Offering our times and gifts

All the time we need our members and friends to ‘get involved’, in all sorts of ways. Here are examples of the areas in which we would welcome offers of help:

WORSHIP

Welcomer's

Altar Servers

Readers and Intercessors

Help with refreshments

ADMINISTRATION

Secretarial and admin support

PUBLICITY

Graphic design skills

‘Scallop Shell’ writers, editors. assemblers and distributors

MAINTENANCE

Regular cleaning on rota

Occasional maintenance jobs

Churchyard gardening

Flowers for decoration

COMMUNITY

Involvements with local organizations and charities

Local support for national charities

Volunteering for helping agencies locally

Help with organizing church/community social events

PASTORAL WORK

Caring for neighbours

Visiting

What are your particular skills? Contact Canon Colin Gough to discuss these and other possibilities (581100)

Offering our Money for God’s work

All that we have comes from God and part of our Christian commitment must be to return a portion of it in support for the Church’s work locally and nationally. The Church of England invites its members to work towards giving 5% of our incomes for this purpose (and hopes that a further 5% will be offered to other charities etc you want to support) . Because of ‘Gift Aid’, if you are a tax payer, your gift can be enhanced by a further 25% through the church being able to reclaim the tax you have paid on what you give. What St James’ needs is to know what income it can expect and to be receiving it regularly through the year. Please will you ‘share responsibility’?

Friends of St James’ Church

A company of ‘Friends’ has been formed to provide extra financial support for ongoing maintenance and repair work that the church will require in years to come. This will be of special interest to those who have Shilbottle links but perhaps don’t live here anymore. You can have individual or joint membership on an annual or lifetime basis.

The Open Church Project

Major repair work to the Church tower will take place. This will be accompanied by other work which will increase the flexibility of use for the building as our ministry develops, providing open space in the building for music, drama, displays and work with children, serviced with the provision of disabled toilet facilities and a servery for refreshments. You can read more about this in the Open Church section of the website

We invite donations to further this work

For further information about the Project and to make other offers of help, contact Christopher Lendrum: 575846