The Grace of Giving - Roger writes
Christian Aid Week always falls in the middle of May. It gives us the opportunity to think about the needs of others around our world and an opportunity to give. Christian Aid has worked tirelessly over many years to encourage development, to meet urgent needs and to aid our understanding of the needs of others. Please do give generously, this month, to the work of Christian Aid.
The amount we can give to others is not only to be measured in terms of the size of the cheque we write, nor in terms of the depth of our pockets. We are called by God to be generous in our self-giving - our time, our energy, our talents, our money. Our faith is intended to govern our lifestyle - how we work, what we do, how we spend our spare time, the time we give to our families and to others. Everything falls within the scope of our discipleship. St. Paul calls us to a level of self-giving that matches that of Christ Jesus. "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus," says Paul, "who did not consider equality with God as something to be grasped, ... taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness ... he humbled himself and became obedient to death."
We are called to live self-sacrificial lives as followers of Jesus. Life is not, however, intended to be a joyless struggle of self-negation. Jesus often talks of the joy that he intends should be in us and Paul talks of joy and cheerfulness in giving. Paul and other writers of the books which make up our New Testaments are convinced that lives lived for others will not be dour and difficult. They believe that we will find a great joy in giving of ourselves, our time, our energy, our talents and our money.
Many in our congregations give freely and sacrificially of their time and energy to God's work in our Parish. Others offer their particular talents as musicians, secretaries, treasurers, readers, leaders of intercessions, sidespeople and welcomers, wardens, church council members, gift aid secretaries, vergers, etc. Others who have full-time or part-time jobs give of their monetary resources as much if not more than they give of their time and talents.
All organisations that are working for the good of others are facing a hard time during this year. The credit crunch has had a significant effect on charity income. Last year's income for the Diocese of Manchester was significantly lower than in 2007.
I want to challenge you to think again about what you are able to give to the life of our Parish. I have recently been very encouraged to hear of new volunteers to help with our youthwork. Recently people have volunteered to become governors in our church schools. In giving of ourselves in these ways we grow and our community and our churches become stronger. The amount we each give through the plate or standing order to the Parish needs to grow. Some will have seen their income drop dramatically in this last 6 months, either through unemployment or really large drops in interest rates. Others of us will need to meet the shortfall in what they are able to give. Please give some thought this month, not only to Christian Aid and to other important charitable causes, but also to the needs of this Parish and its ministry here in Ashton-under-Lyne.
We are part of a growing Diocese. Our ministry in Ashton-under-Lyne is part of a broader ministry in the Diocese and in the City of Manchester. Our giving does make a difference - just look at some of these figures:
• 33,000 people worship in our churches every week (51,400 at Christmas).
• We take over 5,000 baptisms, 2,500 weddings and 6,000 funerals a year.
• We are involved with the education of over 52,000 children. We run nearly 200 church schools (there are 5 church schools in our Parish with around 1,000 children attending daily).
• We have over 300 paid clergy and a further 400 people taking services.
• We have over 340 places of worship.
Our giving makes a difference locally and throughout our Diocese. Let's give thanks for all who give of their time, energy and talents, for all who give financially. Let's reconsider our own levels of giving and pray that together we will meet the challenges ahead.
Bishop Nigel has written to all church members - the letter should be available by the end of April
If you want to know more about ways of giving, please talk to the treasurer or gift aid secretary at your church.
Added: 1st May 2009 || Submitted by: Roger Farnworth.
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