Welcome to our Blog
Many of these blogs have been adapted from papers written since the launch of Giving in Grace in 2005.
They include reflections from guest collaborators, guidance for getting the best out of The Programme and support for delivering a quality stewardship programme.
First Fruits: the Parish Giving Scheme
The Parish Giving Scheme is the best, most efficient and effective way to give to our local church and to help us grow and mature in generous giving.
Tell me more: requests for information
Some response forms will request information. Responding well is more than a simple transaction. Like a garden in spring, we need to be organised for growing generosity, for new life
Giving for Life: responding well
Our response forms are not a financial transaction. They are part of discipleship. We want to grow the giver, not just get the gift. We’re giving for life and responding well means being organised. It’s a personal touch and warm appreciation, underwritten by decent administration.
Finish the work: sending reminder letters
There’s a date to return response forms in the clergy ask letter. Once it has passed by a few days, a gentle reminder can be sent in the same spirit as the first ask letter. Encouraging folk to bring their piece of the jigsaw; is all.
Thank you letters
As response forms are returned the first task is to write a letter of thanks, witing a week. We are saying thank you for the gift. We are saying thank you for the giver.
The planning group
A small planning group is vital in creating the case statement, planning and delivering a programme and as champions and advocates of bible based stewardship ministry.
Finish the work: the response forms
Response forms are a simple but effective way to help us add our piece of the giving jigsaw. They help translate our intention into action and we can request additional information, where appropriate.
Code of Fundraising Practice
The Code of Fundraising Practice keeps our givers, and our churches safe from failures in conduct and practice. Read how it applies here
No need for me to write: the clergy letter
Our preaching speaks of what God has done in Jesus and invites a discipleship response. Our letters make a personal ask for a prayerful and careful review of giving and a personal response appropriate to circumstances.
Preparing your church brochure
The brochure is a multipurpose tool, the Swiss army knife of your programme literature. A single unifying document carrying several messages.
Who asks, receives: why asking matters
Surely if people see the need or the opportunity the money will there? Sadly, not so much. Stewardship means asking.
Giving thanks: it matters more than you think
Stewardship means asking - and thanking. We think we thank enough. Not so much. Our appreciation matters more than we think.
Truly life: why preaching matters
Preaching is the keystone of a stewardship programme, of all stewardship ministry. It creates a culture in which all other stewardship tasks can flourish.
Fruitful soil: why planned giving matters
Planned giving is more than how we give our gift. It is the heart’s intention to make giving a priority. Planned giving helps unlock committed giving and releases us into the joy of generous giving.
First to the Lord: giving in the bible
Generous giving is more than the transactional business paying our bills and balancing our budget. It goes beyond sustaining our churches and resourcing our ministry. Generous giving is transformational as we are caught up in God’s grace and reflect in generous discipleship the character of our generous God.
Lifting the bonnet: the planned giving profile
Creating an anonymous planned giving profile lifts the bonnet on church giving to give new insights into our congregational giving.
According to what we have: the Gift Array
Christian giving begins in the heart. As Paul writes to the church in Corinth, “the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have” (2 Corinthians 8:12). This powerful reminder affirms that generosity is not about equal amounts, but equal willingness. Yet many believers still ask: how does the heart know what to give?
Fruitful Soil: The value of planned giving
Planned giving is more than how we give our gift; it is the heart’s intention to make giving a priority. This paper explores the importance of planned giving – envelopes, standing orders, charitable accounts, payroll giving – as the key that helps unlock generous and committed giving.
Many parts, one body: about differentiation
Differentiation is all about the different experiences, motivations, practices in our congregations. We don’t do one size fits all. We let people’s relationship with their church shape our communications. This paper outlines differentiation in Giving in Grace.
The people rejoiced: why leadership matters
Generous giving can transform a church and its ministry. Such a transformation requires leaders, both clergy and lay, to exercise their leadership and to engage personally. This paper explores the place of leadership in stewardship in Scripture and its importance for today’s church.