Funding > Case Study

A Case Study : Holy Trinity Ripon

We took the fear out of giving £1,000,000

Many churches are faced with a desire to enlarge their building facilities. Such projects are usually expensive and often daunting to the church members. One such church, Holy Trinity in Ripon, chose to step out in faith and pursue the vision they had, even though the 130 members needed to find over £1m. The leadership of Holy Trinity were encouraged by the increasing number of families that were coming into contact with the church. However, they recognised that their facilities were very inadequate and a hindrance in their desire to reach the large number of young people in the area.

Their vision was to extensively reorganise the building, including excavation to turn the crypt/basement into a suite of halls. The usual fundraising endeavours raised several hundred thousand pounds, but it soon became evident that this wasn’t going to be sufficient. The PCC had already taken the first of two important decisions. They had decided to give away 10% of all that was given to the project - to overseas work. This “tithe” was a fundamental part of the commitment to the project, and one that they believe God has honoured.

The second was the decision to ask the members to make a pledge that would be spread over five years, rather than depend on “one off” gifts. The PCC wanted to build the principle of sacrificial giving into the lifestyle of the members. The project had a sense of ownership and was driven by the vision beyond bricks and mortar, but to reach out to young people and families. The result was over £1.1 million pounds raised and the building work completed in just over 18 months.

The youth work is now growing, with over 80 non-church young people actively engaged each week and the leadership is now planning the appointment of a youth pastor. In addition, over £100,000 has been given to three overseas building projects and is now helping a church in Kurzikstan, a church working with street children in Paraguay and accommodation for staff at a Christian hospital in Malawi.

Chris Thomson, a member of the church said “The biggest surprise was the relative ease with which we have raised a lot of money. When just 100 people make changes to their lifestyle and pledge over five years, there is no fear in giving a million pounds.” Chris hopes that other churches will be encouraged by their experiences.

Reproduced with permission from Stewardship. tel: 08452 26 26 27. Web: www.stewardship.org.uk 

You can see more details about Holy Trinity Ripon at their website, including their "Space Project" and various groups using their refurbished crypt - the Arches.