Give to Grace Church

A pledge is your commitment to financially support the mission and ministries of Grace Church, New Bedford. Pledging is a response of gratitude to God’s call and abundance in our own lives. There is no such thing as a small pledge. Every pledge matters!

Giving in the form of annual pledges supports everything we do and are at Grace Church - from supporting our outreach ministries to making possible our liturgical, education, pastoral care, and music offerings to maintaining our historic building. Pledge commitments allow us to develop an annual budget each year so that we know what we can accomplish responsibly.

We do have an endowment generously left to us by previous generations of Grace Church parishioners and parishioners still leave legacies to this endowment today. This would quickly disappear, however, if we relied on it as the primary source of parish support year after year. Such a policy would be irresponsible stewardship of the gifts Grace parishioners have given us, and we would not be able to pass them on to the Grace parishioners who will follow us. Therefore, we continually seek to rely less on our endowment and primarily on support from the living parish for ministry and program expenses, including staff salaries and the ongoing cost to open our doors to serve so many in our community.

We are blessed with a variety of ministries both to our parish and well outside of our walls. The Community Breakfast and Martha’s Pantry help to feed many on a weekly basis. Laundry Love helps people have clean clothes. Our Children, Youth, and Music programs minister to so many. Our building is used in collaboration with the city to host the weekly Sunset Social and English for Speakers of Other Languages classes. None of this would be possible without the infrastructure and administration that is funded directly by your annual pledge.

We believe strongly that our standard of giving should reflect our standard of living. We ask each parishioner to consider making a pledge that is both responsible and significant based on their financial situation. A tithe (10% of one’s income) has long been held as the standard of Christian giving. For most, it is a goal to be reached through incremental increases each year. At Grace Church, every pledge, no matter what amount, makes a valued contribution to our mission and ministry.

If you would like to make a proportional pledge or tithe, the following chart may help:

We ask everyone to make a pledge by “Ingathering Sunday” - usually in late October - by bringing a pledge card to church, mailing it in, or making a pledge online. This helps our Vestry to establish our budget for the coming year. However, pledges are welcome throughout the year.

A pledge is simply a promise to pay. You may fulfill your pledge in as many payments as you wish throughout the year.

There are many ways to make your financial gift to Grace Church, including cash, check, credit card online, electronic transfer, stocks, and annuities. You can also let the church office know if you would like to set up automatic withdrawal from your bank account.

We understand that your circumstances might change from when you first made your annual pledge, and you can notify the church that you need to adjust your pledge at any time. If you're blessed with unexpected extra income, you're always welcome to increase your pledge, as well.