Giving is an important part of our Christian practice. Many Christians have a list of charities and good causes which they support on a regular basis, including their local church. The Anglican Giving Survey reports that the average weekly gift to church rose above inflation from £14.72 in 2020 to £19.83 in 2025.
Individual regular and one-off gifts are the main source of income for parish churches. These donations not only pay for insurance and utility bills, churchyard and fabric maintenance, and providing ministry, they enable the building to be a place of sanctuary, prayer, Christian worship, and living history, a valuable and cherished community hub where all are welcome. Here is a sample poster that tells visitors and congregations alike about the role the church plays and why it is important to give to the church: Sample giving poster | Hereford Diocese. Your diocesan Giving Adviser can help you to customise the image and text on this poster to suit your own church context.
There are so many important reasons to give to your church:
Jesus talked frequently about money, wealth and possessions, reminding us of how we best use what God has given us, and through both Old and New Testaments there are more verses about this than anything else except love.
Regular, engaging and Biblical preaching on all aspects of Christian giving and generosity puts giving at the centre of what we mean when we say “we follow Jesus Christ".
Teaching and preaching are the foundations of any church, and this needs to be the starting point in your actions to encourage Christian giving. There are lots of resources online to support this; here are some of our favourites:
- Stewardship for Sundays - Preaching notes on the theme of ‘giving’, for the Revised Common Lectionary.
- Growing Generous Church - from the Diocese of Leicester.
- Parish Resources
- Giving in Grace
How does your church share information about its life and work, and how does it listen to its members and those in the wider community too?
When it comes to matters of giving and money, questions such as “Where does my gift go?” and “What difference does my giving make?" are important to answer. Making direct connections between giving and the life and work of your local church helps to explain the real difference regular, planned and tax-efficient giving makes to the life of every one of our churches. Of course, there are so many ways to do this: print, digital, video, website, social media and non-verbal communication, such as the welcome someone feels when they visit your church or join you for a service or social/fundraising event. All these things could make a difference to giving to your church.
For further advice and tools on how to explain that giving is what enables your core mission, visit:
- Parish Resources: Parish Funding Programme
- Giving in Grace
- Diocesan Resources for Mission Action Planning
Parish Offer is the way in which all congregations, through their Parochial Church Councils (PCCs) contribute to a Common Fund for the provision of frontline ministry and mission across the 400-plus worshipping communities and 78 Church of England schools in Hereford Diocese.
Parish Offer enables local ministry and outreach to be provided regardless of wealth, and gives each parish the opportunity to model the generous discipleship that we commend to each Christian. You can find out more about Parish Offer on our finance pages: Parish Offer | Hereford Diocese.
Needless to say, our churches and worshipping communities could not do all that they do without your generosity. Thank you!
There are many opportunities to thank people for the many different ways that they give. To give thanks is at the heart of our worship as Christians; ‘Eucharist’ literally translates as ‘thanksgiving.’
Thanking people regularly within acts of worship, each year at the APCM gathering, through church and community social media pages, websites and magazines all makes a huge difference. Best of all, thank people personally; face to face; visiting all your church volunteers and givers each year can be both a rewarding and humbling experience (and it isn’t only the vicar who can visit other people!). Here are some resources to help you get started.
You’ll find a link to a template letter at this webpage. Adapt if for your own use, adding your church name, contact details and some of your best stories and photographs!
For information regarding UK GDPR, and the implications for local churches, please click here: Data Protection: Parishes and GDPR | Parish Resources.
Generosity Week is an opportunity to hold a festival of giving that engages your community. There is no official week of the year when all churches celebrate Generosity Week, so your church can organise this whenever it works for you. Dates for Generosity Week usually cover two Sundays to give churches double the opportunity to explore generosity when they meet on a Sunday – one to consider with gratitude God’s generosity to us and the other to work out prayerfully our response to that generosity.
Many churches choose to run a Generosity Week to coincide with their Harvest Festival, but if that doesn't work for you, don't let it put you off. We are called to be generous 365 days a year, so run it whenever suits you!
- Visit the Church of England's Genersoity Week page to find out more and download lots of helpful resources: Generosity Week | The Church of England.
Additional Resources
The Church of England's website has a huge assortment of resources to explore which support generous giving: Building a Generous Church | The Church of England.