The Church of England’s National Giving Team was created to promote good financial stewardship in parishes and congregations across the country. This summer it initiated a Generosity Learning Hub. Their task was to provide resources for preaching and teaching on stewardship, aiming especially at:
- Ordinands studying at Theological Colleges
- Curates and those training them
- Clergy in their first post as vicar
- Lay Leaders and Treasurers in local churches
In view of our long-standing commitment to stewardship in St John’s, Raymond was asked to provide a video course for the hub called Stewardship in the Local Church. (Huge thanks to Andy who went to great trouble to provide high-quality accompanying graphics.)
The hub is now live. We were delighted to see that three churches appear on the home page of the new website as examples of best practice. Each church leader provides a three-part course covering different aspects of giving. The churches are:
- York Minster
- St Martin in the Fields in Trafalgar Square
- St John’s Haydon Wick, Swindon
It is fairly unusual to see those three names listed together in the same paragraph!
When Raymond was at college the concept of a Renewal of Giving was never mentioned. Hopefully we will see a new generation of church leaders learning about stewardship before they begin their ministry.
After all this, it was particularly encouraging to hear James’ latest financial report at the FF&G sub-team on Monday. Our overall giving as a church remains remarkably robust, even after
an 18 month pandemic. We benefitted once again from some really generous individual donations earlier in the year.
Thank you so much for your unfailing constancy in these demanding days.