From Stewardship Officer, Alison Maddocks:
Jesus told us that to enter the kingdom of
heaven we need to be like little children.
If we were to ask children how Parish Share
should be divided, I think they might well decide
that it should be done on the basis of how much
money people had in the first place.
This is the basic principle behind our Fairer Share system and 2018 will see the first
complete re-run of the income survey that is the basis for calculating parish contribution
to our shared cost of ministry. As last time, we’ll be providing guidelines to try to ensure
that all churches carry out their survey in the same way.
Last time there was significant variation in how widely people ‘spread the net’ as to who
was included in the survey, which had a real impact on share calculation. When you
receive the guidelines, please do try and follow them carefully. If people reduce the
numbers included this will result in a higher ‘per point’ allocation for everyone. If just
a few parishes were to act in this way, it would seriously undermine the ‘Fairer’ nature
of the system. We know that for some the payment of Parish Share is a real struggle,
for some genuinely unattainable. Fairer Share should act to bring this into the light so
that we can act together to address it.
Let’s make sure that like children we trust God to be at work through our good intentions
and resist the all too understandable temptation to look for a faithless human fix.
Pray for all those in the parishes and in the diocesan office who are working to ensure
we all pay a fair share of the cost of mission and ministry across the Diocese.
Kidderminster Deanery – Rural Dean: Hugh Burton; Lay Chair: Bernard Watkins
Diocese of Derby: Bishop Alastair Redfern with Bishop Jan McFarlane (Repton)
Diocese of Clogher (Ireland): Bishop John McDowell
Diocese of Aalborg (Denmark): Bishop Henning Toft Bro
The Church of Ireland: Archbishop Richard Clarke
