February 2008

Friends

We want to keep you informed about some issues that affect Dovedale Baptist Church, and ask for your continued support. We’re grateful for the many people who support the church’s work, so that we can be a significant presence within our local community.

We are a lively and active church. We meet for a friendly service of worship each Sunday morning at half past ten, and have a good number of children and young people attending our Junior Church. We have a thriving Parent and Toddler group, a lively youth club, a Brownie pack and a youth fellowship. We have two ladies’ meetings and two midweek fellowship meetings. Our building is also used by local community groups such as the Allerton Childminders and the Grassendale Flower Arrangers.

But the simple fact is that we are facing financial challenges at the moment and we need to find the right way forward.

Our church building is a Grade 2 listed building and is over a hundred years old. It costs us a lot of money to maintain the building, to heat it and make it a welcoming place for the many people who make use of it. Over half of all our church expenditure goes into our building. Our minister, Wayne Clarke, has other part-time work as well as being our minister and we pay him a modest amount to work with us.

As a financially independent church, all our work has to be paid for by money we raise ourselves. Most of this comes from our church members who give generously to the church’s work. Some income comes from renting the building, much of this from the Penny Lane School of Music. But for the last few years our income has not been enough to pay for all the outgoings. We are now at the stage where we have to consider a new way forward.

We want to make it clear that Dovedale Baptist Church is not about to close. We will continue to serve God and our community for many years yet. We are considering a lot of options to help overcome our current financial problems.

We would value your help and support as we look for the right way to move ahead. You can help us in a number of ways:

•          By praying for us.

•          By continuing to support the church and its work

•          By helping us to identify partners or other community groups who might make good use of our facilities.

•          By helping us identify sources of funding.

•          By suggesting new ideas or directions that we may not have considered.

If you would like to respond to this letter please get in touch with Wayne Clarke at dovedale@blueyonder.co.uk

Thank you for your partnership and your support.