PCC News

We would like to say “thank you” for all that you have navigated during the pandemic. The Parish Share received for the year ending 31 December 2021 totalled £6.520 million (82.27 per cent of the total request). Whilst this is a decrease of £566,170 compared to pre-pandemic receipts of 2019, and £1.405 million less than the requested amount, it is an increase when compared to receipts in 2020 of £359,928 or 5.84 per cent, an extraordinary achievement.

We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of parishes towards the mission and ministry of the church: both your collective efforts as well as your individual contributions. We need to continue to encourage one another with God’s faithfulness and generosity and remember what the parish share contributions pay for. Providing leadership for mission and ministry are our stipendiary clergy and, in common with most organisations, salaries (stipends in the Church of England) form the largest call on finance. In order to pay these stipends and housing costs across the diocese we make a request for parish share, being the net cost to the diocese after all other sources of income have been deducted.

As life begins for many to have a feel of greater normality we are also conscious of what we have lost during the pandemic. For us as a whole diocese this now includes having less resources to support our parishes as we have reduced the Diocesan lay staff by 12 staff members through redundancy, restructuring roles and not replacing those who have left, and we have not replaced 15 stipendiary clergy. We have rightly made very significant procurement savings and have stopped various pieces of work. We are grateful for all who work at Easton but we are aware that there is no spare capacity and they are working at full stretch. This is really hard and impacts on how we serve the work of God’s Kingdom in fulfilling our vision to be Transformed by Christ: Prayerful, Pastoral, Prophetic.

We invite you to consider prayerfully whether you are able to make any additional contributions in 2022 to support the mission of the diocese and the life of other parishes who are struggling.