Donations
Regular giving can be set up through the Parish Giving Scheme. This is the best and most helpful way in which you can give financial support to your church’s ministry. To find out more about the Parish Giving Scheme please click this link. When you are ready to set up a new regular donation, you will need to have your bank account details, church name (Alconbury Weald Church) and PGS parish code (14A614153) to hand and choose one of the three following ways:
1. Online by clicking here.
2. Telephone application service on 0333 002 1271, Monday to Friday, 9am - 5pm (name: Alconbury Weald Church & code: 14A614153), click here for information.
3. Paper application ‘Gift Form’, message us and we will deliver to you.
One off donations can be made through our Just Giving fundraising page where we are raising funds directly for the Ely Diocesan Board of Finance as they are currently funding Alconbury Weald Church. To give, please click this Just Giving link.
Approach to Giving
Our approach to donations and fund raising as a church is based on one of the strands of our vision to ‘Be Loving’. It is the ‘Give Loving’ strand. Now money is only a part of what it means to ‘Give Loving’ as it is also about volunteering and helping out in whatever way we can within the church and outside in the community and the world. However, the donations tab is about giving money.
As a church we want to learn how to be generous in life. One way in which we are doing that is by suggesting a ‘Charity of the Week’ to support as well as inviting setting up regular giving to Alconbury Weald Church. These charities range from local, national and international, often with a link to the theme of the Sunday service. The Church of England encourages believers to try to adhere to the principle of tithing. This has Biblical origins and is about a way of life that responds to God’s love and generosity by giving one tenth (10%) of net income.
“Now when the Lord your God blesses you with a good harvest, the place of worship he chooses for his name to be honoured might be too far for you to bring the tithe. If so, you may sell the tithe portion of your crops and herds, put the money in a pouch, and go to the place the Lord your God has chosen." (Deuteronomy 14:24-25)
It is about giving back to God. The Church of England suggests that the tither gifts half of this to the church and half to good causes.
It is important to remember that we are learning to be generous and that this is a good principle but also very challenging in life. So always please prayerfully consider your giving with fair consideration to you own personal financial circumstances. Use the general principal of tithing as a guide, whether that be one tenth (10%), one twentieth (5%) or one hundredth (1%). No matter what your gift, you are giving to God, for his ministry through the church and through numerous charities serving the poor, needy and vulnerable. Thank you.
Ethical, Sustainable and Eco-friendly Offset Giving
This is not a Church of England practice, this is a Revd Rob idea. No he is not an expert and nor has he extensively researched the idea of Offset Giving, it is just born out of experience and reflection. It just feels right if done prayerfully and applying common sense to create a fair balance to ones giving (church, charity & offsetting).
Why do it?
Who doesn’t like a bargain? Who doesn’t like a good deal or the opportunity to pay less for something? However, if we ask questions, like ‘where was it made, who by and in what conditions?’ and ‘what was the environmental impact?’ we probably are a little uncomfortable with some of the answers we would get. Yet trying to Live Loving, buying with a more ethical, sustainable and eco-friendly approach costs more. You are often having to make the choice of paying more for something than a less friendly produced equivalent. Add on top the fact that you are trying to tithe and it all adds up to a bit of not wanting to know how things are produced because it is all too much.
For a few examples of companies at various stages of ethical, sustainable and eco-friendly journeys check out Levi, BAM, Fairtrade, B&C collection and Ethical Superstore. These are just a few examples and they are not necessarily 100% ethical, sustainable or eco friendly but they are at least doing something to be encouraged. So sometimes by making the choice to pay more for some of these companies’ products, we are indirectly addressing some of the root causes of unethical production, environmental damage and unfairness.
What is it?
So by applying a prayerful approach, along with a healthy dose of common sense and balance, sometimes we can take the choice to do Offset Giving. That is to pay more for an ethical or sustainable or eco-friendly product and offset the extra cost against our charitable giving.
All in all, we become more generous in life as we learn to Be Loving. This in turn involves us trying to Live Loving which means to prayerfully Give Loving and spend Loving.
“When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. Leave it for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 23:22)