Generous Giving
We believe there is nothing better anyone can do with their life than become a follower of Jesus Christ. As we grow as Christians, the desire to give of our time and of our money also grows, giving back to God some of what we have received from Him. Through our giving we support and resource God’s mission in our churches, helping to sustain it and enabling it to flourish and grow.
By giving generously we grow as disciples, reflecting our priorities in life. What we give to God, to and through our local church, will be the most important financial decision we make, not working out what is left over. Speaking of the Church in Macedonia, St Paul tells the Corinthians “They gave themselves first to the Lord.” This is our challenge as Christians, to give first to the Lord, willingly.
If you would like to explore this further, do please speak to our Diocesan Giving Adviser, Tony Brown, who will be happy to help you and put you in contact with the best person to contact in your own parish context. How generous you are with your possessions defines who you are. Click here to contact Tony or Tel: 07879 424590
Enabling Giving
This short video animation helps to explain the vision of the National Giving Team and the Southwell & Nottingham Diocese. Together we are working to help “Build a Generous Church” by creating the right environment to give and cultivating a culture of generosity. Watch C of E clip here
Giving Initiatives / Promise Programmes
Advice and support from the Giving and Funding Adviser is available to help you increase your giving and consider all aspects of generosity and stewardship in the context of discipleship. Through a free consultancy, we can help you develop your plans, advise on your literature, and give continuing support. From simple advice through to a guide through the whole process, whatever you are planning in the next few months, give Tony a ring now to discuss what level of support is best for your Church. Click here to contact Tony Brown or phone 01636 817239 / 07879 424590
Discipleship, Gospel and Giving
Watch this YouTube clip of Bishop Paul’s encouraging and stretching talk on Generous Giving.
Gift Aid
Gift Aid enables basic rate tax to be reclaimed by registered charities on donations they have received, adding 25% to the donation, at no extra cost to the giver. Donors must pay sufficient UK tax to cover the tax reclaimed on their donations. Approximately two thirds of the parishes in this Diocese make use of our services for their Gift Aid claims. Please contact our Gift Aid Administrator, Jill Stanforth by clicking here, or phone on 01636 817201.
External Funding
If you are looking for advice about external funding and applications for grants from National Lottery, Landfill Communities Fund and other trusts or charities, please contact Tony Brown for assistance in this area. You will be able to develop a strategy, timetable and specific areas to focus on, together with a prioritised list of suitable funders to approach.
Popular areas for enquiries about funding usually include fabric repairs and alterations to church buildings and church halls, together with the funding of specific posts such as Children & Family workers, Youth workers or School Assembly teams. Click here to contact Tony Brown or call 01636 817239 or 07879 424590 for further help.
The Alexander & Caroline Simmons Trust application may be downloaded here.
Online Giving / Contactless Payments / QR Codes / A Church Near You / Legacies
When encouraging people to give we need to provide the right mechanisms if they are to be generous. The easier it is to give, and the more ways we offer to give, the more likely people are to give. The way people use money is changing, and that means the way people give is changing too, and we need to acknowledge that in the mechanisms we offer. Good practice with mechanisms is all about providing the ways to give in an accessible, visible, simple, straightforward way. It’s also about ensuring that whatever way people give, they are thanked for their gift. To learn more, click here
Encouraging Generosity
Everyone needs inspiration to live generously, to be given hope that we can grow in generosity, and to grow our faith in our generous God. Generous churches have generous leaders. This means looking out for generosity and celebrating it when found. It is about encouraging generosity by regularly thanking people for all the generosity they show. This can take many forms, such as giving money, time, possessions, our talents and abilities. We need to celebrate all of them regularly.
This short video animation helps to explain the vision of the National Giving Team and the Southwell & Nottingham Diocese. Together we are working to help “Build a Generous Church” by creating the right environment to give and cultivating a culture of generosity. Watch C of E clip here
Growing Disciples – Wider, Younger, Deeper
Generosity is a spiritual gift, and we need to encourage people to seek this gift as they grow in their faith. We need to encourage people along a journey that starts with ‘how much of my money do I give away?’ to ‘how much of God’s money do I keep?’. This is not an easy or straightforward. Our relationship with money is complicated. We struggle to talk about how we feel about money, and how we spend what we have. It can feel intrusive, and many people feel guilty or confused about giving and prefer to think and talk about anything else. We need patience, kindness and love when encouraging people’s generosity, and to provide people with the space and time to explore what God may be asking them to do. For information on resources to help with preaching and home studies, click here
Embedding generosity in our churches
Generosity is far too important to only be mentioned once a year on a Giving Sunday. Generosity needs to be woven into all of the life of the church, embedded within our ministry and mission and celebrated and encouraged whenever we gather together. During our intercessions we need to thank God for his generosity and the generous acts of others.
Notices can be a great opportunity to highlight the generous initiatives and activities within the life of the church. Generosity needs to be embedded within our mission plans and strategies, not just implied but named. We need to be clear about the ways we want to develop our generous lives, and the plans we will put in place to achieve this. We need to ensure that new members of our church understand how important it is for us to be a generous community, and to encourage them to be a part of that.
Giving Initiatives or Promise Programmes are a really useful and helpful way of embedding generosity into our culture to help change and mould the character and behaviours in our churches. For information and help in this area, pleas contact Tony Brown on 01636 817239 / 07879 424590 or email tonybrown@southwell.anglican.org
Webinars and training
The Church of England and this Diocese run regular training on all aspects of building a generous church. For further information on C of E Webinars and Training, click here
For up to date information on all training run in this Diocese click here