The Review Brochure at the Annual Review

The brochure is an indispensable part of the communications strategy at an Annual Review. Sent to all church members, it is the unifying element of all the communication. (The advice given on the Drafting the Brochure page remains valid for Annual Review brochures.) The brochure should proclaim good news, the difference that prayerful giving can make in a community. It provides basic financial facts and includes a message of thanks, as well as an update on what progress has been made as a result of the response to Giving in Grace.

One of the hindrances to stewardship is the basic lack of awareness, amongst congregation members, about the financial facts of life. Misunderstandings around the wealth of the institutional church are only exceeded by misconceptions around where the money goes. The brochure should set out in clear and simple language, broken down into weekly amounts, the local church's pattern of income and expenditure. It should not come across as a tired document that simply changes the numbers to balance the books.

The brochure template includes two tables that offer practical advice on how to decide how much to give:

• The top table is a gift array that puts the principle of differentiation into practice. It provides a range of options, for people to give, that can be related to their income. Before using this table in a Review brochure, please read the guidance on the Review gift array page. It may be necessary to delete this table from the brochure.
• A second table offers guidance on giving as a proportion of weekly income. The Planning Group should adapt the sample figures in this table to reflect the social reality of the local community and also that of the congregation - the two are not always the same. The re-connection of income and lifestyle in proportionate giving is the most important move in growing generous givers in the Church. Retain this table if the gift array is retained. If the gift array is deleted, this table can still be retained as an encouragement to proportionate giving alongside the narrative guidance within the brochure. Alternatively it may be deleted along with the gift array, as appropriate.