SS John and James, Bootle

St John & St James was built in 1910 to serve the rapidly growing population of Bootle, about three miles to the north of Liverpool city centre. Today the church, which has an evangelical tradition is situated in one of the most run-down urban communities in Liverpool. The area is designated for large scale housing market renewal. In practice this means there are now hundreds of boarded-up houses due for demolition. The church is served by the Vicar who is also the Archdeacon of Liverpool and there is also an experienced curate. There are a range of activities in the life of the church including a 5-11's kidzclub called Go4s (Go for God) attracting 50-60 children each week, Keep fit, Women's fellowship, Home Groups and a recently completed Youth Alpha course involving 25-30 young people.

The congregation of SS John & James meets for worship in the hall next to the church. The church felt that Giving in Grace provided an opportunity to focus on its mission to a community struggling to cope with major disruption as well as the usual marks of deprivation - high unemployment and low aspirations.

The immediate context of Giving in Grace is important. The church shares the experience of the local community because the church building is closed pending demolition. The church congregation are digging deep to raise funds for the new church, having raised over £6,000 for the new building in 2005. This figure is not included in the increase in planned giving shown below. In all £150,000 has been saved over 8 years for the new building, but this amount will not provide what is needed without major help from elsewhere. So until firm plans are on the table, the church is setting its priorities elsewhere. Children's work - partnering with local schools, and ministry to the over 55s have been the main targets, which were given a major boost during the highly successful Merseyfest event in summer 2005.

Once the PCC had agreed to engage with Giving in Grace the planning process was quite short. The planning group met during the summer of 2005 and the preaching series based on the Exodus narrative was ready to begin in September. The Exodus series was chosen because it was felt that the story based passages would be known to people and helpful. The planning group prepared differentiated letters which were sent out in late September, towards the end of the preaching series. In addition to the letters and brochure some detailed information was provided on the Sunday Notice sheet of current giving patterns, and examples of what additional people joining the envelope scheme, as well as other prayerful increases, might achieve.

The case statement prepared by the planning group naturally reflected the church's focus on children's ministry. The additional income in the gift array would free the church to support more project work. For example preparation for a Deanery Youth and Children's Mission planned for Lent 2006 is now well under way. It was also important that the church eased the financial situation around current running expenses. After all without that essential financial base there would be no church to run any kind of project or ministry in the community.

SS John & James is a parish where giving levels were already above average. So how did it work out? Nearly 80 letters were sent out altogether and about half responded while support from the PCC was unanimous. It was particularly pleasing to see a very positive response from new planned givers with fourteen people joining the planned giving scheme for the first time and there were also new additions to the Gift Aid scheme. The planned giving officer was understandably cautious and waited to see what actually happened to the giving of the church. The estimate is that the increase in planned giving amounts to approximately £146 per week additional income which translates into over £7,500 in the year. That makes for a percentage increase of nearly 41% on the planned giving of the church.