St Chad’s Parish Church Poulton-le-Fylde Stewardship Envelopes & Letters   I would like to take this opportunity to thank Frank Jubb and his “team” for distributing the Stewardship Envelopes for 2010 – 2011.  Their help is very much appreciated by me at this time of year.    I would also like to thank Robert Sly for all his help and support.     I am sure you will agree that throughout the year many changes occur within the family of “St Chad’s” when parishioners either move house, or there is a marriage or the passing of a loved one.  Revd Keighley does an excellent job informing us of changes he is aware of but invariably a few “fall through the net”.  To ensure our records are kept up to date we would be very grateful if you would inform either me or Robert Sly.    Many thanks.     If anyone is interested in joining the Stewardship Scheme either by weekly envelopes or via monthly Standing Order, or by an Annual payment, please do not hesitate to contact either myself or Robert Sly and we will arrange to let you have the appropriate forms.  (These forms are also available on the table at the back of Church).     Just a few thoughts - ·         “The Lord wants a cheerful giver” ·        “We are investing in God’s Kingdom” ·        “Don’t give God the ‘leftovers’ – give Him the Best”     Regards   May Waterland   Envelope Secretary  Tel. 01253 883730 Christian Stewardship Stewardship in a nutshell means making a commitment to support the Church, traditionally by giving your time and talents by volunteering to do jobs and to help with the running of the Church, and by giving a regular financial donation to provide the resources that the Church now depends on. I suppose it is the monetary aspect that immediately comes to mind for people, and we invite all who consider themselves to be members of the Church to give a regular donation either by using weekly envelopes or by using a monthly bank standing order. We are very fortunate at St Chad’s in having a significant number of contributors to our stewardship scheme. There are presently around 320, although it has to be said that this number is smaller than it was a number of years ago. Nevertheless it is more than the average number of people who attend St Chad’s and St Hilda’s in the course of a normal week which is around 245. Last year our total ordinary expenditure (excluding major repairs) amounted to £175,000 (£3,365 per week) and the total of our stewardship income including the tax refund received under gift aid was just less than £105,000 (£2,020 per week). The difference between the two figures comes from collections, donations, interest on deposits, fees for weddings and funerals and a number of smaller items. Had we not received legacies last year, then there would have been loss on our general account of around £5,000, which would have come out of reserves. Our running costs are continuing to rise. To give one example, we have done very well with our electricity costs for both the Church and Church Hall having had a five year fixed price contract, started when prices were very much lower than they are now. This contract is now coming to an end, and despite shopping around our price for electricity next year will double. As far as possible it has been the intention of the PCC that funds received from legacies have been used to meet the cost of major projects such as the construction of the toilet/kitchen facility, the replacement of the nave windows and currently the complete overhaul of the organ, although these have also been helped by individual donations and fund raising such as by the Flower Guild. Funds have also been set aside from a recent legacy towards the redevelopment of the Church Hall. Having not had a full stewardship renewal for a number of years, we are asking everyone in our stewardship scheme to consider if they can make an increase in the amount of their regular contributions. Although weekly envelopes will continue to be available for those who prefer them, we are also recommending that subscribers make their donation by way of a monthly bank standing order. Standing orders are not made for any specific length of time, and may be cancelled or amended by the donor at any time without reference to us. If you are not presently a stewardship subscriber, but feel that you are member of St Chad’s or St Hilda’s and would like to give the Church your support then please get in touch with us. For your convenience a standing order form is printed on a following page in this magazine. Please return the form under private cover to either May Waterland or I (addresses are on the back cover) so that it can be recorded. I have spoken a lot about the money side of things, and it is easy to overlook the other part of stewardship which is your time and your talents. We are greatly blessed at both St Chad’s and St Hilda’s that there are many willing volunteers who carry out many different jobs, without which our two churches would not run very smoothly. But there is always a need for more helpers, and there are plenty of tasks to use all skills. There are 168 hours in a week, and even if we use a third of them sleeping then two or three hours to help make coffee or visit someone who is ill or do cleaning is surely time well spent. St Chad’s and St Hilda’s play an important part in the lives of many people in Poulton, Carleton and beyond, and I hope that we can count on your support as we seek to follow in the footsteps of previous generations and preserve and enhance our Churches and their witness for the future . Robert Sly   Christian Stewardship Thoughts   First and foremost I think it is very important to say a sincere and heartfelt thank-you to all the members of our Stewardship scheme who continue to contribute generously to the ongoing work of the Church in this Parish and in the wider context to Christian and Charitable work both locally and in other parts of the world. 2006 saw our highest ever level of stewardship giving and the highest ever Gift Aid Tax reclaim. I think however that you can probably guess what is coming next. Yes, you are right – please row even harder!   In November of last year Bishop Nicholas launched his challenge that every parish in the Diocese of Blackburn should engage in a stewardship programme within the next 18 months. The challenge is based on the theme “God loves a cheerful giver” 2 Corinthians 9 v 7. This event has been followed by launches in each Deanery with presentations given by Mary Smith the Diocesan Resources Officer. Whilst Christian Stewardship consists of three elements – time, talents and money, the main emphasis for the Diocese is clearly financial. The average weekly tax efficient (Gift Aided) Planned Giving in the Diocese of Blackburn is £6.29. If we compare this with other Diocese, this is low; the Diocese of Manchester £7.35, the Diocese of Bradford £9.02 and Sheffield £11.71. The national average is £7.96.   I find that averages quoted in this way can be a bit of a blunt instrument, because they do not tell you the number who have contributed or the total amount received. Within our own Parish we cannot calculate a comparable figure. All that we can say is that the average amount for a standing order contributor converted to a weekly figure is £5.94, and for someone using a stewardship envelope the figure is £4.07, both of which are well below the Diocesan average. BUT we do have something like 330 contributors to our scheme, some of whom are couples, as against 246 people who are considered Regular Weekly Attenders at our two churches.   Well, enough of figures. All that I can ask is for members of our two churches to take some time during the next few weeks to consider the amount that they are able to give and if possible to make an increase. There is no need to tell anybody about it – simply change the amount that you put in your weekly envelope or contact your bank to change your Standing Order. I would like to make a stronger plea that those who use weekly envelopes consider changing to a Bank Standing Order. The physical work involved in issuing envelopes and getting them out to contributors, and then the weekly manual recording is considerable. Standing Orders give us automatic recording and a much greater degree of accuracy which is particularly important when it comes to making our Gift Aid tax reclaim. If you would like to make the change, even if you have just received a new set of envelopes, then please let us know.   Once again, I would like to encourage those who give annually to consider changing to a monthly standing order. A cheque payment once a year can easily be overlooked, and it is very difficult for us to give you a reminder about it.   Lastly, thank you for your patience and time in reading this item. If there is any information that you want, or you want to implement any changed arrangements please do not hesitate to contact me.   Robert Sly (893953)