Last evening the Church was full of people for a concert by the West Norfolk Jubilee Youth Orchestra and Concert Band. It was great ! Young people enjoying music and willing to try some exciting pieces of music from every generation including Sting ! I have asked the Orchestra back next year. If you missed it, you missed a real treat. The Church received £100 donation from the event which we will be giving to Steven Newing House in Fakenham helping young people who are in difficulty and need some support.
A lady this week told me off through a member of my staff for always asking people for money for the Church. Well actually as a Church we probably give away more than any Church in our Deanery and one of the highest in the Diocese. Last year over £30,000 was raised for charities other than the Church which included £21,000 from the 7th Christmas Tree Festival.
I hope that she is in a minority because we really do try to help and next Thursday we are donating all the proceeds from Thursday Market Day stalls and refreshments Fakenham Children’s Day Care Centre which has again been hit by vandalism even though we need £10,000 for urgent repairs to the Church.
May be I am a little touchy about this point. But we just try to help where we can and like HM The Queen, often our generosity is not noticed because we want to give quietly.
Any advice would be helpful?
Adrian Bell
April 14th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
I think the perception is often different to what is actually happening behind scenes, especially when it comes to the money churches give to charity each year.
I have to admit though, I myself have often wondered where the money goes, particularly amongst churches that don’t list their accounts as publically as others. I lived in Southampton some years back and my local church only ever seemed to take money but never give. That was merely an impression because several years later I met someone who had been a part of the church since childhood and told me about all the charitable work they do - a huge amount of money was given to charity each year. Indeed, they even had a ‘charity of the month’ where they would take a second collection - but while this was going on, the perceptions were, for those who didn’t attend that church (people like me), all I ever saw was them taking but never giving.
I suppose there has to be a fine line between ’spin’ and PR driven giving and the more quieter approach of some of the more famous people in our society.
May I make one last comment regarding aid and donations: Simon Cowel’s public display on the Oprah Winfrey in the US when he broadcasted to the world that he was paying off the family’s mortgate to allow them to support their child who was suffering from a dibilitating disease… why on earth did he need to do that publically? Was this another publicity stunt designed to take away that ‘Mr Nasty’ exterior he seems to have been labelled with by both the UK and US media?
As the bible calls us to pray privately, so too must our charitable work be done without trumpets and fanfare’s - perhaps the doubting individual who posed the question mentioned above is someone who pays little attention to what goes on in the community, especially what the church does.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
If you never asked, you would probably receive very little.
Carry on asking. You know the causes are good. Your team is 100% behind you. That in itself is an endorsement that what the Church is doing is good.
This lady may have been feeling insecure and lonely. Often at times like that one feels the urge to ‘pick holes’ even when one knows there is no justification.
I’m quite certain she is in the minority. It seems a cheek to say ” don’t worry about it” but I’m saying it anyway!