Leatherhead Parish Church with All Saints

August 2001
"Surely you saw this coming"
All the clergy of the Church of England had one of those question and answer papers the other day, from our Pensions Board. The opening questions give you a flavour: What has happened? Why has this happened? Surely you saw this coming? These are the kind of questions which bring on an uncertain feeling in the stomach. This is my pension you are talking about!

It appears it is the clergy's fault, at least in part "people are living longer and clergy live longer than most people", I read. I might have known it. Is this going to be an invitation to make the ultimate sacrifice, I wonder, to give up my pension? What appears to have happened is this. The calculations of how much the Pensions Board need to invest were off target. Not enough money is going into our Pension Fund and so more will be needed.

It is tempting to think that this might be a C of E miscalculation alone. However, comparing notes with others I discover that many Pension Funds are looking a bit wobbly at the moment, and for the same reasons: low inflation, longevity, flat stock market, all make for a smaller return distributed over a longer period.

The upshot for the Church is that about a further £12 million a year is needed to pay into the Church pensions scheme, to ensure it will be able to pay out satisfactorily when needed. Since the Church is now funded largely by the parishes this money is going to be asked for from the grassroots. In percentage terms it is a relatively small increase on the overall church budget, but nonetheless not an insignificant amount.

I don't mention this as some kind of fund raising plea, although the Pensions Board Paper encourages me to do so. Apparently the gospel readings 'from August through November will 'give (me) opportunities for connecting with this them'. So if pensions come up in a sermon this month you'll know where I'm coming from.

Redundancy
No, my point is more general than that, and connects to other reports about finance that have appeared in the church press. Truro Diocese is to reduce its number of stipendiary clergy over the next ten years by one third. This will be achieved by natural wastage and bring down stipendiary clergy numbers from 123 to 83. "Wakefield Diocese is to cut 25 posts both clergy and lay in order to find almost £700,000 immediately to meet extra costs" the Church Times recently reported.

Living with reality
The extra demands from pensions, and diocesan cuts, are evidence that the Church is finding it increasingly difficult to pay its way. There are several things which follow. The Church, like every other organisation, has to live within the realities of its financial situation. We must each go on seeking to be generous and stress the importance of giving as the essential way of funding the church. That requires of each church member the best and most they can give.

But it also means not spending more than we have and cutting our budgets to suit. Because the largest cost on the church is its paid clergy it is not surprising that some dioceses are having to reduce clergy numbers. It will mean that there will be a new approach to ministry. Increasingly, and this has clearly already started to happen, ministry will be carried out in the name of the church by lay volunteers and non-stipendiary clergy. A return in many ways to a church of earlier days is taking place.

It is only comparatively recently that the church has had a professional ministry in strength. This has been beneficial, but it has often de-skilled other church members. What we see emerging is a church where all members must play a lead part in ministry and mission.

Emotional cost
To be avoided, however, is the often hidden emotional cost of ministry. A consequence of fewer stipendiary clergy is the amalgamation of parishes. One priest now may have the care of five or seven or ten parishes, each with their own church and council. A union of benefices between two parishes like Leatherhead and Mickleham is manageable. But the impact on a priest of being responsible for a multiple number of parishes, all of whom may not want much to do with each other, is great. A good friend of mine has had to withdraw from ministry, for the time being, because he has found it too big a burden to carry. This makes it doubly important that ministry becomes something shared by many people, not shouldered by a few.

A new departure
One of the reasons for this financial dilemma is that church membership remains at best static and probably in decline. It is difficult to go on increasing income when membership is reducing. It is to everyone's credit that this has been the case in recent years, but it looks as though some kind of ceiling may have been reached.

But we should not as a church give up on our primary tasks of worship, caring for people and sharing the gospel. We need to find new and imaginative ways of doing so. It may in the longer term serve the church well to have those tasks shifted off a relatively small group of church members - the clergy - and accepted by a relatively large group - the church as a whole. If we all accept these tasks, and many already do, there is potentially a more effective organisation in being. As always change means challenge but also progress.

David Eaton

please click the Back Button on your browser toolbar to return to News