for tomorrow St Cuthbert's Sterwardship Campaign 2001 Issue # 5

Letter from the Minister 

After months of preparation the Stewardship campaign is now upon us. As I mentioned in my sermon on Sunday 9th September, stewardship has become something of an obsession for me, getting as it does to the very heart of what it means to be a Christian and a church member. I trust that, before this campaign is over, you will be sharing this obsession with me.  

Already the campaign has generated a high level of commitment and enthusiasm among those involved, and I can only pray that this will rub off onto the rest of the congregation. 

To this end, over the next few weeks visitors will be calling on you in your homes with the express purpose of inviting you to the special services ion October and the the Sterwardship Festival. Do please welcome them into your homes - listen to what they have to share with you - and finally, may I encourage you to respond positively. The visit will not take long and a friendly, welcoming face makes things a lot easier for our visitors.  

St Cuthbert's needs you love and prayers and commitment, your time, talents, energies and money, Above all, St Cuthbert's needs you !! 

We look forward to welcoming you to St Cuthbert's in October. 

Tom Cuthell 

Financial Strategy of St Cuthbert's Church 

Due to the generosity of Members of the Congregation over many years, we are fortunate in having a quality building and facilities, together with a substantial fund of investments which are invested to provide income, both for the maintenance of our church fabric, and for the payment of salaries of our ministerial team.  

From time to time legacies which are received are used to provide "seed corn" finance to new initiatives, and particular examples are the investment in setting up of Club Culture and the Oasis Fund for the business community which is now self-financing due to the generosity of the business community. 

The expenses of operating the many activities of our church and maintaining the operation of our church are financed from offerings and donations through Gift Aid, Covenants and the freewill offering system. In addition, we have in the past had an Easter Offering and certain fund raising events in order to supplement that income to meet our expenditure. In the year 2000, the income from those sources amounted to approximately £105,000. The expenditure of operating our church and other activities, excluding the cost of our ministerial team, is budgeted at £110,000. In addition we contribute to the wider work of the Church through Mission and Aid at a rate of approximately £38,000 per annum. The total expenditure we need to raise from our normal giving this year, is at least £150,000. In other words an increase of around 50%. 

From time to time legacies assist us to meet operating deficits, but those cannot be relied on on an annual basis and it would be hoped that legacy income in the future could be used as finance for outreach initiatives, rather than meeting operating deficits. 

One of the objectives therefore of the Sterwardship campaign, will be to increase our normal giving by at least £50,000 per annum and to encourage members to support the outreach initiatives we wish to continue to develop. 

Separate information is being made available on how members can give through Gift Aid, thereby allowing the church to claim funds from the Government through repayment of tax. For those who feel able to contribute investments to the church, there are very attractive tax advantages to such individuals, whereby the gift of shares can be given to reduce a donor's tax liability in the year of the gift. Further information on these schemes is available from any member of the stewardship planning group. 

Ian Percy 

Treasurer