Our New 'Giving Points'

Steve Petch

Nov 16

This Sunday (19th Nov) will be the second of three Gift Sundays towards buying Church Gate (for more information about that please click here).

Some people have asked how the giving went on week 1 … but no one should see a job half done (or 1/3 done as it is in this case!) We'll give the full results on Sunday Dec 3rd. At this stage I'll just say this: we made a great start, and we still have a way to go, so let's step out in faith together. I'm looking forward to Sunday 🙂

Giving Points

Aside from the Gift Days, as a church we are funded only by people's generous giving (plus a small amount of building rental income). We don't get money from a 'Head Office' or from anywhere else. As a charity, all that we do as a church, all that we do for our town and all that we give away comes from what people give.

In the past, like most churches, we used to pass an 'offering basket' on a Sunday morning, and people would give as part of their worship. We stopped doing that when Covid began (we had to!) and we never started again. The reason for not re-starting came down to a significant cultural change: almost all of the giving had moved online.

Well before Covid struck we'd already reached a point where passing the basket had become slightly embarrassing! Person after person passed the basket on, but put nothing into it because they'd already given online by standing order. People were giving very faithfully, but it didn't look wonderful, especially to guests!

With this in mind, we're not going to start passing the baskets again in the foreseeable future, but we do want to make giving as easy as possible for all who want to take part. We recognise that not everyone is able to give online, and that some people simply prefer to give by cash or by cheque, and that's 100% fine. Our goal is to make giving as accessible as possible for everyone, and let's not forget that regular giving is part of our worship as Christians. To help with this ...

We have installed three giving points

The giving points can be found next to each of the 'pads' that are used for the church car park: two are in The Chapel and one is in the front building. Here's a photo of each of them, with a close up of the one by the rear Car Park doors. If you Zoom in close on one of them you'll see Deano in the background pretending to do some work:

Each giving point has three parts to it:

A small, electronic giving pad that you can use to give by card and by phone. If the screen is blank just push the little button on to top get it started
A sign with instructions for using the giving pad. It's very easy and you can even add your name and details so we can claim Gift Aid if appropriate
A black metal 'post box' where you can post cash or cheques or envelopes - these are emptied regularly!

Whilst it's a bit easier for us administratively when people give online, however you choose to give and whatever the size of your gift, we hugely appreciate it. Let's all just go for it in faith in whatever way works best for us.

On behalf of the whole team, let me say a big THANK YOU for all your faithful giving.

2 Corinthians 9v6-7 says:

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 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.

Why does God love a cheerful giver? Because God is a cheerful giver!

He is a generous and compassionate Father, and He promises to provide for us as His children. He has given us all we need for life and godliness. It's impossible for us to out-give Him, so let's give faithfully, as part of our worship, trusting Him to meet all of our needs.

If you have any questions about using a Giving Point, please just ask us, we'll be happy to help, and if you want to find out about giving online then please just follow this link. Thanks!