Mothering Sunday 6th March
Our special collection at the 8.00 and 9.30 am services will be for the Church Urban Fund.
Poverty is a very real phenomenon is England. Around 13 million people, including 3.5 million children, are estimated to be living in Poverty.
Many of these people will be working mothers in low paid jobs, struggling to bring up their families, so it is appropriate that this should be our charity on Mothering Sunday.
Poverty is not just about income. It is a complex experience that impacts upon every aspect of people's lives ....... poverty of relationships for example where people lack the skills, qualifications or health to achieve a good standard of living ..... poverty of identify where people have a low sense of self-esteem or poor mental health, lack of aspiration, even drug and alcohol misuse. The issues are complex and closely interlinked, trapping individuals and whole communities in a web of poverty.
As the Church of England's response to poverty the Church Urban Fund aims to inform, inspire, resource and support churches as they work to tackle poverty and build community, taking what Jesus says about loving God and loving our neighbours seriously.
We live in one of the most unequal countries in the western world, where babies born within a few miles of one another can have widely differing life expectancies - of 10 years or more.
How do you feel about these vast differences in life chances and what can you do to help bridge the gap?
When you think about the parish of Welywn and Woolmer Green does it feel quite deprived, fairly wealthy, or somewhere in the middle? According to figures produced by the Church Urban Fund, out of 12,660 parishes in England where 1 is the least deprived, our parish stands at 594, way up above the middle.
So please respond generously this Mothering Sunday. Together we can make a significant difference to the resources of the Church Urban Fund. Gift Aid envelopes will be available in the pews on Sunday morning which , if you are a tax-payer, will increase the value of your donation by 25%, if you complete the details on the front.