Friends,
Welcome to the latest finance blog. Our goal in these updates is to keep us focused on our three key values on finance:
- Transparency
- Accountability
- Generosity
The aim of values, is that over time, and through consistent expression through real action, these values become our default culture. We are getting there in terms of our church culture and hope that you are seeing a similar culture develop in the handling of your personal finances.
In the spirit of transparency and accountability, here are some figures for the first 9 months of 2021:
2021 Update
|
Jan to Sept – Budget |
Jan to Sept – Actual |
|
|
Income |
£862,684 |
£824,626 |
|
Expenditure |
£902,779 |
£807,081 |
| Surplus/Deficit |
– £40,095 |
£17,545 |
As you can see our income has been lower than we predicted by just under 5%. However, we have also managed to keep our costs below budget. Hence, at this point in the year, we have a slight surplus overall against a budgeted deficit. Thank you for continuing to be generous in your giving. We recognise that all of us are working out our personal finances in an uncertain world. It is so helpful to remember the promises of God in this season. God is faithful and is our provider. It is from this foundation of faithfulness and provision that we are encouraged to keep being generous and keep our financial giving at the heart of our worship.
The 80/10/10 Rule
I don’t know who has had the most impact on your life. I am aware that sometimes the people who have had the most impact are not those you would most expect. I have been hugely blessed in my Christian life. My own family went through a tough time during my teenage years. However, it was during those years that God grabbed hold of me and planted me in a fantastic local church. I found myself surrounded by a new family and a key member of that family was a lady called Margaret. Margaret was part of the finance team, though we wouldn’t have used that language at the time. I remember Margaret sitting me down when I got my first job at 18. She had heard on the grapevine that I had just started work and so she shared with me the 80/10/10 rule. It was probably the best piece of financial advice I have ever received (alongside the “cash is king” rule). It was good advice because it had the key characteristics of good advice – it is simple to understand and it works! So what is it I hear you cry!
- Live off 80% of your income
- Save 10% of your income
- Give away 10% of your income
Throughout my life I have tried to follow this rule – though I have not always been able to save 10%. As a family we have not treated it as a law or as something to make us feel guilty – it has simply been a wonderful guide to enable us to honour God and others with our finances.
I would love to encourage you to consider this principle and to work towards it. Of course, if you are currently needing 99.9% of your income to get by it would be too big a step to make. But experience tells me that this would be the minority of us. Can I be as bold as to challenge you to talk with the person or people who you are accountable to on your finances and look at this principle together?
Newground Sunday
As part of our desire to be generous as a church we give away at least 10% of our income each year. Back in May we had a special offering for Wycliffe Bible Translators and I am delighted to tell you that in the end we gave £40,000 to Wycliffe to play a part in their vision to make the Old Testament available to the flame people of West Africa.
On Sunday 7th November we will be taking part in Newground Sunday. On that Sunday we will be hearing from Dave Holden and the team about some of the work we are involved with in the UK, Europe and further afield. As part of that Sunday there will be an opportunity for us to give as individuals to the work of Newground. In preparation for that Sunday why not check out some of the work we are involved in by taking a look at the Newground website New Ground Churches