This is a text-only version of an article first published on Wednesday, 23 October 2019. Information shown on this page may no longer be current.
OUR new Generous Giving Adviser, Joshua Townson is excited about joining the Diocese of Oxford's staff team in December.
Joshua Townson Joshua was born in the Oxford Diocese, in Milton Keynes, and grew up in Leighton Buzzard, in the St Alban's Diocese.
He studied for a Masters of Theology for four years at St Andrews in Scotland, graduating in 2014.
Joshua's career began with the Lloyds Banking Group in marketing and retail branch management. "Just over two years ago I was blessed to be able to move into working for the Church and since then I have been a Finance and Stewardship Adviser in the Diocese of London, covering the Archdeaconry of Northolt (North-West London).
Over the last year I have also been able to pick up my studying again and have just finished the first year of a part-time MA in Christian Liturgy at Sarum College in Salisbury," says Joshua. "I am very excited indeed to be joining the Oxford Diocese and am looking forward to working with all the different churches across the Diocese to discover what Christian generosity means in 21st century Britain and supporting and enabling you to encourage and grow generous giving in your communities."Our Generous Giving resources include the Parish Giving Scheme, which helps churches and donors benefit from a simple, secure way of giving, fit for the 21st Century and the new Contactless Giving initiative.
Contactless Giving was launched in may when the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Revd Steven Croft donated to the Oxford Clergy Fund for the first time using a contactless giving plate.
The plate allows worshippers to give by tapping their contactless card. We've got 263 churches signed up to the Generous Giving scheme and a further 123 have expressed interest.
We have churches represented in every deanery, operating in both urban and rural parish contexts, which is fantastic.
And the average gift per week is 18% higher for those donating through the scheme, than for giving as a whole across the diocese. Joshua's hobbies include reading, walking in the countryside, learning Gaelic and making regular trips to the Isle of Bute in Scotland.
When he starts work in Oxford he will be living in Steeple Aston.