Feedback from Stewardship Sunday

In February and March of this year Matt and I shared a summary of the financial situation with the congregation. This culminated in a Sunday service dedicated to the theme of generosity, with our Bible reading being the passage on the widow's mite (from Mark 12).

We are grateful to all those who have carefully considered their response, and I want to share with you my initial analysis of the financial impact. This is particularly important at a time when we have recently lost a number of donors, either because they have died or moved away, and at the same time costs are continuing to rise for us all.

In summary:

There have been a number of one-off donations totalling about £8,000, which has been enough to clear the deficit from the first three months of 2026 (so getting us back on track).

There has been an overall increase in regular giving of about £1,500 per month (so approaching £2,000 after gift aid has been reclaimed), which clears about half (or a bit more) of the ongoing gap between income and expenditure.

This is good news. We are not there yet, but this helps enormously.

There were a few people who offered to think about fundraising initiatives to help supplement the regular giving. We believe this will be a valuable addition to our funding mix - and hopefully fun too. I'll be in touch to see if we can get a group together to lead on this.

With thanks to everyone who contributes in any way to the life and ministry of St Luke's.

Ian