All Saints Church Council (PCC) has decided to re-introduce the collection plate at church services in a limited way, following its suspension in 2020 because of coronavirus.
The collection plate will be available for gifts to be offered as people enter the Cornerstone foyer before morning services. Those who give regularly directly from their bank accounts will be able to offer a cardboard token as a symbol of their gift.
The collection plate will not be passed around from person to person during the service as was customary before the pandemic. This is to recognise there may be concerns for some about transmitting infection unintentionally.
The collection plate will, however, be presented at the altar during the offertory hymn, as was previously the practise.
Canon David Hodgson, Rector of All Saints, said “I am very pleased that we can restore to our worship the offering of our gifts to God for blessing at the altar during the Communion services. It is such an important reminder as our liturgy says, that all things come from God and to God we return the generosity”
