Ways to Give to Westcity
Firstly, we would like to thank you in advance for your generosity. As we are reminded about ‘THE GO’ of Christ, your grace of giving will enable us to continue blessing the community here at Westcity and beyond.
Mobile App or Desktop
Download the Tith.ley App, create an account & give via your mobile. Scan this QR code with your mobile phone camera. It will direct you to our Westcity Church tithe.ly giving portal.
Or give via this Tithe.ly link HERE and selecting Westcity Church. Set up recurring giving or make a one off donation.
Credit Card
To give via Credit Card click on the button below. You will be redirected to a secure site where you can safely enter your card information.
Give via Credit Card
Cash
Place cash in the offering bags passed around during the Sunday service. Or pop your donation in the silver giving box at church, at the back of the chapel.
Giving Cards
On the pews in the chapel, you will also find giving cards which you can take home or scan with your mobile phone camera during the service.
REGULAR GIVING AT WESTCITY
We agree that the Bible teaches us to give to the poor, to share with each other for all we need as a church community and to support those whose work is within the church.
So the people at Westcity give regularly, via recurring weekly or monthly on-line bank transfers.
The amount we give may differ, but we come together and contribute what we can. We present a budget each year outlining where the finances are going to be spent and report regularly on this via our Town Hall meetings. You can listen HERE to Phil’s audio on ‘Why Give’.
OUR VISION: COMMOM PURSE OFFERING 2024
We have a vision for our finances and it is “That no one is in need.” This idea is taken from the book of Acts where the first Jesus community shared what they had as a radical act of self-giving love and as a sign that God’s new creation had begun in them and they wanted to be a witness to it.
So once a year in June, we take up a ‘Common Purse’ offering over two weekends (June 16 & 23, 2024), that then is redistributed to those in need, either locally or globally.
We have supported immediate local needs such as repaying a debt of a woman escaping trauma in East Africa. Globally, we have supported women’s self-help groups in Rwanda and community projects in Cambodia.
We have taken up ‘our’ mandate to show Christ through big and small acts of generosity that can help transform lives and provide hope that the future ahead is far better than what people leave behind. We can show that even in the midst of hardship, people care and more importantly, God cares.
Click HERE for more on our 2023 Common Purse; stories, partner reports, photos and videos.
Our annual Common Purse Offering will be collected at our Sunday morning services on 16 & 23 June 2024.
You can make your tax deductible donation HERE for the Westcity Common Purse 2024 offering. You can donate anytime (your tax receipt will be emailed to you for the current financial year by our governance partner Global Development Group). Please donate by June 26, 2024, to receive a tax receipt for the current financial year.
Common Purse Funding
The ‘Common Purse’ that is sourced from within the Westcity community, is redistributed in two ways:
1. Locally – to support those within the Westcity community, and their neighbours, who are in a financial crisis. We provide urgent and temporary provision of emergency aid to reduce immediate suffering from crisis.
2. Globally – Financial and prayer support is provided to projects that Kingdom build through practical, capacity building ways. We primarily focus on long-term relationships with development organisations providing ways out of poverty by creatively responding to the needs they identify themselves.
Here is a video of Phil giving an overview of the Common Purse and its history and vision.
Here is a video from Kirrliy (Common Purse Global Chair) on the capacity building global projects we are supporting.
Here is a video from Danielle (Common Purse Local Chair).
To access funds for global projects
Funding applications open in October each year and submissions are required by 15 January the following year. Successful applications will be notified by April for work starting July 1, 2025.
Selection criteria for funding for global projects:
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A focus on long term relationships.
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A desire to do no harm.
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A values-match between your project and those of Westcity.
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Good stewardship of resources.
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A focus on indigenous and local solutions.
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Existing Westcity relational connection with agencies/individuals.
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Clarity as to how this project will engage the Church? We are looking for projects that we can connect with.
There is a funding proposal proforma which guides applicants through the responses to these criteria and follows a community development structure. Essentially, we want to build long term relationships providing reconstruction and development where God grows and shapes us as a community as we help others.
To have an initial discussion regarding the suitability of your organisation/project with the conditions of our fund please chat with our committee chairperson, Kirrily Kilbane or contact westcitychurch@gmail.
How to access local purse funds
If you or someone you know locally are in need, please speak with one of our Local Purse team members and they will guide you through the process. Our Local Purse team members are Danielle Lobo, Penny Webb, Nina Bergmann, Ky Sinclair and Craig Dorrington. Or you can email westcitychurch@gmail.com
Common Purse 2023 – Thank you Westcity!
This year, we raised $24,155 (June 2023) for the Common Purse – Local and Global.
What an incredible reflection of our desire to love God and people and follow Jesus. I’m so encouraged that we are committed to such a practical demonstration of this and that our “Common” purse enables us to do it together.
June 2023 church services were packed full of sharing some of the many simple yet transformational ways the purse brings love and justice and peace and joy both here in Perth and around the world. If you missed them, check out the details above.
A big thanks to the people who serve on the local and global purse committees; Danielle, Penny, Nina, Craig, Ky, Michelle, Rob & Loris. It’s an honor to work with, and learn from, such an amazing group of people, without whom there would not be such diligent oversight in the way the purse functions, nor the beautiful relationships we have with many of our longer term partners.
The team look forward to sharing more ways our purse funds are, in our Westcity Way, helping us to live the ‘Go of Christ’. May we never tire of it!
Kirrily Kilbane
Common Purse Chair – Westcity Church
WHY WE GIVE
When we look at scripture and church history, we see a strong emphasis on the church practically looking after one another in the most difficult times of life.
We see in the book of Acts the disciples sharing their resources that were then redistributed to those in need (Acts 4:35).
We see Paul instructing Timothy to teach the church to share what they had, “to trust in riches but to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share” (2 Timothy 6:18).
The idea seems to be that God’s grace produces thankfulness and thankfulness gives gladly (2 Corinthians 8:7-9), and that our abundance is to be used to help others who are in need (2 Corinthians 8:14).
We also know sharing our resources is really an obvious extension of loving one another (1 John 3:16-17, John 13:34).
Loving and showing respect and dignity to people in our space. Our story.
