We directly ask you for your money because we think what we’re doing together is a worthwhile investment. We don’t fundraise at Church – there are no ‘bake sales’ here. We believe that helping people find Life in Christ is vitally important and so we partner together with our gifts, our time and our finances in this task. We only ask Church members to give (not ‘guests’ or the local community), because we want you first to receive the generous gift of grace and forgiveness that Jesus offers.
We don’t often talk about money in Church, but that doesn’t mean its not important. Our annual expenses for 2024 are just shy of $350,000 and while we trust God to provide, the primary way he does this is by your generous, regular giving. Last year 93% of our income was congregational giving (the remainder was made up of grants, interest, funeral services and hall hire). There is no central diocesan source of money or government money tree for us to draw from.
We’re in the middle of a 5 year plan to become a sustainable ‘2 minister Church’. That means we’ve employed an assistant minister (Scott) even though we can’t afford it, with the intention of using up savings while we grow the capacity to afford it. Our plan is ahead of schedule and God-willing (with your help), we’ll have achieved our goal by 2026.
There is never any pressure or obligation for you to give and your giving remains anonymous as far as possible. You decide what to do with your dollars, and our approach is simply to explain why we think giving to Church is a worthwhile thing for you to do and a normal part of the Christian life. Each of you have different financial responsibilities and obligations and so generosity will look different for each of you. Some households give $1000/month, while others give $20/week. Thankyou for your generosity!
Yours in Christ,
Ben Boardman
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
~ 2 Corinthians 8:9
