the stewardship magazine | issue 32
M A I HERE k
ls ma a u d i v i Ind
ce
fferen i d a g in
PLUS: Re-positioning the property ladder What’s a Gospel Patron and do I need one?
transforming generosity
Attention Chaeris:ties and Church
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About us We are Stewardship, a charity that effectively releases resources to support individuals, charities and organisations worldwide. Our mission is to enable you to live and give generously, advancing God’s Kingdom. We believe that generosity is transformational, for the giver and for the receiver. Our work inspires and supports a generous resourcing community, with transformational results. We are delighted to partner with you in your journey of generosity.
Editorial
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t first I didn’t want to change my editorial to reflect upon the terrible events in Paris. Or Mali. Or California. Not because the events don’t deserve our attention, and not because the people affected don’t need our prayer. But because I still struggle when a digital clock reads 9:11. It’s irrational, I know, but for me the pain of that day is just as vivid now as the sky was blue that morning. Reflecting upon what happened in Paris is an acknowledgement of the power that these events have to fundamentally change us. But perhaps a fundamental change is exactly what is in order. Believers in Jesus understand the colossal power of love and forgiveness. Time and time again that power has changed the most toxic of cultures, softened the hardest hearts and torn down the most daunting strongholds. Surely God has the power to turn all this around? It’s not uncommon to hear Christians in the West sounding doubtful about it. They lament the perceived loss of relevance in our culture, the genocide of our brothers and sisters in the birthplace of Christianity and acts of terror on our own continent. In Matthew 5 Jesus tells us quite clearly to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Praying for suicide bombers is hard, and as for loving and forgiving them... ‘Don’t look for big things’, Mother Theresa once said, ‘just do small things with great love.’
Contact us 1 Lamb’s Passage, London EC1Y 8AB 020 8502 5600 enquiries@stewardship.org.uk stewardship.org.uk You can contact the editor by emailing editor@stewardship.org.uk Editor: Craig Borlase Design: adeptdesign.co.uk Stewardship is the operating name of Stewardship Services (UKET) Limited, a registered charity in England and Wales no. 234714 and a company limited by guarantee no. 90305
The people you will read about in this issue of Share understand what it takes to choose the hard instead of the easy. They know how to put love, prayer and forgiveness into action. They know about small things done with great love. I, for one, have a lot to learn from them. Michael O’Neill, CEO Stewardship
Like what you read? Use your Stewardship account to lend your support 3
News in brief Waste not, want not At their wedding last summer, one couple decided to serve only waste food. Bride Katherine writes and blogs for Tearfund while groom Paul runs the Christian International Peace Service (CHIPS). Working with Dalston-based Save the Date Café and The Real Junk Food Project in Leeds, the couple served a delicious wedding feast including wild mushroom goulash, sweet and sour pomegranate rice, flans and Hunter’s chicken. “It was really important that everything was ethical because we really wanted to show who we are,” they explained. “As Christians both working for Christian charities, our faith means that we want to ensure that what we buy and how we spend our money has a positive impact on the world.”
More trustees needed During Trustees Week 2015 the Charity Commission called on more people from diverse backgrounds to volunteer as trustees, as well as for charities to do more to recruit them. It is estimated that almost 940,000 voluntary trustee positions oversee over 164,000 registered charities in England and Wales. To coincide with this appeal, Stewardship launched a brand new Trustee Training course; a short, 2 hour evening session designed to give new or beleaguered trustees a quick induction into what good and effective trusteeship looks like, backed up with expert guidance and strong biblical teaching.
The feedback (and demand for places) was overwhelming – so much so we’ve already added additional dates throughout 2016. stewardship.org.uk/events
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“A very good event.” said one attendee. “It was informative and relevant to my trustee duties. I left feeling very encouraged.”
Features 6 UK’s 2 #GivingTuesday prompts surge in donations nd
More than 1,400 UK charities and businesses took part in #GivingTuesday, which ran for the second time on 1st December 2015. Stewardship is proud to be a founding partner of this new movement to celebrate grassroots giving. Visa Europe said more than £6,250 was donated every minute on Visa cards in the UK and the number of donations was up 35% on the year before. Kim Roberts, Giving Tuesday’s UK campaign manager said, “We have a great tradition of being one of the world’s most generous countries and, particularly at this time of year, there is real appetite to give something back.” givingtuesday.org.uk
Re-positioning the property ladder: Hope into Action
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Here I am: Individuals making a difference
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How to find a Gospel Patron
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Legal and financial
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Consultancy helpline
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40acts update
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Ed Walker Executive Director, Hope into Action
REPOSITIONING T E PROPERTY LADDER How one charity is offering property investors a unique return on investment The causes of homelessness are complicated, yet scripture is clear on our response. Brutally clear, in some cases: “Share your food with hungry people. Provide homeless people with a place to stay� [Isaiah 58:7, NIRV]. While many Christians struggle to go beyond the purchase of The Big Issue, Ed Walker, Executive Director of award-winning charity Hope into Action, has a plan to help. 6
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“What do we Christians do with our savings and investments? Stocks and shares or a high interest account are fine, but you’re sharing your money with the rich. How can we share our wealth with the poor?” Hope into Action partner with local churches to offer homes to the most vulnerable in society. Ed explains how it works: “Investors buy a house. They lease it to us and we place homeless and vulnerable men or women there. We run the scheme in partnership with the church which pledges to pray, encourage and support the tenants. We give a small financial return to the house owner and at the end of five years, we return the house.” It’s a model that works, as one investor explains: “I had some inheritance money in a savings account that was earning me very little interest (in fact, in real terms, it was losing me money). I had been praying for a while about how I could use it. Then this opportunity came along and I used my money to buy a house. I have made a sound investment that will help my family in the medium-term, but until the time I need 8
the money again, I can use it to support some people in real need. It has caused me enormous joy to realise I can make a sound investment whilst sharing my money with the needy in the same breath.”
Christians have enough wealth to buy one house for every homeless person in this country. Ed is passionate about giving practical help to those in most need. “It’s as simple as this. We say that Christians have enough wealth to buy one house for every homeless person in this country.” This belief is backed up by Hope into Action’s key text, Acts 4:32-34: “The disciples shared everything they had…[so that] there was no needy person amongst them.”
Having started in 2010, the charity now has 34 homes UK-wide, two of which are being used to house refugees. In Peterborough alone, there are 14 homes, each supported by a church. Hope into Action turned to Stewardship when they needed help with their charity formation. “We knew Stewardship were a safe pair of hands and with their help, we set ourselves up as a charity with the minimum of fuss and hassle,” says Ed. “We completed one form and then they took care of the rest. Their experience of working with Christian charities and churches really paid off for us.” The relationship has continued as many of Hope into Action’s supporters use the Giving Account for their gifts and donations, which helps the charity keep track of their finances. The fruits of this ministry are tangible. One person who has benefited is Bev, who lives in a Hope into Action house. “I escaped an abusive relationship, but fell in with the
I’d probably be on the streets, or in a filthy drug den. It doesn’t bear thinking about. Bev - Hope into Action beneficiary
wrong crowd and started taking drugs. I was sleeping in a drug den and felt empty, like I was nothing.” Bev ended up in prison, but that’s when her life turned around. “I was put in touch with Hope into Action. When I was released, they gave me a place to call home and the partner church helped me furnish it. “The support I’ve received from Hope into Action has been a lifesaver. They’re like a safe harbour in a storm and I honestly don’t know where I would be now without their help. I’d probably be on the streets, or in a filthy drug den. It doesn’t bear thinking about.” hopeintoaction.org.uk
Hope into Action 20116179 9
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HERE I AM:
INDIVIDUALS MAKING A DIFFERENCE
“Jesus... he is like our food. He is our blood. He’s everything in my life now.”
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he words belong to a man who has seen first-hand the power of ISIS to destroy communities and cast fear’s long shadow across the land. While the suffering he has witnessed is unique, his response echoes that of courageous Christians through the ages. From Moses to Mother Teresa, the Apostle Paul to the faith-driven politicians who brought down slavery, God works powerfully through individuals who are prepared to stand against the crowd and risk everything for Him. At Stewardship we’re privileged to support thousands of Christians who continue to make a difference in the communities around them today. Their backgrounds are as diverse as the needs they are called to meet, but together they too echo that same spirit that has been found in generous Christians across the years. In the following pages you’ll find a handful of stories of people whose ministry we support. We share them with a clear purpose in mind: to encourage and inspire us all to find out how else each and every one of us can make a difference where we are today. 11
IT D E R N E E L L CO e ersever to p on g n i n r Lea ositi p p o h throug
It was when she was just 13 that Colleen knew she was being called to missionary work. Eleven years later in 1964, having trained at Bible college, Colleen left New Zealand and sailed to India. “I had no idea what the Lord was going to lead me to. No idea I’d stay in India for so long. And even after six years when I came home on furlough, I thought I might not go back; the first years had been so difficult to learn the language and start a work. But the Lord’s calling was so strong that I could not wait to return.”
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t takes time to grow to the size of Christian Missions Charitable Trust (CMCT). With a staff of over 450, serving as many as 3,000 people daily in Chennai, India, the charity was registered way back in 1979. Yet time itself is not enough, and the CMCT story cannot be told without mentioning its founder, Colleen Redit.
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It was that sense of God leading her that inspired Colleen to keep going in those early years, in spite of the many difficulties she faced. “When I first went to India the missionaries were very different to how we are today. They were not friendly towards the Indians, not so free with them, and I felt God called me to be one with them – I was
influenced by the life of Amy Carmichael who wrote a beautiful book about the need to be one with them, to love them. I was criticised for being one with them, but I have found it to be a tremendous blessing. It’s what He has called me to do.”
Having been exposed in her twenties to the shocking levels of poverty of those living in slums, she was given a clear understanding of the work that the Lord was calling her to – a calling that continues to inspire her fifty-one years after she first began working.
Those early opponents were not the only ones she has encountered. “Over the years I have been through many difficult times and challenges. I’ve faced a lot of criticism with the things I felt God called me to.” Some of the strongest opposition came when she felt led by God to buy land for the ministry. “I had no money but I felt it was His will. I went through a lot of criticism and discouragement, but He answered me in a miraculous way and provided a wonderful building in the city that stands as a monument to the glory of God.
“It’s only in the grace of the Lord as He has led me over these years, but from my experience there is nothing more wonderful than to give your life to uplift another, to see a person grow up with a future. If you give yourself to help another you’re going to be much more blessed in your own life.”
“As a single woman it’s not been easy to keep going, but the Lord has become precious to me. Spending time in His presence, He’s led me. I learned to always keep my eyes on Him, not listen to what people say. I went as a faith missionary, looking to Him to provide my needs and the needs of whatever He led me into. It has been a tremendous experience to see how He has led me as I have leant on Him; when I know what I am going to do and have gone in faith, I have seen His hand of provision and faithfulness in so many ways.”
That blessing is easily defined, though it has not resulted in a comfortable bank balance or international recognition. Instead, it looks like this: “Many HIV/AIDS patients are attending CMCT clinics, and we have over 2,500 children on our sponsorship programme; it opens up the whole family to hear the gospel. We also have a large ministry with leprosy patients and in the slums, and every morning at 9:30 our staff come and meet in our chapel for worship and Bible study. Through these activities we get to see lives transformed for the glory of God.” Blessings don’t get better than being an eyewitness to God’s work in action. christianmissionsindia.org
For Colleen, the presence of continued opposition has driven her closer to Jesus.
If you give yourself to help another you’re going to be much more blessed in your own life.
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S R E E G NDY
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to d o G g Trustin hrough come t
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ndy Geers was struggling with prayer. Not that he wasn’t doing it, you understand. It was just getting increasingly complicated to keep track of all the people he wanted to pray for.
“I was loosely following the model that Don Carson set out in A Call to Spiritual Reformation – the book that got me started. I had one list of people I knew I wanted to pray for every day, a list of family members and a list of friends, and I picked from each of those lists each time. It was a bit of a nightmare keeping track of where I’d got to and I knew that it was not connected with the specific prayer requests they’d asked for.” He knew that he was not alone. “Prayer is one of those things we want to do and many wish we prayed more, but for whatever reason we don’t always find it easy.” 14
And then the iPad came out. Andy was inspired. “I saw it as a brilliant format to bring together the prayer lists I was doing manually, but also adding information about the people I was praying for, from a missionary’s prayer letter or my church notice sheet.” At the time Andy was enrolled at London’s Cornhill Bible College, and with a week’s break at Easter approaching, he decided to forgo the usual binge TV viewing and take a chance on building a prayer app instead. By the end of the break, PrayerMate was up and running. A keen programmer since he was five, PrayerMate was Andy’s first attempt at an app. “At first there were not many users – just me and a few friends who downloaded it out of kindness and pity. But it slowly grew, and a blogger (Tim Challies) blogged about it and that exposed it to a wider audience. I slowly worked on it.
“The very first version of PrayerMate had hardly any features, and it was really basic. But it had just enough about it to be useful. That was key to making it happen. It’s so important to tackle something small and manageable, not just take on something that is unrealistic. “The turning point was the summer of 2013. I was able to release a feature I’d been dreaming of for a while – the ability to subscribe to prayer feeds, with updates appearing automatically on your phone. London City Mission proposed the idea of sponsoring it for a few months, but thought it would be great if the app could be free. “I thought it was quite a good idea. I’d not really made any money out of it and it was never really about the money. It was £1.99 at the start, but ultimately it was about helping people to pray rather than becoming rich from it. After I decided to give it away the usage exploded. Last month it had its 100,000th download.”
has increased more than Andy’s workload. “It feels like a much bigger responsibility to bear knowing that tens of thousands are relying on it, rather than just a few hundred. I feel that responsibility every day. But I just have to trust God that the key thing is that those people are praying. If PrayerMate helps them then great, but if it’s not working for them then as long as they’re still getting on and praying it’s not the end of the world.” Even without the fact that financial reward has been taken out of the equation, Andy is clear about the personal benefits he’s experienced through PrayerMate. “It has borne out the reality that it’s more blessed to give than receive. I’ve been hugely blessed to hear how PrayerMate has helped people, and that never would have happened if I’d kept it to myself or was just trying to make money rather than be a blessing to others.” All it took was for Andy to trust God, again and again. app.prayermate.net
That decision to make the app free for all users forced Andy to face an uncomfortable truth: “I had big fears about it. I just do it in my spare time and so I was scared of the success, nervous of phone calls in the middle of the night if a server crashed or something.” When PrayerMate was small, it was manageable, and the hundred-fold increase
It’s so important to tackle something small and manageable, not just take on something that is unrealistic. 15
Y A D A S MELIS risk g n i c a Embr
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losed borders, dispersed families and desperate people fleeing persecution and death; these images have defined so much of the news of late. In the face of such a huge issue, it’s easy to wonder what difference one person can make. Melissa Day, an Ipswich businesswoman, decided to do more than simply wonder. It started in 2008, when Melissa chose to find out for herself what life was like for immigrants and asylum seekers. Through a friend at an immigration removal centre, she met an asylum seeker from Zimbabwe who was fleeing Mugabe’s regime. Speaking to Nyasha, a primary school teacher, opened Melissa’s eyes to the loss of dignity suffered by many asylum seekers. “Nyasha is a welleducated, cultured man. English is not his second language, but his fifth. He asked me ‘Can you imagine what it feels like to have to ask for loo roll?’ That touched me deeply.”
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Meeting Nyasha led Melissa to run an event at her church, St John’s URC, to highlight the plight of refugees and asylum seekers, and eventually brought her into contact with City of Sanctuary. “City of Sanctuary is committed to building up a culture of welcome and hospitality. They have a network of local groups across the UK and Ireland. I knew at once that I wanted to set up a local group in Ipswich.” Several local MPs lent their support to the project and in 2012, Melissa’s hard work paid off when Ipswich Borough Council passed a resolution of support towards Ipswich becoming a Town of Sanctuary. “After one of my talks at church, one of the congregation told me that she had a spare room she’d be happy to offer. I set her up with a young lady from Zimbabwe. As it turned out, this was the catalyst for a real explosion of welcome.”
While the guest was incredibly thankful for the room, it was a two-way process as Melissa found out. “The host loved her guest’s company and missed her hugely when she had gone.” The key difference with a room in a private house is the personal touch. “The host wanted to make her guest feel happy and comfortable above all else. She had huge compassion for the trauma she’d been through. “With the recent Syrian refugee crisis prevalent in the news, I was invited onto BBC Radio Suffolk to talk about Ipswich Town of Sanctuary. After the interview, I had 15 couples contact me. They all wanted to open their homes to sanctuary seekers facing homelessness and destitution.” In early September, Melissa received an email from a generous donor offering to pay the rent on a furnished flat for a refugee family facing homelessness and destitution. “I didn’t know what to say. My heart was so touched – it was amazing!” In the meantime, Melissa spoke to the elders at her church and explained that learning English was vital for refugees in the town. “They agreed to let me start a conversation group on Tuesdays, although they weren’t really convinced anyone would come. On that first Tuesday, as the elders came round the corner to open up, they saw a queue of 15 young people outside.
The group’s gone from strength to strength and the attendees have now formed a five-a-side football team.” Melissa has no doubt that one person can make a difference. Her vision has led to Ipswich becoming a Town of Sanctuary and many refugees being made to feel welcome and safe. It has been at a cost, though. “The local paper ran an interview with me when I started the project. I received hate mail, death threats and my house and car were targeted.” Of late, however, there has been a shift. “Every night I pray to God to use me as a channel for His work. I felt bold enough last year to post some Ipswich Town of Sanctuary information on my Facebook page and was amazed at the positive response. There is a spiritual shift in our culture. There is light in the darkness.” cityofsanctuary.org
There is a spiritual shift in our culture. There is light in the darkness. 17
D A Z R SHE MAN SULE
s like k o o l dom e e r f t Wha
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Everything changed with the second Iraq war, and a year after Saddam’s death, Sherzad had left the army and taken a job with a mobile phone company. But he was far from safe, as he discovered one day.
“I don’t know if I was awake or sleeping, but I saw somebody come into the room I was in. He looked at me and spoke in Arabic, saying ‘Ana Isa…’ It means ‘I am Jesus’. He said to me ‘Go home’. I asked him ‘Are you serious?’ But he said it again, ‘Go home’. And I looked and I saw the guards starting to fight each other. One of them shot the other and so I just opened the door, walked out to the street and found a taxi to take me back home.”
“I was in North Baghdad when Al-Qaeda put me in the back of a car and kidnapped me. Every two hours they beat me with the butt of an AK-47. They knew my name, they knew that I was working as a civil engineer and they wanted money.”
Arriving back at home, Sherzad saw his wife and began to try to explain what had happened to him. “I know,” she interrupted. “I saw Jesus in my dreams. He told me he had saved you and that you would be coming home soon.”
For four days the beatings continued, breaking his nose, smashing his kneecaps and damaging his kidneys. And then something amazing happened.
After such a dramatic rescue, both Sherzad and his wife were quick to convert to Christianity, and were soon telling others about all that had happened to them. Not
herzad Suleman met Saddam Hussein once. Not every member of the Iraqi army was granted access, but Sherzad was special. He was, as he freely admits, a ‘bad guy’, and bad guys were encouraged by the regime.
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everyone believed them – Sherzad’s bosses just laughed when he told them – but a little scepticism and ridicule was no match for the new found faith. “Jesus turned me from a bad guy into a good guy,” Sherzad says. “And now, I’m not afraid of anything. Because Jesus saved me one time, he’s going to save me a second time.” This confidence has inspired Sherzad to join Samaritan’s Purse in their work among refugees in his native Kurdistan, in northern Iraq. There among the families displaced by ISIS and the civil war in Syria, Sherzad is one of many individuals who have found that their faith has led them to serve. Even though they are just ten miles away from ISIS, Sherzad and others are working to help rebuild the lives of widows and orphans, refugees and others who have escaped ISIS’s barbarism. When Sherzad declares “Jesus, he is here”, he speaks with authority. As well as being rescued so dramatically, he has seen countless examples of God in action among the refugees. Little wonder he smiles as he says, “He will save our life. He’s... he is like our food. He is our blood. He’s everything in my life now.”
Jesus turned me from a bad guy into a good guy. And now, I’m not afraid of anything.
As Rev Douglas Bazi – a colleague in Erbil, Iraq – puts it, “The world thinks that ISIS took everything from us. They took our houses, but we are one home. They took our churches, but we are now one church. No one can touch our joy. No one can touch our faith. We belong to Jesus.” Who among us has even come close to experiencing the extremes of danger, fear and loss that our persecuted Christian brothers and sisters have encountered? And yet we serve the same Jesus. That same joy and that same faith found in Sherzad and Douglas is on offer to us as well. And the same is true of Colleen’s perseverance, Andy’s trust and Melissa’s willingness to allow her compassion to put at risk her social standing. God is at work through all of these people and there’s nothing to stop the same happening through us. All we have to do is say ‘yes’. www.samaritans-purse.org.uk
Samaritan’s Purse 20023034 19
John Rinehart – author, speaker and longtime student of the history of generous Christians – introduces the idea of Gospel Patrons. They’re the unseen, generous benefactors who have been supporting mission over the centuries, and the subject of John’s fascinating book. If you think you might need one – or have the potential to be one – read on…
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rom time to time people ask me how to find a Gospel Patron. Those who ask generally need to raise money for their ministry, so it feels important and urgent to them. But I think finding a Gospel Patron is a lot like finding a spouse. You can’t write ‘Find a Wife’ on your to-do list and then cross it off by 5pm. It’s just not that simple. But people get married every day and I continue to meet Gospel Patrons who are eager to partner with men and women who are willing to believe God for great things. So what can you do to get yourself ready for partnering with a Gospel Patron? First, remember that gospel patronage is about partnership. It’s about two being better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil (Ecclesiastes 4:9). There are two sides to a gospel patronage partnership. One person is the patron, the other is the proclaimer. One gives, the other goes. One supplies, the other speaks. One provides the means, the other provides the message. But both are partners in the work of the gospel. 22
That means if you’re looking for someone to fund your business start-up, then you’re looking for an investor, not a Gospel Patron. If you want someone to help pay for your hobbies, that’s a parent, not a patron. If all you want is a cheque, then you’re asking for charity, not a patronage partnership. There are patrons of the arts and of scientific research – even businesses call their customers patrons, but that’s not gospel patronage. A Gospel Patron is someone who resources and comes alongside others to help them proclaim the gospel. The three key elements are:
1. Joyful Giving ement 2. Personal Involv tion 3. Gospel Proclama
One provides the means, the other provides the message. But both are partners in the work of the gospel. 23
Gospel Patronage is about spreading the good news of who Jesus is, what He’s done, and what He’s coming back to do.
Gospel Patronage is about spreading the good news of who Jesus is, what He’s done, and what He’s coming back to do. Is that your mission? If not, you’re probably looking for a grant, a scholarship, or an investor, but not a Gospel Patron. Second, you should know I’ve never found a Gospel Patron. They’ve always found me. When God put it into my heart to research and write Gospel Patrons, I didn’t know how I was going to swing it financially. I just knew I had to do it. It burned within me. So I didn’t wait for a Gospel Patron to get started. I just went to work without a salary or any income for nine months. Thankfully my wife had a good job at the time, but it was scary, vulnerable, and at times humiliating. One night I even asked my wife, “Am I crazy?” 24
What I’ve learned from that is that when God invites you to launch something new, it’s going to feel uncomfortable for a while. But that’s not a reason to say no. Too often we wrongly assume if God is in it then everything will run smoothly and we’ll never be in need, uncomfortable, or have to sacrifice. But that’s not what we see in Scripture. God called Abraham to leave his homeland, Sarah to leave her doubts, Moses to leave his status, David to leave his safety, Gideon to leave his army, Isaiah to leave others’ approval, Daniel to leave his country, Ruth to leave her people, Nehemiah to leave his position, Mary to leave her plans, the disciples to leave their professions, Paul to leave his pride – and none of it was comfortable. But risk is right for the sake of loving others and obeying Jesus.
God wants to build our faith and the only way to build faith is to exercise it. You don’t get big muscles by simply praying for them; you have to go to the gym. And similarly, faith only grows by getting in God’s gymnasium with Him and being trained in obedience, trained to say ‘Yes’ to following Jesus even if He asks you to, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1) or “Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals or staff, for the labourer deserves his food” (Matthew 10:9-10). Jesus is the boss and He promises “all these things will be added to you”, but only after He commands us to, “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” So we begin with listening to Jesus and obeying Him, even when we can’t see the whole path and don’t have all the money.
ASK YOURSELF... What has God laid on your heart to do? Are you clear on your calling and what it is you are trying to accomplish? Based on the definition, would a Gospel Patron be the right fit for you? Or would some other funding model be better? What has been your normal posture towards risk/faith and what do you think God is inviting you to right now?
This article first appeared as a blog on johnwrinehart.com. Reproduced with permission.
ORDER YOUR COPY OF GOSPEL PATRONS AT gospelpatronage.com
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Legal & financial Kevin Russell explores what’s new and noteworthy
Visit stewardship.org.uk/share32 for more information, plus full links
Time to celebrate? The year 2015 marked the 25th anniversary of Gift Aid. The first gifts became eligible on 1st October 1990, following the passing of the Finance Act 1990, but limited to single gifts of £600 or more.
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Today, gifts of any amount can qualify provided certain conditions are met, chiefly that the donor must have paid sufficient income, or capital gains tax, to ‘cover’ the tax that the charity reclaims on the donation. This anniversary year is an excellent time to consider if every gift we make to charity is tax effective? By using a Stewardship giving account for all of your charitable giving, you can be organised and easily keep track of everything. We send you a statement at the end of each tax year showing all of the gifts made, and the tax that we have reclaimed on them.
Impact of personal allowances The tax personal allowance has gone up substantially from £6,475 to £10,600 over the last 5 years with further increases promised – great news for the lower paid and for pensioners. But it does mean that some gift aid donors may no longer pay enough income tax to ‘cover’ all of the tax the charity reclaims on their gifts. Affected donors should review their own situation. If you find that you can no longer gift aid your donations, it may be that your church or the charities that you support can still benefit fully using the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) by making your gifts £20 or less at a time, and in cash. Our two Briefing Papers on the GASDS describe the scheme in more detail. Our Briefing Note BN2015/3 (Guide for Treasurers on the 2015 Budgets) gives a worked example and practical tips.
Higher and additional rate taxpayers If you pay tax at the higher or additional rate of income tax, are you personally claiming the extra repayment that you are entitled to on your donations? And have you considered gifting that repayment back to charity? Our Briefing Paper explains the rules around the higher and additional rate relief. And remember, if you use a Stewardship account for all of your giving, our year end statement will provide you with all you need in one convenient place, to make your claim to HMRC.
Kevin Russell, Technical Director
Claiming has been made much easier for employees that pay PAYE tax. Rather than going to the bother of completing a tax return, you can simply tell HMRC about your donations, and ask them to adjust your PAYE code so that the higher rate relief is given automatically through your pay packet. Complete a form P2 online, or call your PAYE tax office to claim this relief. However, if you are sent a tax return, you will still need to include your charitable gifts.
Dealing with annual bonuses, legacies and other windfalls Some employers pay annual bonuses as part of their employees’ pay packages. If that applies to you, you may want to tithe your bonus but wonder how best to do this tax effectively. Understandably, you may not want to give a large and sudden Gift Aid gift to a single charity, or you may not have a ready list of causes that you want to support before the end of the tax year. One solution is to consider the Stewardship Gold account. By tithing a bonus, legacy or windfall into your account, you will secure the tax relief immediately and can then decide where you would like gifts from your account to go at your leisure. In the meantime, your account will benefit from investment income on the balance in the account.
A final word The Gift Aid scheme is a great way of giving tax effectively. But it is not the only way. Our Briefing Paper ‘It’s not what you give, it’s the way that you give it’ sets out other tax reliefs for charitable giving – for example, when making a gift of shares or property.
@KevnRussell
For the very latest news, subscribe to our free Sharpen email bulletin (formerly known as Legal Eagle) by visiting our website stewardship.org.uk You can also check our Blog pages for technical updates on law, accounting and tax stewardship.org.uk/blog 27
Ask Steve… Professional advice for churches and charities Stephen Mathews heads up the Stewardship consultancy helpline team, a specialist service offering expert knowledge to churches and charities.
Visit stewardship.org.uk/blog for links to all the briefing papers mentioned Q: I am about to submit my church’s quarterly Gift Aid claim. What responsibility do I have to make sure that all the donors included in the claim have paid enough tax to cover the Gift Aid? Legally, none whatsoever. Pastorally is perhaps another matter. Legally, once you have a valid Gift Aid declaration in place, the agreed model wording for use on new declarations makes it abundantly clear responsibility rests with the donor stating: “I am a UK taxpayer and understand that if I pay less Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax than the amount of Gift Aid claimed on all my donations in that tax year it is my responsibility to pay any difference”. If insufficient tax has been paid, it is the responsibility of the donor, not the receiving charity, to make good the difference.
TAX PAID
Pastorally, however, the very idea of HMRC requesting additional tax payments from the financially less well-off members of your congregation is an unpleasant one and to be avoided if possible. Recent changes in the taxation of income from savings, combined with other tax changes, are taking more people out of paying income tax altogether. For most savers, new rules and increased ISA allowances will mean that no (or very little) income tax will be payable on income from savings. For those donor groups where this makes up a significant part of their total income, this might mean that donors who were until recently paying sufficient Income Tax to cover Gift Aid are no longer doing so. Our recent briefing note “The Government Budgets: Implications for Church Treasurers” explains these taxation trends in more detail and offers some practical advice to treasurers.
GIFT AID
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Q: The staff team at our church are having difficulties and don’t appear to be effective. Should we as trustees intervene, or keep our distance?
Q: As a new charity, and to keep the costs down, we treat our two full-time workers as being self-employed rather than as employees. Is this OK?
Good trusteeship is a combination of working to ensure that the church is effective in its main purposes but at the same time that it is well governed with risks properly understood. These two goals are not at odds with each other.
If someone is in reality ‘employed’ by a charity then they must be treated as such. Whether the charity can afford the implications doesn’t change that.
1 Corinthians 12 paints the vivid picture of the body of Christ; different parts, different roles and functions, but all necessary and all to be honoured. Trustees are an important part of that body as they seek to exercise their leadership and administrative gifts to make the church all that Jesus wants it to be. There are many aspects that go to make a “good” church and good trustees are definitely part of the mix. Trustees should not simply keep their distance when things are not working well. Trustees have a responsibility to act and in this case to work with the staff team to address the issues and to seek ways of making the team more effective, but need to be aware of the potential Human Resources pit falls. Our briefing paper “Raising the Bar” explores some of the issues of performance management. It would not be wise for trustees to ride roughshod over the rest of the church, but they do have the responsibility to help the church to be as effective as it can be. Good trusteeship is more than a legal title and far more than a “rubber stamping” role. Good trusteeship is playing an active part in the body of Christ. For more on the value of trustees, see our blog “A Great Church Needs Great Trustees”.
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Whether someone must be treated as an employee is not simply a question of the label people give it or the job they do. Also it is much more than a national insurance and tax issue: there is a range of employment obligations for employers, and employees enjoy many employment rights including being paid the national minimum wage. The term “employment” is not one that is defined in legislation. HMRC does provide some guidance but this is only from a tax perspective. Often employers have to build up a picture of the arrangements and so determine the employment status of a worker. In building up that picture, you should consider the nature of the job; the terms and conditions under which the worker has been engaged and any agreement between the charity and the worker; whether control over work resides with the organisation or with the individual; and whether the individual can substitute another person to undertake the task. Extensive guidance can be found on the HMRC website under ESM0500. So long as the relationship between this charity and its workers is properly understood, the employment status of its workers will flow from there. A simple desire to keep the costs down is never a wise reason for not doing things properly.
great ways for treasurers to stay on top:
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Grab a FREE place on our quarterly conference calls for church treasurers, for important news, updates and advice from around the sector. To book, visit: stewardship.org.uk/events
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Subscribe to Stewardship’s consultancy helpline service – visit stewardship.org.uk/consultancy. Subscriptions for churches and charities start from as little as £50 per year.
Stephen Mathews, Head of Accountancy and Consultancy Services. If you have a question you would like addressed in a future edition of Share, please write to us at editor@stewardship.org.uk
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NOW IN ITS SIXTH YEAR, 40ACTS HAS BECOME AN ANNUAL EXPLORATION OF GENEROSITY FOR SO MANY DURING LENT. WHAT NEXT? 30
Food fulfils our most basic of needs. Yet there is something even more fundamental at work when we eat together and welcome others. Sitting at a table to eat in Jesus’ time was not just a sign of friendship, but of acceptance into a totally new, forgiven, restored relationship. Today, sharing food still signifies the same underlying principle: generosity in relationships.
For the last few years 40acts has become a tradition in our family home . We always put a peg line around our lounge and collect things that reflect our acts of generosity… Looking forward to next year!
That’s why we’ve chosen ‘Jesus at our table’ as the central theme for this year’s 40acts. Together we’ll explore the ways that sharing food and hospitality can help express our generosity.
That is the beauty of the good news about Jesus. He reverses our expectations and gives birth to new truths. God, in his great generosity, seeks to sit at our, and at everyone’s, table.
I found it very moving at times, sometimes the act spoke right into my life … I used to go straight to my email inbox on my phone every morning… It was like a fresh start every day.
Year after year, individuals, families, schools, youth groups and churches have made 40acts part of their daily routine during Lent. Together they spread a wave of generosity that spreads the message of God’s generosity through a series of simple acts.
Jesus ate with sinners and church leaders. He ate with thousands and he ate with a single child. He invited everyone in and accepted all invitations. Gathering around a common table to share a meal was a sign of friendship, peace, acceptance and unconditional love – in other words, community. The Gospel message reverberates with this theme and 40acts 2016 aims to echo it. But why Jesus at our table and not at his? Are we suggesting that we’re worthy enough to eat with him? Of course we aren’t… and that is exactly the point: during his ministry, Jesus walked the earth without a physical home. Other people’s homes became his as he spent time with Mary and Martha, with his friend Lazarus, with Peter, with young couples at weddings, with tax collectors and Pharisees and fallen people. He invited himself to many tables. And he still does today.
The whole thing made us think a lot more about what we do, how we spend our time and resources and how we can practically show Jesus to people we meet and in things we do. This was our first year doing the 40acts challenges and already we can't wait till next year’s. This year you can expect the same great standard of challenges and reflections, along with brand new study materials, family resources and sermon outlines – all free to download from 40acts.org.uk. As ever you can tackle the challenges on your own or with a group, and each one will offer graded suggestions to allow you to dip your toe in or fully immerse yourself, depending on how far you want to go. A word of warning though – 40acts can seriously unlock your capacity for generosity and there’s no going back.
Join the movement today: 40acts.org.uk 31
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