Church Finances

Money - blessing or problem?

Church Finances can be a real blessing and enable the church to pay for ministry and mission both in and outside the parish, reach out to the community, keep buildings in good repair and comfortable, and share the blessing with others.

Many churches achieve this but many others do not! Each church's circumstances are different; some churches have a real problem with expensive buildings and declining and ageing congregations. In these cases money is a symptom, not a cause, of the real problem that needs to be addressed; see the pages on Creatively Changing Churches, and Building Vision.

For some churches the problem is how the money is handled, the issue to be addressed is the giving of the congregation (see the Giving in Grace website), or the need to budget or improve the cash management for which there are links below.  The Giving in Grace website includes a whole section on preparing a Parish Plan which includes advice on budget preparation, with detailed advice and presentations for the Church Council.



Budget Template

Utility Costs

In 2008, the churches of our diocese spent over £900,000 on gas, oil, electric and water charges for their buildings.  The size of this figure indicates how important it is for each church to review its utility supply contracts on an annual basis.  To help PCCs in this task, the Church of England has published a number Parish Buying Guides:

Minimising Utility Costs (PDF)This guide gives general advice on how to minimise utility costs.

Electricity & Gas (PDF)This guide outlines five steps that could help a PCC manage its utility costs.

All Saints Rainford (Photo courtesy of Peter Burgess) was faced with a situation where regular giving was falling short of expenditure to the tune of around £350 per week. Although the parish had reserves, the PCC recognised that simply drawing on reserves would not address this problem and lead to a bigger problem in the long run. Despite this financial need they also saw the diocesan Giving in Grace initiative in a different light.

"God is love and he shows this love in all he does for us. His love is generous, kind and selfless. Therefore, how should we respond, as his followers, to this outpouring of grace? This initiative was to help us think out our response through magazine articles and the specially focused sermons at all services"