To support churches and individuals in exploring how giving and generosity plays an important role in our discipleship and mission, the diocese has just appointed Kate Mayo as Local Giving Adviser for Bath Archdeaconry.
Kate, who is also the Lay Dean for Midsomer Norton Deanery, will work as part of the Deanery and Parish Support Team to champion generosity, whether from the congregation, or the wider community and alongside this will help churches to tell their story.
Kate is the first of three planned Local Giving Advisers, who will each be dedicated to an archdeaconry, and the diocese has secured funding from the National Church to help us invest in this critical support.
Gary Watson, Lead Giving and Funding Adviser for Bath and Wells says, “These roles are about helping churches to give and receive with generosity, developing a generous culture both within our congregations and flowing out into our communities and resourcing churches with the tools they need.”
“Generosity is at the heart of our faith. Our attitude towards how we give (both financially and generally) is rooted in our relationship with God. We believe in a generous God, who, in His great love for us, gave his only Son (John 3:16), and our own generosity in response to that is a testimony of our lived-out faith.
“In difficult financial times however, generosity can feel challenging. We are asked to give cheerfully and not out of compulsion (2 Cor 9) as God’s desire is that our motivation to give is founded on our gratitude for that which we have received and continue to receive from Him.”
Kate says, “I looked at the advert for the job, and I thought, ‘I can do that role’. Thinking about it made my heart sing. I thought, ‘I can contribute and hold conversations about money and how we give as Christians’. It’s not always easy to talk about money in church, but I’ve seen how it can really make a difference, in my own life and in church. God is so generous, and we need to be generous in return and living with that knowledge gives me certainty that God is looking after us.”
Our strategy to support our churches with this includes a Local Giving Adviser in each of the three archdeaconries. There are currently vacancies for these roles in the Wells and Taunton Archdeaconries. The advisers will also work alongside and develop a network of volunteer ‘Generosity Champions’ who will help to support their parish or benefice with tools and resources to encourage generous giving.