 | | St. Anne's, Bermondsey | | a beating heart for bermondsey |
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BELIEVE IT OR NOT...
It cost £720 per week to run our church between July 2008 and June 2009
HOW COME?
Parish Share ... £240
Clergy Expenses ... £24
Children's Work ... £13
Giving outside the parish ... £33
General Running (heating, insurance, etc) ... £410
TOTAL = £720!
BUT OUR INCOME...
Planned Giving (Gift Aided) ... £103
Collections & Donations ... £87
Tax Recovered ... £27
Hall Rental Income ... £183
Other Income (fund Raising, Grants, etc) ... £134
TOTAL = £534
SO WE HAVE A PROBLEM!
We need to find an extra £186 per week simply to break even over the next year.
In recent years the rental income has kept us afloat. The Lib Dems who rented the annexe moved out in March and we have not so far been able to find another organisation to take it over. This has been a loss of income of £95 a week! We also need to do significant repairs in the church. At the moment we cannot fund that out of our income and our small reserves are being used to bridge our income gap.
We cannot continue in this way for very long.
BUT... 'IF WE DIDN'T HAVE TO PAY THE PARISH SHARE TO THE DIOCESE WE WOULDN'T HAVE A PROBLEM'
The diocese operates a "FAIRER SHARES" scheme. Most of what we pay goes towards paying our clergy.
This includes: stipends National Insurance, pensions, etc. housing and support costs.
Our contribution to FAIRER SHARES is
£240 per week
THIS IS ONE OF THE LOWEST IN THE DIOCESE.
This actually means a substantial subsidy which comes from central church funds and other parishes in the dioceses.
BACK TO THE PROBLEM
To break even we need an extra £186 per week (Plus £95 a week until we can find an organisation to rent the annexe).
- that is an average of £6.25 per week for every member of the Electoral Roll (45) BUT we need more than that to out ourselves on a firm financial basis for the future.
TO PUT OURSELVES RIGHT FOR THE FUTURE - IT WILL COST AN AVERAGE OF AN EXTRA £7.00 PER PERSON PER WEEK. (£28 PER MONTH)
PRESENT PATTERNS OF GIVING
8 people give a total of £51.25 a week directly into the bank and Gift Aid it.
Around 4 people give an average of £20 a week through the envelope scheme and gift aid it. Other Another £20 a week is given regularly but not gift aided. (The other making up the £103 comes in from time to time).
The Giving of those not in the Planned Giving Scheme or not gift aided accounts for the £87. If this was gift aided it would bring in another £24.40 a week in tax recovered.
Yet the costs of running the church are the same whether we are there or not. Please prayerfully consider:
* Giving EVERY WEEK either by Standing Order into the bank or the envelope scheme.
* Signing a Gift Aid Form if you are a UK Tax Payer. (This costs you no extra).
ST. ANNES AND THE FUTURE
The Parish of St. Anne's has been in existence for more than 140 years during all those years the church has been at the centre of worship and of service to the community around us. St. Anne's is our spiritual home and we are proud to be members of this family today.
St. Anne's has a lively past - it has an exciting future, BUT... that future is in our hands.
THE RESPONSIBILITY IS OURS!
WHAT CAN WE DO?
Obviously it is not just a case of everyone giving an extra £7.00 a week - that would be unfair as some of us could not manage an extra £7.00, while others could manage more.
The bible teaches the principle of PROPORTIONATE giving - giving a percentage of our income: so much for each £1 of our disposable income, e.g.
2p per £ : 3p per £
The General Synod urges us to aim at a basic standard of 5p per £ - that is 5%.
STEPS TO TAKE
* REVIEW OUR GIVING. How much do we give now as a percentage of our income? Can we increase it by 1p or 2p in the £?
* JOIN THE PLANNED GIVING SCHEME and contribute on a regular basis.
* LET ST ANNE'S RECOVER THE TAX PAID. If we are a UK tax payer we can claim back 28p for every £1 we give under the planned giving scheme - all you need to do is sign a 'Gift Aid' form saying that you are a UK tax payer.
WHAT WE GIVE
Is a matter between ourselves and God. What God expects of us is that we should each shoulder our responsibility as a member of the family of St. Anne's to the best of our ability.
TO SUM UP
1. We have a problem - our expenditure exceeds our income by £186 each week (at Present)
2. St. Anne's has a fine past. It should also have an exciting future.
3. As members of the family of St. Anne's we have to decide whether we are going to limp along from year to year (and face a crash in the next 5 years) or whether we are going to set our church on a firm basis for the future.
4. The matter is in our hands. Let us consider carefully and prayerfully the response we should make.
5. We are asking to make a response by 'PLEDGE SUNDAY' - 22nd November 2009, remembering that as a member of St. Anne's family
THE RESPONSIBILITY IS OURS
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| | Created by D. Knight on behalf of St. Anne's Parochial Church Council 2006-2009 |
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