How to Raise money.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XIII, Issue 3, 1 September 1922, Page 400

How to Raise money.

THE BISHOP Of ST. ALBANS ON .; :XHE RIGHT SPIRIT. The Bishop of London met the secretaries ■ " <f£ tto ParQchial Chitrch

Councils of his diocese m the Hoare '. Memorial Hall at the Church House, j IjTe^tininster, on Wednesday evening j fe^near with them what ideas the Bishop of St. Albans had to suggest to them for raising money. The sum budgeted for by the London Diocesan f lind m 1922 is no less than £100,000, j>f; which £40,000; is entirely "new rhoney." The budget is divided into two parts, a long Section A, which includes training, maintenance, pen■sions, widows "and orphans funds, buildings, education, and administration, and a short Section B" budgeting for "hew" money-' towards supplementing stipends, .Central Church Fund, and rescue and preventive work. The principal reason why those three objects were apportioned • to Section B was because it was thought that they would make a stronger appeal to general sympathy, and the London pocket m consequence. The Bishop of St. Albans made a speech of great enthusiasm, and said that he personally had only found it possible to raise large sums for his old diocese of Pretoria by dint of real hard work carried on all the time m the right kind of spirit, a doggedly cheerful, come-what-may spirit. "You will only get enthusiasm," he said, "if you are prepared to put this whole question of finance on the highest possible level, as being a means to win the whole world to Christ, not just to get money for your own parishes. ' '' He said that ' .the whole scheme of raising money — Central Church Fund- money— had .been begun m the wrong way, they .had only thought of the Church of England, not the whole world. The money was needed, not merely for a hand-to-mouth existence m Church matters at home, but for the extension of the Kingdom of God to enable His work to be carried on more effect ively. When a parishioner was asked for money, he must be made to understand that it was meant for a higher object than merely gas — "of one kind or another" — for his parish church. A budget of work ought to be put before people along with the budget of money. Make out on the credit side a list of what has been done, arid on the debit side what ought to be done, there was a good appeal m that very simple method. Nowadays* the great mass of Church people were inclined to rest on the benefactions of the past. They had been provided with priests and bishops, and they should, as honest men, maintain them and their work all the time. "And when you pay for the gas and the cleaning and the lighting of your churches," went on the Bishop, "you are hot giving anything to God, any. more than I am giving anything to God when I pay my Household bills. " He deprecated col-

lections being made for that purpose jin church and offered with much •ceremony to God. He wished' the. bishops would refuse to sanction siich a. thing. • • ■ , ■ r'. ■ The right way was for every person to arrange for himself or herself at the very beginning of \the;:iyear how much his or her contribution], was going to be, and to set the money aside at once. \ ' Children, too, loved to give, went on the Bishop, and should be encouraged and trained to give from the very beginning. Trained in 'such propier habits, they would continue m them naturally. He advocated the Pretoria system of asking Confirmation candidates to make (if they wished) a thank-offering, and he -was surprised that this was not a usual practice m England. Praying for money was not to be, thought of as a queer thing to do, or as not perhaps a very worthy thing to do. "Come together, pray for enthusiasm-, and you'll get your money all right. Don 't get the spirit of the second-hand clothes dealer, haggling over giving half-a-crown ; or a couple of pence more for a garment.'' That was an evil, inhuman spirit, that spirit of "How little can I get off with V '- Just . say, ' ' I really don't know how I'm going to do it, but I'll have a jolly "good try." One way of raising money (which certainly was new to those present, unless there were some strangers from St. Albans diocese) would be by communicants saving a shilling or more a week by going without any lunch on Fridays-— really it wouldn't -hurt them. (There was an uneasy stir at this very excellent suggestion). .-. And they ought to get but,' a- rejajly firstrate leaflet explaining the objects for which the money was required. ' Chichester diocese had, he thought, as . good a leaflet of the kind as any he had seen— ("Church Times"). .