A copy of the sermon given by Rev Beth Keith on Vision Sunday:
You never really know what you’re stepping into when you start a new job or in my case when you start at a new church. You may have heard about the reputation of a place, perhaps driven past, perhaps you have assumptions based on other bits of information you’ve picked up, or reports from people you trust. But you never really know until you start. And when you start in a new place, you see things that other people don’t necessarily see. Things which seem entirely normal to those who’ve been there for years, seem odd, or… interesting…or surprisingly wonderful.
In the last seven months, I can report, having all those feelings. What might seem entirely normal to you…Literally it was only on Wednesday that I found out that this is not actually pulpit. Who knows what it’s called? Yes, it’s an ambo. Apparently, everyone knows, well apart from me. I don’t think I had ever heard that word before, let alone known what it meant. But apart from strange words for pulpits, what else have I seen?
Well, I have seen kindness, and I have seen generosity and a warm open heartedness. Last week at the 8am and 9.15 I shared a bit about how I have been so encouraged in seeing how this type of ministry, this ministry of kindness, happens week after week, as members of the church just get on with supporting and visiting those who are lonely, or bereaved, or in hospital.
What else have I seen? Well, I have heard about lives turned around. Only this week, a church member shared with me how the commitment of the prayer ministry team to pray, and keep on praying, for her and her family over years, and years, had changed her life. She believed it had kept her going and brought her into a good place.
I have heard over and over again, in words, and through actions, the determination you have to live lives of value, with care, and integrity.
Lives based on Jesus’ teaching. I have heard of your commitment to live for justice and truth, to care for the creation, and ensure those most vulnerable are not left behind.
I have heard your commitment to follow Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. Your commitment to wait and hear, and to seek for where God is leading, to look for where God is at work and join in.
Earlier on in the week, I was looking over the readings for today and I read these words from Eph 1.15
I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.
And as I began to read, I had to stop, and I’ll be honest, I teared up a bit, because I wasn’t just reading verses from Paul about the church in Ephesians, I was reading words I could have written about you.
I had heard of your faith before I came here, but now I have seen it, your faith in Jesus and your love for all the saints, and I thank God for it. I thank God that your faith is not just kind and good and well meaning, but grounded in Christ, in who he was, and what he said, passed down to us in the words of scripture. Words that are well summarised in our other reading from Luke 4, when Jesus, before he began his ministry on earth, stood up in the synagogue and said.
The spirit of the Lord is upon me
Because he has anointed me
To bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To let the oppressed go free
To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.
Together we are all SAINTS
We are a church that believes we are all SAINTS. Called by God, saved by God, people of God. We may be different parts of a body, taking on different roles, bringing different gifts. But there are no levels in the people of God. No degrees in which you are more or less saints than the person you’re sat next to. No roles or positions which mark anyone out as more saintly than the next person. Who we are is based on what God has done in Christ, and we are all invited into that. And we are also all SAINTS whether we are in this building or outside, as much on Mondays, as on Sundays.
TOGETHER we are all saints
We are united and committed to be TOGETHER in our differences. This church has different styles of worshipping, perhaps there is one particular service you prefer. We worship in different ways, we see things and understand some things differently. But alongside that, I hear from you, a kindness and a generosity, that is more important than differences or disagreements that may arise.
Together we are ALL saints
In any church, in any situation, it is easy, and a normal human tendency, to see what is in front of you. To focus on the immediate context.
As the church we are called to something beyond our local community. We are called to look further than Ecclesall and connect with the church present in the communities across South Yorkshire, churches in our Diocese, churches across our country and churches around the world.
There is an ALL to being part of the church, being connected to ALL the SAINTS, beyond me and my friends, beyond me and my community, beyond me and my church.
This ministry, this connection, happens through the work of our Mission Support Group, but also through the different churches and charities you support – the foodbank, Archer Project, the on-going prayer support for our mission partners. And it happens in the ways we share our resources, in the Diocese and beyond. In the ways we share our time, our skills and our finances.
Who we are together, and what God has called us to here in Ecclesall, has shaped the vision and set the agenda of how we plan and manage our resources. Not that this is necessarily an easy or uncomplicated task, and not that we always get this right, but it is our aim and it is our objective.
This vision Sunday, we are not putting forward a new project or plan. Our vision has not changed. Instead we want to remember and remind ourselves what God has called us to and talk through how we stay on track. How we continue with the vision and call we have received and commit to the task we have been given. Today, I am going to focus particularly on a financial update. Talking through where we are, how we are spending our money and what we are planning going forward. At the end of the talk we will be giving out our Stewardship booklet. This contains more details and sets out the information I will be sharing with you today.
Per year it costs roughly half a million pounds to run All Saints as we do.
We spend that money in three areas.
We spend about 60% of that on our people. Which includes staff salaries and expenses.
We spend about 18% of our money on buildings and running services. This includes costs connected to our estates, building repairs and upkeep. It also includes the associated costs to run our services and activities, our administration and operational costs.
And we spend a significant proportion on of money on mission to the wider church, making up about 22%. This includes supporting other churches through the Diocese (through the common fund), supporting the mission partnership with St Gabriel’s and supporting our mission partners across the world through the work of the mission support group.
Sometimes when you give money, you hear where it goes, but if you don’t see first-hand what the money is used for, you don’t really know how much of a difference it makes. About ten years ago I used to be part of St John’s Park. It’s a small church on the other side of town, near Park Hill up behind the station. It’s a very different church to here and part of a very different parish. It’s one of the more deprived areas of Sheffield and a church which can’t afford to pay staff. Money that comes from richer churches, like All Saints, is used by the Diocese to support churches in poorer areas like St Johns. We were able to have a part time vicar because of the support provided by other churches. When your part of a congregation which is smaller and where there are less resources, in terms of finances and skills, having a vicar which is focused on the church and the parish makes a big difference to the church. So firstly, can I say thank you for the money you have given which supports churches like St Johns. And can I also say, it makes a big difference, it really does.
Almost all our incomes comes in through giving. Only 3% comes through grants and other income, the rest, the bulk comes through giving. Firstly, through our committed givers, who give regularly by standing order, or in planned giving with the envelopes into the offering plate. We also receive generous one-off gifts and some legacies. These larger gifts have built up our reserves which can be drawn on when need arises.
Over the last year new people have become regular givers and some regular givers have increased the amount they give. But this increase in giving by some has also been matched by others regular givers leaving, either through death or moving church. So, in the last two years our funding received through regular giving has actually fallen even though we had hoped it would increase.
This time last year, the PCC put forward a budget, expecting an increase in giving to cover the increasing costs. We hoped to increase our giving to £440K this year, but we expect it to be more like £415K. The stewardship appeal last year highlighted that even with the expected increased giving, we would still have needed to draw on £20K of our reserves to cover costs. However, given the fall in regular giving, and with some costs being greater than originally anticipated, we now expect to end the year with a significantly higher deficit at over £50k.
We are in the fortunate position, that we do have reserves to cover this. But this is only a temporary solution. We cannot keep on relying on our reserves to bail us out. Our unrestricted reserves currently stand at £345k. Following the guidance of the Charity Commission we need to retain £130K of reserves in case of emergency. If we continue as we are without making changes now, we would expect the deficit to grow in the next two years.
If that were the case, it would only take us 3 years before all our reserves are spent. Clearly, we cannot carry on in this way. So, we have some difficult decisions ahead.
Using some of our reserves to cover the short fall this year gives us time to plan and ensure this does not continue into the future. The PCC hopes to work with you, the church family, to return the church finances to a settled and year on year balanced financial position over the next two years. And we are looking at ways to increase our income and reduce our expenditure.
Now some of you may have questions as to why we have got into this position. The stewardship booklet sets out clearly the reasons why we are now in this position. It also outlines in more detail how money is being spent, the level of our reserves, further information on our current giving, and the draft budget the PCC has agreed for 2020. Please do come back to us with your questions and queries about this.
This morning the PCC are here, and happy to talk about this with you after the service, and helpfully they are wearing badges, so you should be able to spot them easily.
We believe in a God who provides. Time and time again this church has been blessed by God’s abundant provision. This has enabled us to be a blessing within the church and beyond. We are called to be God’s church here in Ecclesall, and as part of the wider church. God is faithful. He encourages us and challenges us to be faithful in response. We are a church which is generous with our time, gifts and resources, and we believe this is what we are called to be.
As we look at ways we can increase our income and reduce our expenditure, we are asking all members of the church family to consider their giving for 2020 as an important step as we plan for the future.
What can I give?
If all our members who currently give through our pledged regular giving scheme were able to give an £10 a month, we would be able to agree our budget for 2020 and begin to plan into the future.
If all current givers were able to give an £20 extra a month, we could dramatically reduce the amount of reserves which will be used to cover the deficit.
Please consider carefully if you are able to increase your giving.
And if you are a member of the church who does not currently give in a planned and regular way, please do consider signing up to this.
Any gift is much appreciated but pledged regular giving help us to plan more effectively.
How can I give?
You can give cash or cheques in the envelopes on the offering plate.
Or you can set up a direct payment from your bank. At the back of the stewardship booklet is a commitment form. Please do fill this in and bring it back to church next week, or the week after. We will be collecting commitment forms for the next four weeks.
If you know what you would like to give, please do start giving today.
In a month’s time, on Nov 3rd we are celebrating commitment Sunday. During the services we will be celebrating all the ways we give, the gifts of our skills, our time, our energy, and our financial resources. But you do not need to wait until then to return the form or set up a payment. In fact, please start when you have had time to pray and think about your response.
We do not want you to feel pushed into to giving but we do want you to have a clear picture about our financial picture. Over and over again, this church has seen God provide. And so, before we do anything else we want to pray. We’re going to give out the stewardship booklets now. And I’ll handover to Dan/Alistair who will be leading us in prayer for the church and our finances.
