus' love, and the more God's kingdom can grow. At the moment we need to raise about £100,000 just to stand still! In fact, with the rising cost of everything, it's likely that by raising just £100,000 again this year we will in fact end up reducing what we can do as a church, rather than standing still.
The preferred way for St Thomas to receive the money that you give for the work of the church is by standing order - an organised monthly gift direct from your bank account to St Thomas'. This guarantees a regular source of income for the church and makes it easier to meet our financial commitments and to plan the overall budget. It also makes life easier for you as you know what's happening with your money.
We've written some articles for you to ponder as you think about how and what you give financially. This is an absolutely vital area for the life of the church and for you in your spiritual wellbeing. all we ask is that you take this issue very seriously and sacrificially, and take the time to consider our view on giving.
Gift Aid
If you have paid tax on the money that you give then it really is essential that you sign a Gift Aid declaration form and hand it in to the church office. This massively increases our total giving as Gift Aid enables the church to claim back the tax paid on your money to the value of 28 pence on every pound. Please speak to Jean Whitehouse in the Church Office (01922 453942) for more information.
If over the course of a year you gave £1,000 to St Thomas' without giftaid, and then the following year did nothing more than sign a giftaid declaration form, handed it in to the office and gave exactly the same amount of £1,000 ... then in that second year your giving would actually be raised to £1,280 ... an increase of £280 just for signing a piece of paper!