St Luke's Church Eccleshill - Articles from "The Link"

Money and Missionaries

Towards the end of each year, any organisation must set its budget for the next year. Budgets aren’t just for secular businesses: churches need them too. Churches are responsible for large amounts of money which people give to God, and a budget is our way of making sure we’re doing the right thing with what our folk give.

Church budgets are always “expenditure-led”. That is, we first ask what we need / want to spend / give, and then we work out what to ask our supporters to give.

We’ll be doing this at our November PCC meeting, and we already know some of our costs for next year. We will have to pay Parish Share, our gas and electricity, staff, insurance, costs of Sunday Club work, and so on. Among all the figures is about Ł1,200 which we gave to missions last year. What should we be giving?

Actually, we give more than the Ł1,200 which shows in the church budget, because we also do collections, Childrens Society boxes, Christian Aid week and many other items which don’t go through our church accounts. However, as well as encouraging our individual members to support missions, I think we should be giving a proportion of our church’s money away. And what proportion? A tithe. Just as the bible says we should give one tenth of our income to God, so our church should give one tenth of its income to furthering God’s work in the wider church.

Who should we give the money to? I would like to suggest a number of criteria we could use to assess where our giving goes:

• We should give substantially to a few causes, instead of giving a small amount to a large number, so that our support makes a real difference.

• We should give to work which we can pray regularly about in our church services.

• We should give to causes which will capture our imagination, so that we can take a lively interest in what our money is supporting.

• We should give some of our money for people who spread the gospel - “missionaries” in the traditional sense.

• We should also give some of our money towards causes which are “social action”. (I suggest a 50-50 split between these would be about right).

• We should give the majority of our giving overseas. Although there is real need in Britain, it is not on the same scale as that in third-world countries.

• We should give through reputable organisations which are properly audited, so that we know the money is going where it is meant to go.

• We should give through organisations which treat their workers properly, paying reasonable salaries and pensions and so on.

Tall orders - where do we look? Until recently I understand our church supported a link missionary through CMS (Church Missions Society), but since she returned to England we have not had any further personal links with a missionary.

So I suppose the first question I as vicar need to ask you is this: Is there any missionary whom any member of the congregation is already supporting, who perhaps deserves the support of the whole church? If there is, please tell me before the end of October. If not, maybe we need to look round for one?

Without wishing to impose the same on Eccleshill, let me tell you what we did in Hanford. As the church initially had a large debt on its Parish Share, we agreed at the PCC that we would pay the diocese’s assessment, plus 5% of our budget towards our arrears, and we would give away 5% to missions. (When the debt was paid off we increased the mission giving to 10%.) The church had never had any contact with missions before, so we wrote to five mission societies inviting them to “bid” for support. Three replied offering projects, of which the most eyecatching was Mission Aviation Fellowship, who fly missionaries and aid workers round poor countries, and act as a support organisation for other Christian workers. They had a young couple going from Birmingham to Tanzania, who could visit us before they left if we wished. So our link with David and Hilary was begun.

The next year a local curate went with Crosslinks (formerly BCMS) to Moshi near Mount Kilimanjaro, to be director of Theological Education for the Tanzanian Pastors and vicar of the local Anglican church. So at Hanford we decided we would support him as well. Having two connections with Tanzania encouraged us to learn about the geography and economics of the country, its political history and its different tribes and religions. It meant we could pray intelligently, and when the Hutus and Tutsis were at each others’ throats, or when a ferry sank on Lake Victoria, we knew some of the background.

Should we be doing likewise here in Eccleshill?

John Hartley

	*St Luke's Church, Eccleshill - The Link* magazine** The Link is published monthly at 40p (Senior Citizens 35p), and we deliver free within the parish and post copies (at the reader's expense) to those who request it. Please contact us if you would like a free copy for a trial period. October 2000, Page 2.
Home Page. Index of articles. Money: index, C of E 1999, Gift Aid, Missions, Missions 2. In this issue: (October 2000) Vicar's Letter, Money & Missions, 11.15am changes, Question.	Money and Missionaries Towards the end of each year, any organisation must set its budget for the next year. Budgets aren’t just for secular businesses: churches need them too. Churches are responsible for large amounts of money which people give to God, and a budget is our way of making sure we’re doing the right thing with what our folk give. Church budgets are always “expenditure-led”. That is, we first ask what we need / want to spend / give, and then we work out what to ask our supporters to give. We’ll be doing this at our November PCC meeting, and we already know some of our costs for next year. We will have to pay Parish Share, our gas and electricity, staff, insurance, costs of Sunday Club work, and so on. Among all the figures is about Ł1,200 which we gave to missions last year. What should we be giving? Actually, we give more than the Ł1,200 which shows in the church budget, because we also do collections, Childrens Society boxes, Christian Aid week and many other items which don’t go through our church accounts. However, as well as encouraging our individual members to support missions, I think we should be giving a proportion of our church’s money away. And what proportion? A tithe. Just as the bible says we should give one tenth of our income to God, so our church should give one tenth of its income to furthering God’s work in the wider church. Who should we give the money to? I would like to suggest a number of criteria we could use to assess where our giving goes: • We should give substantially to a few causes, instead of giving a small amount to a large number, so that our support makes a real difference. • We should give to work which we can pray regularly about in our church services. • We should give to causes which will capture our imagination, so that we can take a lively interest in what our money is supporting. • We should give some of our money for people who spread the gospel - “missionaries” in the traditional sense. • We should also give some of our money towards causes which are “social action”. (I suggest a 50-50 split between these would be about right). • We should give the majority of our giving overseas. Although there is real need in Britain, it is not on the same scale as that in third-world countries. • We should give through reputable organisations which are properly audited, so that we know the money is going where it is meant to go. • We should give through organisations which treat their workers properly, paying reasonable salaries and pensions and so on. Tall orders - where do we look? Until recently I understand our church supported a link missionary through CMS (Church Missions Society), but since she returned to England we have not had any further personal links with a missionary. So I suppose the first question I as vicar need to ask you is this: Is there any missionary whom any member of the congregation is already supporting, who perhaps deserves the support of the whole church? If there is, please tell me before the end of October. If not, maybe we need to look round for one? Without wishing to impose the same on Eccleshill, let me tell you what we did in Hanford. As the church initially had a large debt on its Parish Share, we agreed at the PCC that we would pay the diocese’s assessment, plus 5% of our budget towards our arrears, and we would give away 5% to missions. (When the debt was paid off we increased the mission giving to 10%.) The church had never had any contact with missions before, so we wrote to five mission societies inviting them to “bid” for support. Three replied offering projects, of which the most eyecatching was Mission Aviation Fellowship, who fly missionaries and aid workers round poor countries, and act as a support organisation for other Christian workers. They had a young couple going from Birmingham to Tanzania, who could visit us before they left if we wished. So our link with David and Hilary was begun. The next year a local curate went with Crosslinks (formerly BCMS) to Moshi near Mount Kilimanjaro, to be director of Theological Education for the Tanzanian Pastors and vicar of the local Anglican church. So at Hanford we decided we would support him as well. Having two connections with Tanzania encouraged us to learn about the geography and economics of the country, its political history and its different tribes and religions. It meant we could pray intelligently, and when the Hutus and Tutsis were at each others’ throats, or when a ferry sank on Lake Victoria, we knew some of the background. Should we be doing likewise here in Eccleshill? John Hartley
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