In July this year, McDonalds increased the price of its cheeseburger for the first time in 14 years, raising it by 20%, from 99p to £1.19. That's inflation for you - production costs rise, so prices do. It's something we're seeing everywhere at the moment, and we are all feeling the effects of it.Households across the country are experiencing a cost of living crisis on a scale unseen for a generation. This coming winter will be difficult for many of us as the reality of rising fuel and food prices starts to bite.Costs at church have increased as well. One example is the price of electricity on our Lee building which is going up from £26,000 a year to a staggering £91,000 a year! Yes, that's £91,000, each year, on just one of our buildings.The cost of living crisis presents a fresh challenge to lead into as the pastor of Kings. While being realistic about what is happening with the economy of this nation, we want to hold fast to biblical principles regarding how we handle our money. Circumstances change, but God doesn't! With that in mind, this is how we plan to tackle the current crisis:Firstly, we continue to teach the biblical principle of giving from our 'first fruits'. That means that we should give to God first, primarily to the local church we call home. Some call this the tithe, meaning the first 10% of your income, which goes to the household where you worship.Secondly, we will continue to teach the New Testament principle of proportional giving. We look to those of us who have more to give more. While many are feeling the pinch financially, the truth is that some of us have significant financial resources. We tend to be slightly older, to own property and have a pension fund which has benefitted from good stewardship over the decades. On Vision Sunday, you may have heard me appeal to this group and exhort them to give beyond the tithe to help the church family rise to the current challenge.Thirdly, King's is a generous church. Over the last two years we have given away £688,000, and we plan to give away over £200,000 this year.The challenges we face are similar to those of any church, but they are proportional to the size of the community. King's is a relatively large church. If 1000 adults gave £10 more per month, which was gift aided, our giving would increase by £150,000 a year. (Of course, the reverse is also true: if 1000 adults reduced their giving by £10 a month, we would lose £150,000 a year!)This year we are setting a giving target which is the same as last year's, the first time we have done this since I came to lead King's 27 years ago. Our target will be £2.1 million. We will have two additional giving moments during the year, rather than the one we have had historically. We will hold these in October 2022 and March 2023, and we will be looking to the church, and especially to those of us who have more, to give over and above normal giving.If you have not had an opportunity to listen to my talk from Vision Sunday last weekend, I encourage you to do so here.We trust that God will provide. All I ask you to do is play your part with faith.
