Giving and Keeping

As ever after a gathering of the deanery clergy, I am left with a few ponderances. This is a good thing, I think. Today we met in sumptuous surroundings, over a glorious meal in regal splendour for a gathering that, in part, was dedicated to a talk from the Church Urban Fund (there are almost certainly some interesting comparisons to be drawn between venue and content, but that is not for here). It has been a good morning, and it is always a joy to chew the fat with other priests and ministers. 

As part of the offering from Kerry of the CUF was the innate plea for dosh, for wonga, for some green, coin if you will. And so it was that we all went around our Anglican circle and said how well (or otherwise) we were doing. 

There were some who were doing sterling charitable work but weren't able to pay their own bills. This is laudable in the extreme but also begs the odd question. Does charity begin at home or not?

My parish is a charity and I bust my reverential buns to make sure that it has a lively income, well invested, appropriate Gift Aided - so that the ministry and purpose of this charity thrives. CUF is a charity and its officers do likewise for its ministry and purpose. Now - how would it be if the Church Urban Fund donated some of the money it is chasing hard from me and gave it to the favoured charity of the CEO, which could be for sake of example, Kalashnikov Anonymous. Would I be happy donating to KA myself? No. It asks the question, therefore, if a charity should donate. 

I believe very strongly that I have a responsibility to my parishioners and the diocese to pay our share of the responsibility. After all, they pay me and they house my family. Paying our 'share' is equivalent of paying the mortgage - it is something that you just must do. Would I, as a private individual, say to my bank - sorry I couldn't pay my mortgage last year, but I helped some puppies find homes. I doubt that would prevent foreclosure.

To be Christian is, by definition, to have a heart to serve. This creates an issue, a conflict therefore in our hearts. Do we serve, or are we the service?  Do we give to charity with  money we have raised charitably or do we receive it as a gift to enable the work we do? Do we donate to charity before we successfully pay all our bills? Do those who give money to us as churches expect that we can do without that money? Do we misrepresent ourselves when we say that we need the money, only then giving to another organisation that is often taking donations from our donors too?

So many question to which I don't have the answer. The only thing I am sure of though is that we must pay our way first - and then choose what to do with the surplus (a nice problem to have, and a source of aspiration for most of us).

Father Shylock: Vicar

No, I am not a Mafia cash collector - but I am no less a pain to have on your Fundraising Committee. 

Actually, I am harder nosed than a Mafia cash collector.

Like or not, churches need cash like I need haemoglobin. I wish I didn't need it, but I would not get far without it and its benefits. Churches are, I am given to understand, temples of prayer and devotion to God who no more wish to have to chase shekels than I do to eat my greens and keep my red stuff red. 

"God will provide" will not keep a church open - sadly. 

In a number of parishes where I have been involved, I have found myself as the Shylock character. I am from a background in sales, and know how turn over cash. More often than not, it is no harder than simply making a case and asking. 

And here I am in a new place who have done remarkably well at raising no small amounts of wonga, and actually seemed to have been more successful by dint of a lack of Vicar. It is to the credit of a modest team of those who simply agreed to help. The reason why this is something of a revelation to me is that it is the first of the parishes that I have worked with for some time that have taken an even remotely commercial view to raising funds. That I will ask them to be greedier and altogether more demanding may come as a shock to some, maybe not.

There are probably two ways of fundraising. The first is to send an annual invoice for a thousand quid to the willing people of the congregation, shut the doors, and get a poor turnover. The other is to give value to that donation and spread it over a period of time. This is before you shake the tin at grant makers and the filthy rich. There is a danger, when in the mindset of purely fundraising (in times of major projects etc), that we under-sell the need to get hard cash. There can be a confusion with 'social event' and 'fundraiser' - both are vital in churches, and that you over price social activity or under price fundraising events. Equally, under selling the value of an event can easily undervalue the event, if you know what I mean. 

What I think I am saying, is that churches that don't have international nurture courses need to think creatively and greedily about filling the coffers. Euphemism, diffidence, coyness or simple blindness to need - they all hamper the bank-balance. 

Ask, and ye shall receive! 

Another Opportunity to Do Good

I don't apologise for re-posting this!

On April 23rd 2011 (Holy Saturday, Easter-eve), I will be leaping out of a plane at 10,000 ft (tandem parachute jump and free-fall). It is my honour and delight to have been invited by the Mayor and the Lymphoma Association to take part in this event to mark their 25th anniversary. Please follow the link to learn more about the valuable and necessary work of this charity.

The Lymphoma Association is one of the nominated charities of the Mayor of Aylesbury, Cllr Graham Webster, and provides support and guidance to those suffering from lymphatic cancer, and their families. Please give generously.

I dedicate this jump to the memory of Liz Cooper, a close friend of my brother and best friend of my wife, who died of Hodgkin's Disease far too young, at the age of 17.