GIVING TO ST PAUL'S

St Paul's Church is a registered charity, and our charity number is 1154708. We are enormously grateful for all financial donations, however large or small. As St Paul himself said (2 Corinthians 9:7) “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

Your donations are used for many things. Some of these are:

• Serving the local community in many ways, including worship, concerts, social groups, children’s activities, youth projects and outreach.
• Essential repair work and maintenance to our lovely Victorian building and garden.
• Keeping the church warm, well lit and safe, so that it can be used by everyone who would like to.
• Contributing to the Common Fund, which is used by the Church of England for training, safeguarding, paying clergy and supporting churches in less affluent areas.
• Ensuring that St Paul’s is a welcoming community, where questions can be asked and to help people learn from the Bible, to love God and one another.

St Paul’s is part of the Parish Giving Scheme (PGS). This is a simple scheme that you can use to give regularly via direct debit, or to make a one-off contribution. All of your donation goes straight to St Paul’s, there are no fees. St Paul’s benefits by having reduced administration and paperwork, as well as an efficient and regular reclaim of Gift Aid, which improves our cashflow. You can choose to remain anonymous if you donate by this method, and you also have the option as to how often you give and to increase your amount annually in line with inflation.

If you are currently donating to us via direct debit, then we would very much encourage you to change to giving via the Parish Giving Scheme. It is very easy to do! Our PGS Parish code is 230623232.

There are four ways you can donate to St Paul’s via the Parish Giving scheme:

1. Press the DONATE button
2. Scan the QR code below on your phone
3. Go to the St Paul’s page on the PGS website, which is https://www.parishgiving.org.uk/donors/find-your-parish/chiswick-st-paul-london/
4. Download the Gift Form below, complete it and send it to the address provided

Thank you very much.

WHY, WHAT AND HOW TO GIVE?

Rev'd Mary Spreadbury, Finance Advisor from the Dicocse of London visited St Paul's recently, to talk to us about giving and the Parish Giving Scheme. Her talk is below.

It's very good to be with you this morning as we think about generosity, parish finances and giving. There is a tendency to think that our individual offerings will not make any difference to the church’s finances; that they are not significant because they are not large enough in themselves to make a real difference. I will illustrate this with the following story: 

In a village in France a well-loved local Mayor was retiring.  It was decided that he would be presented with a huge barrel of the local red wine – his favourite.  It was agreed that everyone in the village would provide a jug of wine and during the mayor’s last week there was a steady succession of villagers all tipping the contents of their jugs into the giant barrel. On the final day there were the usual farewell speeches and the barrel was loaded on to the back of the Mayor’s truck for him to take home. Later that evening as he relaxed and reflected on what a splendid day it had been he decided now was the time to sample his generous gift of wine – imagine his surprise when he turned on the tap and out flowed pure water.  All the townsfolk had thought that no one would notice their jug of water amongst so much wine!

The message of this, is that the contribution of every individual, however small or insignificant it seems is important and valuable – important and valuable to us, the church community and more crucially important and valuable to God. The financial health of the church is the responsibility of everyone who is a member of the congregation here – everyone that is who has an income – it is a team effort and everyone has a part to play.

I am going to focus this morning on money – not because I think our use of money is the most important part of our Christian discipleship (I don’t) but because it can be one of the more sensitive and difficult aspects. I think this has always been so – Jesus talked a lot about attitudes to  wealth and money and I suspect it was a difficult issues back then too.

The image of the vine in St John’s Gospel is a powerful one and a reminder that we are all members together of the body of Christ. Like the branches of a vine we are all linked together, co-dependent on one another and on God our Creator, the vine grower. But more than simply all being part of the same, part of the church, we are all linked through Christ – Christ who abides in each of us. Abiding is I think a really interesting word. Looking it up provided the words long-lasting, life-long and enduring. I think it carries a meaning of Christ within us, making a home with us, staying with us for ever as he says at the very end of St Matthew’s Gospel. And this is a one-way thing, we are called to abide in Christ, to be with him forever, to be part of the vine.

If our lives are so closely aligned to Christ’s, then we are called to be like him, to let ourselves be transformed by his love and to share that with others. You are all part of this new period of mission and ministry here at St Paul’s under Caroline’s leadership. I firmly believe that God gives to each church the resources they need to be the church they are called to be at this time and in this place. My question to each of you is what part will you play in this? What will your contribution be?

I want us to think about three things this morning; why, what and how.

• So first of all why – why give at all?

As Christians it has been said that we both give to need and need to give. We give to need both in our giving to other charities and giving to the local church. Giving here will not only contribute towards you share of the costs of ministry but also to the building costs (repairs and improvements as well as running costs) and significantly local mission as your reach out to the community around you here. St Paul’s Common Fund contribution is a significant amount and goes towards your costs of having a full time priest, a diocesan house and support for things like safeguarding. At present you cover about 2/3 of your costs. We also need to give as disciples of Christ and in response to his great love for each of us. The question we each need to ask is “how does my giving reflect something of God’s love for me” – not my love for God which is always inadequate but God’s love for me shown supremely in the gift of his son As Christians we are called to be generous people, people who reflect the love of God and God’s generosity in our lives. I often think that it is fear that stops us being the generous people God called us to be – fear of not having enough in the future or perhaps now. We are not called to be reckless with money but we are called to use it carefully and prayerfully. God is just as interested in what you do with the rest of your income as he is with what part you give to church or to charities.

• So to the what - what to give?

Where does our Christian faith fit in our lives? How do we live lives that reflect God’s love in the world? What real difference does our faith make in terms of our choices about how we use our time, our gifts and abilities, our money and possessions? Where is our giving (not just to the church but to charities too) in terms of our other items of expenditure? Is it up there with important and essential items like mortgage or rent payment, gas and electricity, food or is  it with our discretionary expenditure; holidays, hobbies, meals out, take-away coffee? The Church of England has long suggested that members of the church should give 5% of take home pay or pension to the Church, that's £5 for every £100 we receive. For some that may be too much, and certainly if you don’t have an income of your own or are living on a state pension or benefits, then it is very unlikely that you can give money at all although of course there are other ways you can give in terms of time, prayer and using you skills. I’m certainly not here to tell you how much you should be giving, that is entirely a decision for you to reach after prayer and reflection. And everyone’s circumstances and responsibilities will be different. 5% may not be possible or even appropriate for you at this time but I do think it is helpful to think about giving a share, a portion, of what we have and to think about where our giving fits in terms of our other expenditure.

• Finally how – how to give?

If you are not currently giving regularly to St Paul’s, could you please consider doing this, if you are able to do so. Just like in your own lives, it’s difficult for the PCC to plan if they don’t know what funds to expect coming in. If you are able to start regular giving (or perhaps are already doing so by using envelopes or bank standing order) then please consider using the Parish Giving Scheme, which St Paul’s is now part of. Giving is by monthly direct debit on the first of the month and the Scheme will reclaim Gift Aid if you are eligible. St Paul’s get the money you give and the Gift Aid on it into the church bank account the month you give it, and as well as helping cash flow it also saves a lot of work. St Paul’s get the whole amount you give – there are no transaction fees and no membership fee. You can also sign up for an annual inflation increase, ensuring that your giving increases annually in line with inflation. But you can also opt not to increase when the times comes to do so. It's really easy to join the Scheme, you can do so online, or by phone or by using  a paper form.

If you are already in the Scheme, then please can I ask you to reflect on whether you are able to increase your giving. Unless you have ticked the inflation box, it may be a while since you have thought seriously about what is the right amount for you to give. Consider when you last really thought and prayed about your giving and what is right for you and look at whether your income has changed since you last altered the amount you give. Giving funds God’s mission here at St Paul's – we live in a world where money is essential to function and that is true of the church too.  

May God continue to bless you and all who come to this place to worship and grow in faith. Amen