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Whoever Invented Church Fayres? |
For the last few
weeks the Parish Office has been filling up with items
donated for the Church St George’s Fayre which takes place
this weekend. Precious items, some donated for the Grand
Auction (in this parish we love to call everything ‘Grand’,
– because we have to compete with Holt and Blakeney! joke )
and other items will be spread out around the various
stalls. After hours of work, putting up tables, preparing
the church, displaying numerous flags, we then go through 3
hours of sheer mayhem as people arrive for the Fayre, and
then after another hour of clearing up we all go home for a
large glass of something. I have no doubt it will be a great
occasion, it will raise lots of money for the church, but
what an extraordinary way of raising money.
What has this to
do with the ministry of the church? Everything ! I can
guarantee that there will be calls on the day for pastoral
care; often people helping at fetes and fayres find their
way into the life of the church; we meet endless people we
would not meet, and actually it is a far more fun way of
raising money than simply asking the congregation to
increase their weekly donation.
As a church we
raised a record £148,000 last year. In 10 years we have
doubled the income of the church – it can be done. Money
comes in from all sorts of areas not just the weekly
collections, and I believe that fetes and fayres, coffee
mornings and auctions have an important part in the life of
the church. Also you might like to know that we raised and
gave away a record £29,000 to charities other than the
church.
But it amuses me
that last week when the Bishop of Lynn came to confirm 4
adult candidates at what was a wonderful family occasion,
little did he know that in every hiding place of the church
was a box or bag containing items for the St George’s Fayre.
A grumpy official in a previous Diocese, once criticised me
for having too many fund raising occasions – I told him that
at least it paid his wages. I believe that clergy who are
imaginative and fully fund their churches help the general
funding of the church.
Actually I have
a lot of time for Martha in the Bible. Whilst Mary was
talking to Jesus, Martha was getting on with the work. If we
have more clergy who got on with their work, and encouraged
their churches to pay their way, then we might be able to
pursue the ministry of the church, and not be frightened of
the future. The early church soon learnt that you can’t
operate without money and nor can we today.
Adrian Bell
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