Sermon from Sunday 19 October

 

Reading(s): Isaiah 35.3–6, 2 Timothy 4.5–17, Luke 10.1–9bc. This sermon was given by Mark West at All Saints and St Mark.

Let’s not beat about the bush. I’m going to talk about money. And, yes, I am asking all of us to think and pray about our gifts in support of our churches. I say this recognising our 17-year-and-counting cost of living challenge.

Growing up, we had a sign that read: “every time we manage to make ends meet – someone takes one of the ends away…”. Familiar to anyone on a PCC, I suspect.

Today’s Gospel provides a good anchor. Jesus tells the 70 to go, tell people about God’s Kingdom. Travel light and rely on the hospitality of others. Don’t worry about money. Jesus wants us to focus on the mission before us. That is, after all, why we’re here.

Does that fit today? Well, I doubt any of us, especially Vanessa, would fancy a rota to give the vicar bed and board. Like it or not, money and our time and effort is what allows us to be church in this place. The labourer deserves to be paid.

But can we stop is distracting us? Especially the PCC and treasurers. Probably not; but then distractions aren’t new. In our reading, Paul is writing to encourage Timothy in his ministry. Paul mentions people who have run off, aren’t where they should be. Paul, that great evangelist, would surely rather focus on the gospel. So would we and our PCC. All this other stuff, like money, gets in the way. But we need to deal with it…

Sometimes we need to remind people that we don’t have sacks of money. But aren’t we the established and establishment church? Yes. How much do we get of the trillion pounds the government spends every year? Roughly, none. Apart from a couple of useful tax breaks.

The Church of England as a whole does have quite a bit of money. There’s historical stuff that I’m not going to get into; but I absolutely acknowledge that it’s an emotive subject.

I’d put it like this. The church - relatively speaking - has money. Most churches - like us - do not.

Some of the return from the funds that the church commissioners invest pays about 15% of the overall costs of ministry and mission. How that money should be used within the church was fiercely debated at General Synod earlier this year. Maybe things will change. Right now, we have to deal with things as they are; not as we might like them to be.

So. We are one of 230 parishes in Winchester Diocese. There are around 105 paid clergy. Their stipend (pay), pension contributions, housing, training, etc. comes to about £70,000 per person or £8 million per year. Common mission fund is also about £8 million. Total Diocesan income for 2024 was £13m, including £2 million from the central church. Expenditure was £14.5m. Mr Micawber would not be happy. Simply, 64p of every £1 that the Diocese receives in goes straight back out to pay for vicars. 20p goes to parish ministry. And 16p is spent on running the diocese.

What about us? Well, the workers are few… We’re now a single parish. That simplifies things; the more we can help and support the single parish, the better. There are, I think, two headlines to think about. Our regular income and expenditure and our reserves.

First: where does our money come from and where does it go?

Overall, it looks like the first chart, below. For this I’ve stripped out one-off donations and spend on projects, of which there have been a few recently, as best as I can. We have, overall, about £90,000 regular income. For every pound income, about 40p is from planned giving and donations. Thank you! A further 10p is from Gift Aid. If you’re a tax payer, please make sure we can claim GA on your gifts. That’s half. 20p comes from rental – mostly All Saints and mostly one rental; to illustrate how vulnerable we are. 10p comes from fees. The other 20p comes from other income, including a big chunk from St Mark’s fete. All of this income is essential.

Because we spend about £90,000. £50,000 is on CMF. That’s just over 2/3 of a vicar… Of every pound we spend, 60p is on CMF, which we get back in the form of a vicar. 20p is on running costs; 10p on maintenance and 10p on administration. To reduce any of those costs we would have to do less or shrink or both. I’ve also shown the per church figures.

Some activities are supported by grants. Our extremely valuable children and families work, for example, is supported by a grant that tapers and soon comes to an end. The money to fund that is going to have to come from somewhere.

In fact, because of some generous legacies and grants and other one-off income, our total income for 2024 was £250,000. We also spent £220,000, because our income allowed us to do those big projects across All Saints, St Mark and St John the Baptist. To do more big projects after this year will need us to find ways to raise funds and win grants.

You also give generously of time. Last year I estimated you gifted nearly 2,000 hours of volunteer effort, equating to over £20,000 at the national living wage. That number has, I am certain, gone up. This is absolutely not just about money. Time is, in some ways, money and is also essential for the many ways in which we are church to our local communities.

Next, our reserves.

We have around £80,000 in general funds; that is, money that can be spent at the PCC’s discretion. (I’ve split out £25k for NB, which is designated to be spent on the carpark). We have around £140,000 in restricted funds. There are around 27 restricted funds, each with its own limitations on how the money can be used. Many of those restrictions are obvious: some people, especially in the community, will understandably want to support a particular church that they are connected to. Sensible restrictions to encourage gifts is good. Indeed we have restricted some funds as part of creating the single parish so that a church doesn’t lose control of money that would previously have been local to that church. Overall, though, we should be aiming to have the least restriction necessary on any monies, to keep things simple and to give the PCC the ability to use funds without unnecessary distraction.

Again, you can also see the breakdown per church.

What’s my overall message? We’re not in bad shape. We’ve had a good couple of years and combining does help keep things simple. We still need every last penny of income, and more. We would benefit from finding more sources of income to support hugely valuable ministries like our children and families work.

Time we and the PCC spend fretting about finances is time not spent on sharing the good news.

If you think that the church doesn’t need praying for. It does. If you think that we don’t need the money, we do. If you think that a standing order or direct debit doesn’t help, it really does – it helps us plan our budgets. If you think that we don’t need more volunteers, we do.

Everything that you do already is hugely appreciated. For any gifts of money you give us, thank you. For any gifts of time you volunteer to us, thank you. For your prayers, thank you.

God gives us everything; we are the few called to bring in the harvest. To do that work needs time, money and prayer. As Isaiah wrote: “Be strong, do not fear!”

Amen.