When did you last review your giving? Regular donations are important to our churches. The Church of England offers a Christian presence in every community. Together we seek to make this Christian presence the heart of all our cities, towns, and villages; by our wonderful buildings; by worshipping together; by serving our communities and by sharing our faith and values. This valuable contribution to our community has a cost, of which 75% is met by personal donations. For our churches to survive and grow, we rely on regular donations so that we can plan confidently for the future. The PGS is a national scheme which the Diocese pays for - so there are no additional running costs to our churches. The main beneficiary of this scheme is our churches. Through your generous commitment, we can be assured of a regular, tax-efficient source of income which has the capacity to increase with the cost of living yet involves virtually no administration (a real bonus for our Treasurers). Gift Aid is automatically collected and paid straight back to our church, each month (another huge bonus for our Treasurers). The Scheme is easy to sign up for. If you presently give to St John’s or St Anne's by standing order, it's simply a case of cancelling that and starting a new direct debit through this scheme. You are given an option to automatically increase your donation by inflation every year. Your direct debit is taken on the 1st of the month. You indicate if you wish to Gift Aid your donation & the scheme does the rest. St John’s or St Anne’s receives all donations in one aggregate amount soon after the 1st of the month and receives one Gift Aid recovery payment each month via the scheme. This benefits our churches, giving a regular, sustained income including regular Gift Aid. It greatly eases the admin for our Treasurers. Please join the scheme if you can. You can sign up for the scheme by one of 3 methods---online banking is not essential. 1) By phone 2) Online 3) Completing and posting the form that is attached to the Governance section. Please speak to the Church Warden or Treasurer at your respective church. Please consider this opportunity to help our churches and be part of this scheme.
FFF and Reminisce will take a break for the summer and resume in September. These activities continue….. · Coffee and Conversation – every Tuesday 10.30am – 11.45am · Songs of Praise with Gil – Tuesday 22nd July and Tuesday 26th August –12noon -2pm · Pop in for Prayer – every Wednesday 10.30am – 11am · Essence – Wednesdays 2nd July and Wednesday 6th August – 7.30pm – 9pm · Saturday Café – every Saturday 12noon – 2pm
We shared our stories and reflected on Psalm 139 and how ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ we each are. Our summer evening ended with sparkling Elderflower water, strawberry shortcake and clotted cream. Next meeting Weds 6th August. Do join us
Gil led the singing, and all enjoyed a hot 2-course lunch. We meet on the third Tuesday of the month at The Refectory, at 12noon. All are welcome.
