Beyond 400

As part of the process of imagining futures for Baptists in this country, the BUGB futures group is inviting different contributors to add to a blog, Beyond 400.

It's well worth following - in the latest post our very own Carmel Murphy (Minister in training at Lydney Baptist Church) talks about risk:


http://www.beyond400.net/entry/5-risk

I'd  also advise everyone to read this entry from Chris Duffet - even though you might not get to the end of the comments by the end of your lunch hour:


http://www.beyond400.net/entry/4-baptists-who-love

Home Mission Giving News

On Tuesday this week WEBA tried to hold its AGM.

Unfortunately there weren't enough church representatives present to vote, and so we're going to stage a re-run at the final 3 in 1 Event at Clarence Park Baptist Church on Sunday 19th June.

I felt a little sorry for those who had given up their evening for a meeting which will have to happen again, but we went through the substance of the agenda anyway, and one really useful bit was Gordon Hindmarch's summary of where WEBA is in regard to Home Mission.


All Baptist Union churches are encouraged to give at least 5% of income to this fund so that mission can be enabled across the country.

Recently, WEBA has been one of the highest giving Regional Associations. This May WEBA churches gave £22,228, which we think is brilliant considering the financial climate and the uncertainty faced by so many. There's really only one explanation: you, our churches, trust God, and you really believe in the growth of his kingdom.

What's really interesting, which Gordon pointed out on Tuesday, is that the 2010 total for Home Mission Giving in WEBA (£258,742) was so very close to the total we received that year ( £ 257,431 ) in terms of grants for ministry, projects, special grants to church planters and chaplains, and to the Association itself. So, as your church gives to Home Mission, mission in this region moves forward. A big thank you is due to all of you who make and approve the decisions to give. If you want to find out more about giving to Home Mission, please contact Gordon Hindmarch via the WEBA office.

Home Mission Giving News

By now your church should have received a certificate to say thank you for giving to Home Mission during 2010. Please make sure it's on display somewhere! As we've now said many times, giving during 2010 was fantastic and we are extremely grateful for the faithfulness of our churches in difficult times.

Figures for giving in February 2011 have now been published. The good news is, we're still the highest giving association, with gifts for the month totalling £16,010. This is, however, short of the average of £20,000 per month we need in order to provide the support we have planned for. It's extremely helpful for us if churches give regularly by standing order throughout the year so that we can plan realistically - perhaps this is something your church could consider.

Home Mission Giving: Gordon puts up the flagpole

Regional Minister Gordon Hindmarch is very excited about our final total for giving to Home Mission in 2010. I can't resist copying his email to the office here:

Even without the one-off of £10,000 from Emmanuel Trowbridge WEBA churches would have achieved the Association's highest ever total at £258,738 (now confirmed by BUGB), which is £19950 (8.3%) more than the 2009 total figure.
This means December's giving was just over £31,000, which was our highest monthly figure in 2010..
Also our 2010 HM Giving/member was £37.85 (£32.47 in 2009) which makes us the highest givers among the 13 Associations in BUGB.
If we were feeling a bit triumphalistic, it might be worth investing in a flagpole for The Old Forge so we can hoist the Premiership Flag, which was previously held by the South West Baptist Association.

Take care
Gordon

Thank you again, WEBA churches. We can't get over your generous giving and hope we will be able to let you know more about what your money is doing in this region over the next year. A certificate thanking your church for its gifts will be on its way to your church secretary in February - make sure it goes up on the wall!

Your Giving - at an All Time High

We think that WEBA churches gave more to Home Mission up to the end of July 2010 than during the same period in any other year.

The year-to-date figure of £141,704 did include an unusual one-off gift, but even without that we would have topped our previous record of £131,336 at the end of July 2008.

What's really exciting isn't breaking records (or being, as we are at the moment, the second highest giving Association in the Baptist Union) It's not even about surviving the recession without losing what we have - the exciting thing is that our churches are taking mission seriously, supporting those churches who need a little extra help to follow their dream of connecting with their communities and being Christ among their neighbours.

Please pray for everyone who will have responsibility for using this money wisely, when there are still so many more dreams than grants available.

And if you're involved with budgeting for your church this year, please take the time to ask these questions:

• Is your church giving at least 5% of its income to Home Mission?
• Is your church giving regularly to help us with our planning?
• If you're in Pastoral Vacancy, could your church consider giving a month's stipend to Home Mission?