Come, share our vision... Your financial support is appreciated!

There are several ways for your to give financially to The Community of St James. All donations receive a charitable donations receipt:

1. HAND DELIVER - to the MAIL BOX beside the office door on the Queen Street side of the church. Mail is checked daily, Tuesday to Thursday. Cheques should be made out to St James and you may put a designation in the notes area.

2. CANADA POST - PO Box 93, 171 Queen Street East, Fergus, N1M 2W7.

3. E-TRANSFER - etransferstj@gmail.com

4. PRE-AUTHORIZED - Email our Givings Secretary, Doug Waechter (HERE) for more information. You can also complete and mail this form (HERE) to St James Church, PO Box 93, 171 Queen Street East, Fergus, N1M 2W7.

5. CREDIT CARD -

   1. Enter your credit card information at this secure link (HERE) through the Diocese of Niagara (choose "Fergus - St James" as the particular parish). You have the option to direct your gift to a special ministry through this portal; or

   2. Enter your credit card information at this secure link (HERE) through the CanadaHelps.Org portal. You may have the option to direct your gift to a special project through this portal.

 

Special Areas of Ministry and Projects include:

• THE CHALLENGE FACTOR - This gift will support the maintenance and upkeep of our physical plant and gardens, the necessary and needed location from which our work can operate.
• OUTREACH at St James - This gift will support all of our Outreach opportunities as needed, local and international.
• AGENTS OF CHANGE - This gift will support all of our local projects. This includes Centre Wellington Meals-to-Go, Home Alone...and Happy (a garden and simple home maintenance service for seniors and those who may be physically challenged), our Community Garden Initiatives (including hay bale gardens and community garden support and development), and other local projects under Compassion and Care that we contribute to in the wider community.
• CHURCH and CONGREGATION - This gift will support regular church activities and expenses such as resources for education and supplies for worship, education, and community events.
• ENDOWMENT FUND - This is also called the Rector's Discretionary fund. This gift allows our Community, through our Priest (Rector), to provide financial assistance where it is needed in a confidential exchange. We have helped with legal fees, relocation, children's supplies, and other basic living expenses to our neighbours as needs present.

 

The Challenge Factor, Adopt-A-Bill Program

At St. James parishioners strive to be “good stewards.” Our commitment is “To be a loving, joyful, Christ-centered community serving God by serving others.” 

St. James has an active Outreach Committee who meets regularly and designates budget and other fundraising funds for the benefit of people in our local community and the world. Parishioners give generously of their time and talents to support the worship, education, pastoral care and parish life activities that occur in our church building, in our Butterfly Garden and in the local community.

As with many parishes in the Diocese, St. James has an ongoing challenge meeting the increases in the everyday costs of running the church (heat, hydro, other utilities, maintenance of inside and outside properties).

In 2009, one of our parishioners came up with the idea for a program called the Challenge Factor to help us meet our budgetary needs as well as to balance the budget. Parishioners were asked to participate in a number of challenges in addition to their regular givings. The challenge was to Adopt-a-Bill (members select a hydro, gas, phone, water, sewage, snow removal or garbage disposal bill for one or several months).  All our bills were divided into 12 monthly amounts and an envelope for each bill placed on a board to be adopted.  The bills are chosen to give a range of amounts so everyone can participate if they wish. People can also partner with others to take a bill to reduce the amount each pays.  
Since 2009, this program has been an outstanding success – a direct result of everyone’s support and participation: there is “something for everyone” as far as the amounts go and everyone can see the results as we progress through the year, with regular up-dates and by looking at the board to see bills adopted and marked as paid. Parishioners give beyond what their regular contributions. The results emphasize what we already knew from previous years — The parishioners at St. James will give to a cause and they want to know where the money is going.

With the success of the Challenge Factor, we added a new area: Outreach. We know that the bills of the church are being paid and we can work toward being stewards of God’s resources and increase our donations to Outreach in our community and beyond.

Please contact the church office for further information or if you would like to participate in this program.

The Challenge Factor is Now Online!