Vision and Finance Update

It has been great to be able to speak about our three strategic priorities for 2023 in church over the last month. Each week we are prayerfully seeking to build wholehearted disciples of Jesus through all the activities of church, but we are giving particular attention to:

1. Training people for and sending people into fulltime ministry;

2. Embracing mission as the heartbeat of our work; and

3. Developing our CYF ministry to reach more young people with the gospel.

I have loved the way so many of you have asked questions about these priorities and are engaging with the work with passion and thankfulness. Hearing news of new life in Christ through our recent Christianity Explored course has warmed my heart and I hope yours too.

Of course, none of this could happen without your partnership - in prayer, in personal involvement and in financial giving. With this in mind I want to share some information with you about our 2023 finances to help you stay informed and respond with thanks.

So four things:

First, we don’t talk a lot about giving or money at our church and it would be fair for you to say - everything must be fine! Or perhaps, I thought that some big church institution must look after all that. But neither of those things are right. In the Anglican Church here in Sydney, every individual church must fund its own gospel work. We occasionally receive government grants but this year, as with most years, more than 95% of our $2.25m budget has to be funded by us. So let me urge you, as a member of our church to continue in the grace of giving. And if you have not started yet, please join us in financial partnership in the work - head to www.christchurch.com.au/giving for more information on how to give. 

Second, at our AGM last week we approved our 2023 budget that includes a 3.6% increase on actual income from 2022. You can see all the accounts, the budget and other financial information on the AGM page - www.christchurch.com.au/agm/2023. If you ever have any questions about finances, please don’t hesitate to contact the church office and we will be only too glad to help you connect with the right person to answer your questions.   

Third, we have two forms of giving to church - our regular weekly or monthly giving that funds the vast majority of our work and which we encourage everyone to be engaged in; and project giving for special appeals that we encourage you to give to in addition to regular giving. From time to time we have supported mission work and other projects outside the church in this way but in 2023 we will have our Ministry Training Appeal (currently underway) and our tax-deductible SRE appeal. I am pleased to be able to tell you that we have already raised $75,000 for our Ministry Training appeal. I would love to see the remaining $25,000 given by the end of March. Could you contribute to this special appeal?

Finally, in most years, in most churches, giving begins slowly and parish councils feel anxious. So I am very thankful to be able to share the encouraging news with you that we have begun strongly in 2023. We are almost 12% ahead of last year and only $7,000 behind for the year. Praise God! He is gloriously at work among us so let us continue as we have begun, that the work of the Gospel here and across the world may overflow more and more. We are told in 2 Corinthians 9:7 that “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” So please be assured of my prayers for you and your financial decisions.

For all the options on how to give and more information head to www.christchurch.com.au/give. If you would like to talk about how to think about your giving, please speak to your Growth Group Leader or be in touch with any of the church ministry team.

Thanks for your generosity and partnership and let’s keep going in the work in 2023.