Vision for Opportunities
Our Vision at ChristChurch is to know Christ better and to make Christ better known. We pursue this vision through:
o Prayer, teaching and the work of the Holy Spirit
o People to support our ministries (both paid and volunteers)
o Provision of Facilities and outreach Funding
The PCC has highlighted key needs for ChristChurch in 2010 including:
1) People: a need to develop our Family, Youth and Children’s work, by employing a Children’s and Families’ Minister and improving the support in the Youth work.
2) Buildings: a need to bring disabled access to the hall up to minimum standards and make better use of the hall, garden and upstairs in Church House to support our outreach and ministry programmes (including ABC2, youth and families work).
All this was talked about by Susie Sanders at our Annual Church meeting in April. If you want to download a copy of her presentation - click here (This is around 6Mb) There was also a leaflet given out - you can read this online below, or download a copy
For more information about the buildings, including architects plans and exciting pictures of what it all might look like, see the Buildings Page
For more information about financial aspects then look at our finances and giving page. On this page you will find the leaflets that were handed out at the APCM and subsequently at the services on 25th April.
Finally to back this all up there is going to be teaching through sermons and homegroups - see the Teaching and Sermon pages for the latest information
It is going to be an exciting year at Christ Church!
TIME FOR GIVING
April 2010
Our Vision at ChristChurch is to know Christ better and to make Christ better known. We pursue this vision through:
o Prayer, teaching and the work of the Holy Spirit
o People to support our ministries (both paid and volunteers)
o Provision of Facilities and outreach Funding
The PCC has highlighted key needs for ChristChurch in 2010 including:
1) People: a need to develop our Family, Youth and Children’s work, by employing a Children’s and Families’ Minister and improving the support in the Youth work.
2) Buildings: a need to bring disabled access to the hall up to minimum standards and make better use of the hall, garden and upstairs in Church House to support our outreach and ministry programmes (including ABC2, youth and families work).
PEOPLE 2010: Regular support
When we employ people as a Church we have to be sure that we have sufficient regular and stable income. Our most urgent need right now is for workers for the Children, Family and Youth roles.
Our church is dependent on the generosity of its members who regularly give. At present 102 families and individuals (out of 175 on the electoral roll) give an average of about £110 per month (the actual amounts varying considerably). Leaving aside special appeals and legacies, the level of core income, i.e. planned giving, has not increased since 2007 and indeed has slightly declined.
This means that our income as a church only just covers our current expenditure. There is nothing to spare to expand our support for the children, family and youth groups. We are so blessed by the number of children and youth coming to the church.
This is a testament to God’s work and the commitment of many gifted people. It is a priority to continue in this direction which is so fruitful.
We recognised when setting this year's budget that we need to invest in developing the Children and Youth work at ChristChurch. We have planned and searched for a Children and Families’ Minister to provide more focus for this age group and we hope to be able to appoint someone this Summer. As outlined in the Financial Summary leaflet the additional cost of this post would contribute to a deficit of £20,000 for the budget unless we can increase our overall giving.
Since setting the budget, it has become increasingly clear that we need additional resource for our Youth Work which is flourishing under Luke's guidance. Many of you may not be aware that Luke is only part-time as he is also studying for a degree in Youth Ministry and his training comes to an end in 2011. We are currently also advertising for a Youth Intern, perhaps a gap year student or someone similarly looking to train, to support Luke in the short term while considering how we can further develop this work for 2011 onwards.
To provide for the additional salaries and the general costs of supporting a growing team and all the associated activities, we really need to increase our regular income by around £40,000 per annum. This requires a total increase in regular giving of over 20% p.a. starting now, and we need a minimum 3 year commitment. This equates to an average of around £20 a month extra, or £5 a week, from each family group/individual on our electoral roll (and if Gift Aid is used we can also recover tax on the giving).
In practice this will involve some giving more than this where they can, as others, on fixed incomes for instance, may only be able to afford less. This will be a challenge in difficult economic times but this is a crucial investment in the present and future life of the whole of our Church. We need to act now to build on what has already been achieved and to prevent the fruits being lost.
HUB BUILDINGS PROJECT 2010: One-off funding
Our buildingsserve some 700 people every week, acting as a hub in our community. For several years the PCC has been defining how we can use them more effectively - we now have a clear picture of what this will look like, and the time is right to move ahead in implementing our plans.
The big picture is a £2m vision which includes building a foyer linking the church and hall. In these difficult times this is a long term aim to be achieved over 10 years or more. However we can make important strides in stages. Each one, large or small, builds towards the whole vision.
Phase 1 of that plan has been completedwith the refurbishment of the toilets and kitchenin 2009. Now we need to progress in further stages, as the necessary funding is released.
Phase 2 is planned to start in July 2010 funds allowing.It will provide much needed disabled access to the hall, re-landscaping to the garden to provide more useable space for everyone and building a store for the benefit of Create and other hall users. This will cost around £55,000.
Phase 3 will transform the upstairs of church house into meeting rooms for daytime and evening groups, reducing our dependence upon the basement & Winchester rooms. The full plans will also cost around £50,000, and we can start as soon as funds are available. It is an urgent priority to get the space at least to a usable condition under applicable regulations so that the youth and other groups have a proper base.
We are exploring external funding opportunities and are delighted to report a £5,000 grant towards disabled access by Surrey CC. Further funding applications are under way. However, to raise the necessary £105,000 for both projects equates to a one-off gift of around £600 from each family unit – less if we succeed in our pending funding applications.
Hopefully some will be in a position to give much more generously than this, while others will be able to afford much less. We all recognize that this is a very challenging target in these difficult economic times but we must nonetheless make a determined start now, and prioritise carefully as the funds are raised.
We Need Your Help
We hope that you will step up to the challenge facing this, your and our, church. You can help by increasing your planned giving, or by starting planned giving. Similarly we need your help on the buildings project funding if these important plans are going to be realised.
Please do not sit back and leave it to others: every little really will help.
Over these next few weeks please set aside a regular time to pray in relation to finance. You may like to use these Bible verses:
Malachi 3:10; 1 Kings 17: 7-16; Ephesians 3:10; Psalm 133.
And see what Jesus had to say in: Matthew 7:19-24; Mark 10:17-23 and Luke 11:13-21.
Please also join us for:
- Sermon series & Home Groups study series on Giving from April 25th
- Auction of promises: 9th May – please send in your offers before then!
- THANKSGIVING DAY: Sunday 9th May 10am in the Church: Followed by Bring & Share lunch with Auction of Promises, all welcome
- Prayerpoint: Tuesday 11th: May 8 – 9 pm
- Vision Celebration Service: Pentecost Sunday 23rd May 6.30pm in Church
CONTACT POINTS: Please contact Rev Susie Sanders or the Parish Office on 01483 567072, the Churchwardens (Linda Warner (531530) and Dave Brown (534361)), Louise Kenyon (301927), Matt Gray (835449) or Ray Bell (569002) if you have any queries or wish to discuss any aspect.
PICK UP A LEAFLET on Parish Funding from the church or the website: http://www.christchurchguildford.com/index.php?page=finances-and-giving
or talk to David Peters on 01483 562217 about how to give tax efficiently, change the amount of money you give regularly or to start giving regularly.
Rev Susie Sanders 20 April 2010
