Our churches are amazing places of faith, hope and love – a Christian presence in every community. While our buildings have remained closed, we have seen wonderful stories of creativity and generosity, as our churches seek to respond and serve our communities in new ways. We have set up a Community Hub for Ratby and Groby, continue our worship online, help phone those we know most at risk of loneliness and isolation and many other things besides. It is our joy to reach out in love to help and support our communities.

The church, like so many places, is suffering financially in the absence of regular services, weddings and baptisms and fees for taking funeral services have been waived for a period too. This is having a major impact on our income, as you might imagine, while the costs have not gone down significantly. In response to this challenging time, a number of people have asked about how they can make their donation when they usually give on the plate or even make an additional donation, on top of their regular giving to their church. There are several ways to do this. If you regularly give via cash or envelopes, you could put this aside each week and be ready to bring it to church when we can all meet again. Alternatively, you can drop it round to me (Rev’d Ed, 23 Ferndale Drive, Ratby, LE6 0LH), writing that it is a donation to Ratby Church on the envelope. If you need me to I can also collect from you in a socially distanced way – just let me know!  For those both locally or further afield who would like to support us you can also write a cheque payable to ‘St Philip and St James Church, Ratby’ and send to me. Alternatively you could join Parish Giving Scheme (PGS), which enables you to set up a direct debit to support us – just ask me and I can arrange for a pack about this to be delivered to you. This can also now also be done by phone directly with PGS by calling them on 0333 002 1271 Mon-Fri 9-5. You can also make payments by direct bank transfer and again, do contact me and I will give you our church bank details to do this.

We know that many people are struggling economically as a result of Covid-19, but we are also aware that others are better off as their outgoings have reduced. Whatever your situation, we are so grateful for the generosity of everyone – every gift will make a difference to the life and mission of our church now and in times to come.

Thank you.

With continued prayers for everyone,

Rev’d Ed