One hundred churches across the Diocese of Leeds have now signed up for the Parish Giving Scheme (PGS), as it prepares for this year’s Diocesan Generosity Week at the end of September.
The parish of St Mary’s Horbury Junction registered for the PGS recently, joining 99 other churches in our diocese to do so.
The PGS helps regular givers donate safely to their church by direct debit either monthly, quarterly, or annually.
The PGS reduces the administration burden for treasurers and Gift Aid secretaries, gives regular and speedy payments and returns from Gift Aid and helps to tackle static giving by inflation-proofing regular giving, by linking it to the rate of inflation.
Mark Hunter, Treasurer at St Mary’s said: “After carrying out a financial review, St Mary’s felt that the time was right for a stewardship campaign.
“Joining the Parish Giving Scheme gives us a great opportunity to have conversations with the congregation about giving generally.
“We felt that one of the very positive benefits of the Parish Giving Scheme is the automatic index linking of donations (with the ability to easily opt out, of course).
“The PCC was very supportive of using the PGS for this reason and many of them commented on the fact that they themselves hadn’t reviewed their giving recently, which wouldn’t be an issue with index linking in place.
“Setting up the scheme has been very straightforward, with helpful resources to support the launch of the Parish Giving Scheme to the congregation, which in our case is in early October, alongside Harvest and Generosity Week.”
The Diocese of Leeds is also preparing for its Generosity Week, running from September 26 until October 3.
The week will look to invite churches to explore God’s generosity through eight days of service and worship materials, as well as celebrating the generosity that has helped through these difficult times, reflecting on God’s generosity, and exploring how we can grow generosity in churches.
To find out more, please click here.