Scottish Christian.com

Home > News > Scottish Christian News Monitor

Kirk members are giving more - offerings up nearly 4 per cent

The report to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from the Stewardship and Finance Committee includes the following:

Christian giving

While the communicant membership of the Church of Scotland continues to decline, the offerings of members and adherents continue to increase.

Offerings, excluding tax recoveries, amounted to £58,886,196 in 2006 - an increase of 3.72%. Tax recoveries from Gift Aid amounted to £10,806,674 in 2006 – an increase of 4.62%.

Total offerings, including tax recoveries, amounted to £69,692,870 in 2006 – an increase of 3.86%.

The committee urges congregations to encourage members and adherents to review annually the level of their Christian giving of money.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget in March 2007 indicated that the basic rate of income tax will be reduced from 22% to 20% from April 2008. This would reduce the present tax recovery on Gift Aid offerings by almost £1.2 million.

Stewardship

An external report to the Council of Assembly’s Funding Forum affirms the teaching and promotion of Christian stewardship as the most effective way of generating income from the members of the Church. The work of the Church’s stewardship consultants is strongly commended in this report.

The report states that stewardship programmes are most effective in financial terms (i) when they concentrate on the giving of money and do not include the giving of time and talent, and (ii) when they are undertaken on our paid consultancy basis, with the stewardship consultant involved at every stage of the planning and delivery of the programme.

The report also places great emphasis on the need for Christian giving to be presented positively as something which enables the sharing of the gospel through the worship, fellowship, mission and service of the Church.

The committee welcomes this endorsement of its work and the opportunity presented by the Council of Assembly in implementing the recommendation of the Funding Forum that, on a pilot basis, two presbyteries be invited to encourage all their congregations to engage in a stewardship programme focussing solely on the giving of money, with the paid consultancy level of support from our stewardship consultants being offered free of charge.

If these programmes are fruitful, it is the intention of the Council of Assembly that they will be rolled out in other presbyteries in future years.

Congregational contributions 2006

Congregations contributed £42,836,513 to their ministries and mission allocations in 2006 – 98.3% of the total requested. Late contributions in the following year tend to cover much of the shortfall in payments.

Ministries and nission allocations

Each congregation now receives a single ministries and mission allocation. This year 85% goes to the Parish Ministries Fund, and 15% to the Mission and Renewal Fund.

The allocation is calculated on the basis of average unrestricted income in the preceding three years. 11% of congregations, which have average unrestricted income in excess of £100,000 per annum, are being asked to contribute 27% of the total allocation.

Some 406 charges (congregations or linked congregations) are meeting the full cost of a parish minister with at least ten years experience through their allocations and supporting 769 charges which are not able to meet this full cost.

Proposals for a fair allocation system for congregations which are part of single congregation Local Ecumenical Partnerships have been prepared by six different denominations.

These are being presented to the General Assembly for approval by the Church of Scotland.

Charity Regulation in Scotland

The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act came into force in April 2006, and the Charity Accounts (Scotland) Regulations apply to accounting periods commencing on or after 1 April 2006. These measures mean that the General Assembly’s Regulations for Congregational Finance and Presbytery Finance need considerable amendment. New regulations are proposed in the committee’s supplementary report.

The committee recognises that congregational treasurers and presbytery treasurers will need advice, training and support as they come to terms with new requirements which have originated with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).

Full story at the Church of Scotland.