THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK. How’s this for a money-making scheme – persuade people to donate things to you; cakes, bottles, books, plants, bric-a –brac and so on; then sell the stuff back to them! It may sound like some sort of financial scam, but this is essentially how a church fete works. You may win a bottle of something interesting on the tombola – but you donated three bottles in the first place! You buy a cake from the cake stall, having baked two cakes for it yourself!
Raising money for the church is a necessary task – but a church fete is much more than this. Look at all the hours of voluntary work that goes into organising and setting up the fete; look at the love and care that goes into baking and making and growing the things on the various stalls; look at people sitting together listening to the town band, chatting with church regulars and passing visitors alike; listen to the laughter.
The church summer fete is hard work, but I think it has much to tell us about building a Christian community.
©Steve Barlow. 2025.
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