Church Finance Update

  It seems to me that no matter what information I want to pass on to the church, from some people’s point of view, it is bad news. This is brought about mainly because I am the treasurer and the demands on the church’s funds are unceasing.

St Mary’s is not theonly church that is asked for money – all churches in every Diocese have similar demands.  Within the Diocese of Derby there are churches which are in wealthy areas, those in deprived areas and others in between. St Mary’s is one of those in a ‘wealthy’ area and this is now being reflected in next year’s Common Fund request by the Diocese. (Common Fund was previously called Parish Share).

The calculation is Usual Sunday Attendance (averaged over three years) X Parish Deprivation and then shared over the Diocese.

Firstly the new calculation means that we have been requested to pay £32,860 (£30,849 in 2016) which can, if we wish, be introduced as £31,971 in 2017, £32,395 in 2018 and £32,860 in 2019; therefore, 2017 will beincreased by £1,082, 2018 by £464 and 2019 by £465. A decision will be made at the October or November PCC!

I would point out that the research has shown that ‘wealthier’ parishes have in many cases paid less proportionately than the poorer ‘deprived’ parishes. (We have, it seems, finally been caught out!)

Living generously is what is expected of us, not just by the Diocese and not just by St Mary’s, but also by the Bible. I am not going to preach to you now, but would ask you to look at 1 Corinthians 9:1-14; 2 Thessalonians 3:9; 1 Timothy 5:17; Matthew 10:10; Luke 10:7; 2 Corinthians 11:7-8; Philippians 4:16; 2 Corinthians 11:9; 2 Corinthians 12:14; 1 Thessalonians 1:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8; and 2 Corinthians 8:1-2.

                                    Good reading!                          Dennis Hooton