A church for everyone and everyone's church
St Bartholomew’s has been the church
in Lower Cam since 1844.
Over the last 180 years, it has been a
centre of community and spirituality
for all and everyone.
For us today, it is all kinds of things…
The place where love is celebrated at weddings.
The place of joy for new life at christenings.
The place of loss and grief as
we say goodbye to a loved ones at funerals,
and a place to remember those missed.
It is also a place where we come
together to mark and celebrate the seasons:
Christmas, Easter, Harvest and Remembrance.
It stands in the community
as a symbol of something hoped for,
a reminder that there is something, someone,
bigger than ourselves, bigger than all this.
It’s a place of quiet,
a place to be,
a place to remember
and give thanks.
However, St Bart’s is more than just a place;
it’s active in the local community,
working alongside local schools,
supporting local organisations,
providing soup lunches, coffee mornings
and afternoon teas,
and a venue for children’s groups and local choirs.
Mostly, it’s more than all this
because St Bart’s is your church.
Friends of St Bart’s is here to help celebrate all that St Bart’s is for all of us and to help secure the future of St Bart’s as our parish church.
The reality is that all parish churches rely on volunteers to run and are funded by donations from lovely people just like yourself. Whatever you think about the apparent riches of the Church of England, the day-to-day running costs of parish churches are in the hands of the local people.
Last year, for every pound we needed to cover our costs, we were 33 pence short.
Simply commit to supporting St Bart’s by offering time, effort or money. There are many ways of getting involved at St Bart’s and you can find them on our website.
Donating to St Bart’s is very simple.
Please consider making a regular monthly donation. This helps us to budget and invest in our community projects with confidence.
You can do this via the Parish Giving Scheme. Scan the QR code on this page or look for a paper form in the church.
For one-off donations, you can do that by cash in the donations box, by card using our card machine, or online using the Parish Giving Scheme.
As a Friend of St Bart’s, you’ll be invited to our annual celebration with drinks and canapés. We’ll share some of what’s going on in in and around St Bart’s and think about how we continue to grow our work in the local community.
The Church of England offers a Christian presence in every community. Together we seek to make this Christian presence the heart of all our cities, towns and villages: by our wonderful buildings; by worshipping together; by serving our communities and by sharing our faith and values. This valuable contribution to our community has a cost, of which 75% is met by personal gifts. For our Church to survive and grow, we rely on regular gifts so that we can plan confidently for the future.
The Parish Giving Scheme (PGS) has been set up to help us best manage regular gifts. It is a charity that is owned and funded by the National Church Institutions of the Church of England.
Gifts can be made on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis, using the attached gift form and Direct Debit instruction. Even though gifts are made to the Parish Giving Scheme, they are restricted to our parish, giving you peace of mind that your gift cannot be used elsewhere. Unlike a utility bill you are always in charge of what you give. Your gift will be passed back to our parish by the 10th of the month. Gift Aid will be received separately once PGS has received it from HMRC. The unique feature of this scheme is the option for you to commit in principle to increase your gift annually in line w ith inflation. Whilst this is a voluntary decision, it is one that could potentially have a huge impact on the life and future of our church.
The main beneficiary of this scheme will be our church. Through your generous commitment, we can be assured of a regular, tax-efficient source of income which has t he capacity to increase with the cost of living, yet involves virtually no administration. You will benefit from a system that is secure, confidential and easy to use, while supporting our church today and for the future.
Although PGS has been set up to help us manage gifts, it is a separate legal entity from our parish and must comply with data protection law. By returning the gift form you consent to PGS using your information for the purposes of the Parish Giving
Scheme. For more information please see PGS’s privacy notice available on the PGS website www.parishgiving.org.uk/privacy-policy. Alternatively, please call PGS on 0333 002 1260 for a copy of the privacy notice.
Direct Debiting is a highly regulated system, and is only offered by Banks for established businesses or organisations who are considered financially sound and reputable with proven internal control systems.
There is no direct charge to us for using the Parish Giving Scheme or processing your gift. The annual running cost of the scheme is met by the National Church Institution of the Church of England.
In order to claim Gift Aid and manage your gift on behalf of our parish, it is necessary that your gift is legally given to PGS who are handling all the administration on our behalf. The gift is restricted to our parish and cannot be used by PGS for any other purposes.
Unfortunately not. In minimising costs it is important that all gifts are collected on the same day each month, which has been agreed as the 1st.
If you opt-in to increase your gift annually, we will use the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as an independent and well known measure of inflation. As your giving anniversary approaches, we will calculate your increased gift using the most recently published monthly CPI data.
We fully understand that circumstances can change; please rest assured that you will be written to 30 days in advance of any increase with the revised amount. If you are unable to meet it simply let us know.
Clicking the button above will take you to the Parish Giving Scheme PGS website.
This is a very secure way to donate to the local church. For us, it reduces our costs and admin to use the Parish Giving Scheme.