On 26 June 2016 Nigel Bird gave the following report on the progress of our giving campaign:
Just over one month ago I was privileged to stand here and tell you all about our ‘Giving to Support St. Mary’s’ campaign. The launch was well attended and the response to the campaign has exceeded our hopes. 60 households – some individuals, some families – responded. 34 of these were already using one of the methods of planned giving and 26 are new to the planned giving scheme, and are going to give using one of the four methods (parish giving scheme, standing orders, weekly envelopes, or monthly envelopes).
During the launch I announced that as a parish we had hoped to increase our number of planned givers from 84 to 100. We have exceeded this, and now have 110 planned givers altogether, an increase of 26— this is significantly higher than the diocesan average so leaves us in a very good position.
We will not know the value of the new contributions until we start to receive them, and there will be a further update in due course. In the meantime we should all feel encouraged by the success of our ‘Giving to Support St. Mary’s’ campaign. When I spoke in May I referred to the huge swell of love that surrounds this church, your response to this campaign has only served to reinforce that.
May I take this opportunity to thank all of you for your contributions to St. Mary’s, both those who are members of the planned giving scheme, and those who feel unable to do so at this time but are showing their support in other ways. Anyone can start planned giving at any time, and of course if circumstances change commitments can be reduced or increased accordingly. We are truly blessed and I should like to invite you to join me in a prayer of thanks.
O bountiful God, we thank you for the gifts given freely to each one of us. We thank you for hearing our prayers as we faced up to the finances of this Parish, and we thank you for your generous response. Lord, keep us mindful that all things come from you, and it is of your own that we give you. Amen
