GIVING TO ST PAULS wITH ST MARYS
We are so grateful to God for the contributions and commitment made by so many people to the life of the church in our parish. As we each commit our time, money, prayer and love, we are seeing our church and communities change - one life at a time. We are ordinary people led by an extraordinary God, whose love inspires us to welcome, to serve and to grow as we follow Jesus together.
We want to continue to serve the parish and grow in our faith as the Holy Spirit leads us. As you will appreciate, everything we do, and want to do, has a cost in terms of resources required; whether time, skills, effort or money. The day-to-day running of our church costs over £90K per year. You may not realise that we receive no income from the national church: we are entirely reliant on giving from our congregations (plus some funds from hiring out our buildings, and fees from weddings and funerals) to cover our day-to-day activities and clergy/staff costs.
If you would like to make a one-off donation please use the link below, which will take you to our ‘Give-a-little’ donation page.
https://givealittle.co/
Because our income depends almost entirely on voluntary donations, it can be hard for us to plan for the long-term when we do not know what our income will be. Planned financial giving by our members therefore plays an absolutely crucial role in helping us to make plans for the future.
Parish Giving
Scheme: increasing confidence, decreasing work
A key part of our strategy and foundation for the future is the Parish Giving Scheme (PGS), which was launched in 2018. It is a simple and easy way for anyone to support our on-going work financially. The PGS offers a secure way to give by regular Direct Debit, helping our church to receive money and Gift Aid payments in a timely manner, improving cash flow. The Parish Giving Scheme helps to increase our confidence in long-term planning and decrease our administrative burden.
What we are asking our members to do?
If you consider St. Paul’s with St. Mary’s to be your home church, we are encouraging you to switch or to start:
1. To switch to the PGS if you already give by Standing Order via your bank, or give via cash envelopes; or
2. To start making a regular financial contribution to our church if you do not already do so. When you do, you will discover the joy of giving and of the spiritual benefits it brings, on top of the resources it releases to the church.
What to do next?
Watch the video – A one-minute animated film which explains how the PGS works.
· Further information, as well as Frequently Asked Questions about the PGS visit the website: https://www.parishgiving.org.uk/donors/
There are three
easy and secure ways to donate through the Parish Giving Scheme. You can set up
your Direct Debit online, or fill in a physical paper Gift Form, or call the
PGS team and they will take you through it, step by step:
· Go to the PGS Website to register and set up your donation online https://www.parishgiving.org.uk/donors/find-your-parish/wooburn-st-paul-high-wycombe/
· Or call the PGS telephone service on 0333 002 1271, Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm;
· Or click here to download, print and fill-in the paper PGS Gift Form below:
We greatly value your contribution. Please prayerfully consider your response to this request. We need your help if we are going to continue to welcome, serve and grow, as we follow Jesus together, so please do commit yourself to giving something regularly. However small the amount you give may seem to you, it will be a significant contribution to the future of our church. By using the Parish Giving Scheme, and through your generous contributions, we can plan more confidently for the future with a regular, admin-efficient source of income to help support the ongoing mission and ministry of the churches in our parish.
If you would like to set up a standing order in favour of St. Paul's Wooburn, please click here to download a mandate and Gift Aid declaration.
A simple way to raise money for St. Paul’s.
If you buy goods or services online, there are more than 4,300 organisations, including those shown above, that will make a charitable donation on your behalf if you shop via easyfundraising.
To register please go to easyfundraising.co.uk and then search for St. Paul’s Wooburn Church or use the link below which will ensure St. Paul’s gets a bonus £5 when your easyfundraising contributions reach this amount.
https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/stpaulswooburnch/?invite=2GFNX3&referral-campaign=s2s
Just start your online shopping first at easyfundraising, then shop as normal. Retailers will then make a small donation to say “thank you”. We hope this will be a simple way to boost our finances without costing you anything.
Leaving a Legacy to St. Paul’s in your Will
Death, bereavement and legacies are difficult subjects for us to talk about in a church context because in doing so we create a risk of giving the impression that the church is financially greedy. The reality, however, is that we do need to find new ways of trying to fund the work that we do, and if you are considering your will then you have an opportunity for making provision for new life and new possibilities. Once you have made provision for your loved ones, you have the opportunity to make a lasting gift to God, by leaving a legacy to His church. A gift in your Will is a really valuable and lasting way you can continue to support the mission and ministry within our community. A gift can be an expression of your gratitude and thanksgiving towards God, can help keep our church alive, and help transform its future.
At St Paul’s with St. Mary’s, we welcome all gifts in wills, however large or small and we promise to use your gift to make a difference to our parish. Our PCC Legacy Policy is to use gifts to help fund significant development projects, whether buildings, equipment or staff.
Since needs change over the years, we would encourage you to leave a gift in your will for the general purposes of the parish rather than for a restricted purpose. By naming the beneficiary as the Parochial Church Council of St. Paul’s Wooburn, you will ensure that the PCC has responsibility for liaising with the Executor to administer the gift correctly, in accordance with your wishes.
We will discuss possible uses of your gift with your executors when the time comes, bearing in mind your known areas of interest in the church (e.g. music, buildings, children and youth, overseas mission or aid) and the church’s priorities at the time. You can be confident that your gift will be used to make a real difference to our future mission and ministry.
We acknowledge gifts in whatever way the donor and/or his/her executors feel most appropriate to. Equally, we can make sure that gifts remain anonymous if the donor prefers.
If you would like to talk to someone in confidence about the sorts of purposes your gift might fund, and how/if you would like your gift to be acknowledged, please contact our Churchwardens via the Parish Office on 01628 525512 or email stpaulswooburnparishoffice@gmail.com
If you would like to make a gift to our church in memoriam, please come and discuss this with us too. It can be a wonderful and appropriate way to remember a loved one.
Some Inspiring Examples of Past Legacies at St Paul’s
Some years ago Rosemary Hinton left a sum of money to St. Paul’s in her will. This was specifically left to help us maintain the building of St Paul’s. The original capital gift has to be kept and the PCC can spend the interest this earns. We cannot use this gift for any other purpose other than to maintain St Paul’s church. This is useful since it means we almost have a savings account that we use solely for that purpose and therefore we do not have to use the PCC’s day-to-day money to cover repairs and maintenance. As an example, in 2019, some of this money was used to upgrade the lighting in our Church.
We also have a legacy from Marjorie Healey. In 2018 money from this bequest was used to redecorate the Church Hall and upgrade the kitchen facilities giving us a much lighter, brighter space to hold church and community events. More recently we used this fund for the major work we had done on the Churchyard trees. This money was left to the PCC for ‘General Purposes’ which means we can consider using it for any church related expenditure. The PCC consider this to be our long term savings and will only use the Healey Bequest after much consideration and prayer.
Seeking professional advice
We strongly advise you to seek professional advice and to see a solicitor when making or revising your Will. Below are links to the Church of England website with a number of helpful pages related to writing your will. If you need advice finding a local Solicitor, please click here
You may wish to use a codicil to make an amendment to your existing Will. Click here to download our Codicil Template
You may wish to write a Letter of Wishes to sit alongside your Will. Click here to download our Letter of Wishes Template
A standard Will costs around £199 + VAT and the Solicitor should outline the cost upfront before you visit them. You may find our 'Preparing to visit your Solicitor’ document helpful.
Download our guidance on Preparing to visit your solicitor.