LENT is advancing, and so is the Church Times Train-A-Priest (TAP) Fund total. But it still has a long way to go before it matches last year’s achievement.

In the middle of the week, this year’s TAP total stood at £21,741.91. We thank all the readers who have contributed to this sum, many of them giving sacrificially.

Many donate to TAP in thanks for help received from the fund during their own training. TAP has been around since 1952, when it was established to help the families of the growing number of married ordinands. Altogether, 5879 ordinands have been helped by the fund over the years.

Will you give to TAP? Grants are available nowadays to all candidates, married or single, who experience financial hardship during their training. Many of them have sacrificed a secure lifestyle outside the ministry. Will you honour that sacrifice with a donation, however small you think it to be?

The average grant to married candidates with children last year was £980. In addition, TAP gave emergency grants to 41 ordinands. The need is there, but we shall need more funds if we’re to meet it in 2016.

How to give

WE STILL take cheques, postal orders, cash, and charity cheques. But giving online is easiest for donors and for us. Simply visit www.hymnsam.co.uk/train-a-priest.aspx. This is a secure page with clear instructions.

Please send other donations to: TAP Fund, Church Times, 13a Hellesdon Park Road, Norwich NR6 5DR. If you would like an acknowledgement, please enclose a SAE. To earmark all or part of a donation for the Special Hardship Fund, please use a covering note.

UK taxpayers can boost their gift by making a Gift Aid declaration. Please do this on our online donations page, or by enclosing the form in last week’s Church Times.

Spread the word

PLEASE encourage other people to give to TAP, too. A colour leaflet can be downloaded from the Church Times website; and we encourage churches to hold a special collection or fund-raising effort. Please let us know about your support, and your stories, if you are doing so: we like to mention them in the Church Times.