Monthly E-newsletter from the Finance, Stewardship and Income Generation Teams |
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Revd. Dan's Reflection
Contribute to Money 4 Mission
NEW EVENTS - Giving Days
New Team Member
NEW WEBPAGES - Environmental Fundraising
Resources for Giving and Finance
Grants from the Diocese of Leeds
EasyFundraising
Training from ACAT
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M4M March 2022 – For the Beautiful of Foot
For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Romans 10:13-15(NIV)
Most of us, I expect, have a ‘favourite’ bible passage. The one that gets us out of bed in the morning ready to play our part in God’s mission. Since I expect that this will be my final contribution to Money For Mission, I’ve opted to focus on mine. Selfish, I know. I mean this one to be an encouragement for the hard pressed church leader in whose context talk of finance and stewardship may be a costly and difficult path to tread.
Perhaps alone, out of context, this verse from Romans hasn’t a great amount to teach us about generous living. On the other hand, it does somewhat underpin everything we do, and in my opinion, when Christians live generously and cultivate generous communities in our churches that propagates the spread of the Gospel in a number of ways.
First, and most obviously, when congregations grow in generosity and the church becomes financially stronger as a result, their mission and ministry overflow beyond the walls of the parish church and out into the community, where the love of God and the Good News of Jesus Christ are shared with people who may never have known them otherwise. And therein we find a second benefit; that communities, characterised by generosity, are the ones that people feel drawn to, and so we may just grow church numbers in the process!
For me though, there is a benefit to the ministry of generosity that goes beyond the financial or numerical impact upon the church. It’s the profound impact upon the heart of the believer. When Christians are challenged, and ultimately convicted, to live more generously, to give thoughtfully and sacrificially then a transformation of the heart takes place. A new kind of freedom takes hold and every facet of discipleship takes on new meaning and fervour. Anyway, without adding superfluous eggs to the pudding, I simply mean to say that the work you’re doing is crucial – please continue.
One last time then, thank you for your work in the ministry of generosity, and thank you for responding faithfully to the call.
Yours ever,
Dan
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Would you like to contribute to Money 4 Mission? |
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A few people have been in touch to let us know how much they have enjoyed reading the reflection at the start of this newsletter, written for us by Revd. Dan Langdon-Griffiths. As you may know, Dan is now working in his own parish in the Diocese of Liverpool so we are inviting contributions.
Would you like to write 100-200 words on the topic of generosity and giving? Has something happened that you wish to share or do you have theological understanding which you can share with others? A one off piece would be wonderful, but if you are to able to contribute more regularly, we would love to talk to you.
Get in touch with one of the team now at resourcingparishes@leeds.anglican.org if you can contribute.
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New events for 2022 - Giving Days - BOOKING IS NOW OPEN |
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As reported in last month's Money for Mission, we will be visiting towns all over the diocese to talk about giving this spring/summer.
Covering topics such as the National Giving Teams’ Building a Generous Church, giving reviews, online and contactless giving, grants, treasurer support and the PGS, these full day events will be of interest to Clergy and church leaders.
Booking is now open and places are limited so secure your place by clicking the links below.
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We are pleased to welcome the new DBF Finance Manager, Jane Adams, to the team. Jane will be overseeing the Diocesan Finance team, which deal with all the day-to-day receipts and payments (including share and fees), and leading on accounting, budgeting and reporting. |
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New webpages - Fundraising for Net Zero Carbon and the Environment |
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These brand new webpages by the National Giving Team contain a wealth of information about possible sources of funding for projects to reduce carbon emissions. They also give advice on how to approach those funders in a way most likely to succeed.
The advice focusses on Net Zero Carbon projects, but applies more widely to other environmental projects, and also to any building project which will reduce carbon emissions as part of what it aims to achieve, such as a new lighting scheme or major reordering.
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Resources all in one place... |
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We have brought together all the most current web links for Generosity and Giving, Fundraising, Treasurer and Finance support.
It is available in a handy download to view and print but you can also click the OneTab button to have access to all the links in your web browser.
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Successful Church Buildings Grants Scheme to Continue in 2022 |
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The Diocesan church building, grants and loan scheme supports churches with maintaining and improving their church buildings as vital centres of worship, community and mission. We are particularly keen to support projects that reduce the environmental impact of our buildings as we aim to meet the Church of England's 2030 carbon net-zero target. Alongside this, we will consider awarding the church building grants towards all items of maintenance and improvement to the structure of the church.
The grants scheme will continue in 2022 with the first grant deadline being this Monday 28th February, the second on 30th June 2022 and the final deadline being 31st October 2022.
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EasyFundraising donates £99,000 to churches in the last quarter of 2021 |
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In easyfundraising’s biggest ever payout, churches and religious institutions have just received £99,000 of a Q4 £1.8million payout. Thousands of churches across the UK are boosting their income to help with repairs, running costs, mission projects and much more, thanks to easyfundraising and their low-maintenance approach to fundraising. They are taking a share of this bumper payout because their congregation and friends in the community earn them free money every time they shop online at over 6,000 online retailers.
To start earning your share of free funding, register with easyfundraising.
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Training - ACAT, The Association of Church Accountants and Treasurers |
We are pleased to be able to subsidise the cost of every finance-related training session with ACAT by 50%. All you need to do is book your place and send your paid invoice with your bank details for remittance to resourcingparishes@leeds.anglican.org.
New courses for 2022 have just been released and may be of particular interest to new treasurers.
Don't forget, if you wish to become a member of ACAT the Diocese will also pay your full joining fee.
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Geoff Park
Chief Financial Officer
0113 353 0298 or 07538 873392
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Finance Officer (Financial Services)
0113 353 0226
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Elwira Lapinska
Interim Parish Support Accountant (Financial Services)
0113 353 0231
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Jane Adams
Finance Manager
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Lead Stewardship and Income Generation Officer
0113 353 0216 or 07496 265509
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Stewardship and Income Generation Officer
0113 353 0214 or 07376 525684
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Finance Supervisor
0113 3530 223
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A reminder of our email addresses so you get the right support and advice:
For stewardship, income generation, parish finance, Parish Share and grant enquiries:
For general finance queries including invoices, clergy fees and payroll:
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