First, and foremost, please don't ever feel obliged to make a gift when you visit us, whether in person or online. If you are in a service and an offering is collected for our work in our local community, don't ever feel that you need to contribute if you don't want to. That is OUR responsibility.
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We are fully reliant on donations and on our income from letting out our rooms though, so we are of course always pleased to receive contributions.
Making a gift
Our members and regular visitors can contribute in a number of ways. Some donate a regular weekly or monthly amount through their bank. Some have joined our envelope scheme and you will notice some people putting a small envelope into the offering which may contain a cash or cheque donation. If you are a UK taxpayer donations made to us through your bank or the envelope scheme can be Gift Aided which increases the value of your gift.
In church we can accept donations by card or contactless payment. There are facilities at the back of church and in the lobby area to do this and if you qualify as a UK taxpayer you can also add Gift Aid.
Online we have a gifts portal which allows you to make a donation if you wish. Just click here to open that page. Or click that less-than-subtle big green button at the top of the page. We added that recently because the payment terminal in church, known as Dona, wasn't working very well and people wanted an alternative that was easier to find than navigating to this page.
At times when an offering is taken within a service in church you will see stewards walking through church with bags like this one, and anyone may place a donation inside it if they wish. Many church regulars contribute online or through their bank so plenty of people will let the collection pass by without putting anything in. You won't feel awkward if you do that.
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When everyone has had a chance to contribute if they want to, the bags are then brought forward so that the offering can be blessed. Our tradition is that those in the congregation who are able to do so comfortably stand up as this happens.
The offering represents more than just the gifts that have been given, as valuable as those are. It also represents the church community's recognition that ultimately everything we are and have comes from God and symbolises our commitment of our time, energy, resources and our individual gifts and talents to serve God.
There may from time to time be a retiring collection, which is an opportunity to place a donation into a plate as you leave church if you wish. On those occasions you will find a wooden plate beside the door of the church for this purpose.
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What happens to donations
Our Church Council receives and approves accounts regularly which record what we have received and how it has been applied. Those accounts are also presented to our annual church meeting, which is open to everyone and anyone can ask questions about them. We are also a registered charity (Charity number 1130630) and information about our finances is available online from the Charity Commission.
Special Collections
The regular giving covers all our usual expenses and also allows us to make a contribution to the expenses of the Circuit of churches to which we belong, Sutton Park.
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As well as this regular giving we will sometimes collect for special events and causes. These can be related to our church activities (big things like the refurbishment our fabulous old organ needs as well as small things like decorating the church with flowers at Easter or Harvest).
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More often though, these will relate to causes and concerns that touch our hearts. From time to time there will be a service on a special theme, perhaps related to a charity we are closely connected with like All We Can, MHA, Action for Children, Christian Aid, St Giles Hospice, Birmingham City Mission, and NSPCC. They may also be a response to a humanitarian disaster that is in the news or an immediate expression of support for the work of an organisation that has come to our attention.