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April 2024 April 2024
The Benefit to Us
BISHOP’S LETTER
The Parish Giving Scheme is a 21st century solution to allow
At this time of year, we are beckoned outside effective and efficient Direct Debit to local parish churches.
after a long, cold and often wet winter. Spring
has sprung and all creation calls us to go Through your generous commitment, the Parish Giving
outside, to tend to our gardens and to admire Scheme will bring many benefits for our local churches
the new life around us.  The scheme is free for churches and givers to use.
The benefits to our health from time outside are
well known. Growing something from a small  Less cash donations are handled, so it’s safer for our volunteers and their time
seed to a flourishing plant or flower requires spent counting and banking cash donations is reduced.
care, skill and patience which not only brings us
satisfaction but also slows us down. Unlike life in  Income from giving is less prone to fluctuation when people are away from
the modern world, nothing in nature is instant or church for whatever reason - a steady income makes our budgeting and
immediate – it will not be rushed. planning so much easier.

In this Easter Season, our scriptures also draw us  Gift Aid is claimed through the scheme so a great deal of time and work is
outside. On Easter morning, Mary Magdalene saved.
finds herself in a garden, outside of Jesus’s
tomb, so much so that she mistakes the resurrected Christ for the gardener.
There is a vast passage of time between Adam and Eve’s banishment from the
Garden of Eden to that moment when, in a garden, Mary realises that it is the The Benefit to You
risen Christ who calls her by name. Yet now in that garden, Mary and all who
throughout the ages proclaim, ‘I have seen the Lord’ are restored to God’s  Your giving happens electronically, avoiding the need for cash or cheques.
eternal presence.
 You can choose to give monthly, quarterly, or annual - whatever suits.
Maybe then there is something in the Easter Season when the resurrected Christ is
‘made known’ to us that can help us as we – as the Church of today – seek to  You can alter the amount of your gift at any time.
make him known. Firstly, we need to go outside: to be active in our communities,
in our schools and in reaching out to all as we show them the love of God; the  The Parish Giving Scheme is a not for profit organization, so the full value of
God who – through Jesus – calls us by name. And secondly, all of this takes time. your donation is used to support our churches.
There can be an understandable anxiety about the often low numbers of people  The Direct Debit Scheme is backed by guarantee, so your money and
who come to church. Yet let us never forget that it took time for the good news
of Jesus Christ to spread through active discipleship – like growth in a garden, transactions are safe
nothing of this was immediate or instant – we need to persevere. As the  If you prefer, you can choose to remain anonymous
Declaration of Assent made by all who are being ordained or licenced to a new
appointment states, our faith is one that the church is called upon to ‘proclaim  Should you wish to opt to increase your gift each year, you can do this easily.
afresh to each generation.’
I pray that we can do this; go outside, take time to build relationships with all
around us, show to all the love, compassion and forgiveness of God and in doing Join the Parish Giving Scheme to support our churches today - ask
so Make Jesus Known afresh, to all generations. your church representative for a printed gift form

For Bere Regis - Glo Curtis - 472620 - gloria.curtis@btinternet.com
For Affpuddle - Richard Killer - 471202

Or go online: www.parishgiving.org.uk
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