Parish Share Controversy

I read the article referring to Oxford Churches refusing to pay their parish share increase direct to the diocese with great anger.  It was the combination of arrogance and lack of understanding and communal responsibility that was most breathtaking.  I speak as churchwarden of a rural parish in the diocese.  We share our priest with four other parishes;  half our services in each month are lay-led.  When we read that three city churches have taken upon themselves to decide who is worthy to receive their share of money, and that this decision will be based on the city churches' own assessment of the struggling church's strategy, I'm afraid we can only see signs of selfishness and superiority.
 
If it is of any interest to those churches, our PCC recently adopted our own strategy document for growth and mission.  Included was the statement "We have a responsibility and a calling to help in any way we can, and may not selfishly hold back any help we can give - time, money, advice, support - merely because it is inconvenient to us".
 
We are committed to paying our full parish share, and it is not without our own hardship.  We will continue to work with the limited resources at our disposal to propagate the work of the church in our area.  We aim to grow our congregation, to deepen our spiritual understanding, to maintain our financial standing, to see the church used more within our village, and more.  All these things are within our current strategy, a copy of which I am more than happy to send to the Oxford City Churches, but certainly not if I have to use it to buy their largesse.  I urge them to think again.
 
Yours faithfully
Stephen Johns
Ickford