Seven Christian charities partner on first Christian Legacy Week
Howard Lake | 10 October 2014 | News
Christian Legacy Week runs next week with the aim of inspiring Christians to leave a bequest to charity in their wills.
The new campaign, which runs from 13 – 20 October, is run by Christian Legacy, a partnership between seven large Christian charities including Church Mission Society and Care for the Family.
Christians and will making
Research by Christian Legacy has found that Christians are much more likely to have made a will compared to Britons in general: the research, carried out by Christian Research and involving just under 2,000 responses, revealed that 80% of UK Christians have made a will, whereas under one third of Britons currently have a will.
However, only half of these Christians have included or are considering leaving a gift to a Christian charity in their will.
The partner charities are also aware that legacy giving does not have a high profile in many churches. Research by Christian Legacy in February this year found that Christians were far more likely to have heard teaching on tithing (60%) and regular giving (86%) than on legacy gifts, where less than a quarter of Christians had heard it mentioned by their church.
Free advice on how to write a will
The inaugural Christian Legacy Week challenges Christians to consider what kind of legacy they are leaving behind for future generations. It aims to inspire more people to add a gift in their will to a Christian cause “to influence the world for the better after they die”.
The campaign includes free advice on how to write a will and leave a gift to charity. A free information pack is available on request via their website and the partner charities will be contacting supporters and church networks to raise awareness over the week.
Daniel Jones, from partner charity Stewardship, said:
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“As Christians, it is important to consider what kind of legacy we are leaving behind for others. Leaving a gift in your will is an incredibly powerful way of continuing to sow into God’s kingdom on Earth. Through your will you can continue to be part of the healing, transformation and hope that many Christian organisations bring to broken people and a broken world”.
He acknowledged the good work of groups like Remember a Charity, a coalition of 140 charities that promote making a will and including a charitable bequest. He said that Christian Legacy aimed to complement this by challenging Christians in particular to consider how best they can help others in their will.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.