Grace Church Gift Day January 2023

This Sunday, 29th January, we are having a Gift Day.  Below you will find the statement I read out a couple of Sundays ago.  This statement was prepared jointly by our Elders and Trustees and sets out what we want to achieve from this Gift Day.   I hope you are in faith with us that we can  be part of making our short and long term goals possible, but please do not feel under any pressure or obligation to give.  Have a read of the statement below, have a pray and see what you are in faith to contribute.  You can give on line, if you do that please mark it “Gift Day Jan 23”, or you can use the envelopes and pledge slips we will make available for you to give on the day.  If you are waiting for some funds to come in to your account you can make a pledge on the day and indicate to us when you will be in a position to make your gift.

Let’s partner together to further God’s Kingdom in Salisbury and Amesbury, and also to make a difference in Ghana as we give 10% of what we raise to Grace Community Church in Ghana to help them finish their building.

 God bless

 David Maskell

Grace Church Gift Day  January 2023 – Statement from Elders & Trustees

Firstly can I take the opportunity to thank you so much for your giving to Grace Church.  That is whether it is for a past Gift Day or for the monthly giving for the on going work of the church.  We cannot do what we do without your giving, so thank you.

As we start 2023 we want Grace Church to fulfil the words of Jesus in Matthew 5 “you are the salt of the earth…you are the light of the world”. We are here to be those things in our local community and wider. So the offering we are taking is aimed to achieve this. 

There are short-term and long-term aspects to this.

In the short term: we are aware that there is increasing hardship and anxiety at the moment amongst our church family and wider community.

The December statistics from The Money Charity (https://themoneycharity.org.uk/money-statistics/ ) make sobering reading generally. Two points from this are particularly striking: 

• 42% of UK adults have had to borrow money this year in the face of rising costs.

• 54% of UK adults have reported feeling either anxious, depressed, filled with dread, unable to cope or a combination of these emotions due to concerns about their finances.

As a result we want to be resourced to be able to help play our part. The last few years have been full of national and world issues.  We don’t yet know how our resources will be most needed, but we see it could be in any of the following areas:

• Meeting immediate needs of those inside and also outside of the church. This is expected to be initially relatively small amounts and relatively ‘light touch’ but may well develop if the need is there. How this would work and where it may be used, we will say more when we know how much we have and can then work out options.

• Grant funding to support other local community projects where their normal funding may no longer be available.

• Being able to develop church ministry areas which become more important as well as invest in those that are critical (potentially Christians Against Poverty (CAP) or other ministries focussed on the disadvantaged).

In the long-term: we believe one of the most effective ways to serve the local community in the long run is to have our own building. We do want to be in a position to start this process should the opportunity arise. The ability to react quickly to potential opportunities is essential and so we also want to add to the funds we have set aside for this; demonstrating to sellers, lenders and others that we are a serious buyer. We expect to use some of the offering to add to this fund.

We don’t know what needs will arise and so we are not specifying what proportion will be used for each of these aspects. The intention is for the funds to be held and used ‘where most needed’ and their use not be pre-determined, but would love to be able to allocate £10,000 for the short term needs of the local community.

We have also committed to giving 10% of the offering to the church in Ghana.  They have been able to buy a building but need some support to finish improvements for church use.

The Elders, The Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and the Trustees intend to work on plans once we know what we have and what issues/ opportunities arise. We aim to provide regular feedback; as the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians “We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. For we are at pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of God but also of men”.

We welcome questions and comments.