Talks over plans to withhold rise in parish share

THE Bishop of Oxford is to meet with the leaders of three city churches who last month announced they would not pay the increase in this year’s parish share.

St Ebbe’s, St Aldates and St Andrew’s, all vibrant evangelical churches in Oxford, had said they would withhold the 10% increase in parish share due this year and pay it into a separate mission fund. But they have now promised to meet with Bishop Richard later this month to talk through the issue before making a final decision.

The issue of the rise in parish share is always highly controversial. At the moment, bigger, wealthier churches often pay a high rate of share in order to subsidize smaller, struggling Churches.

The Diocese is currently trying to restructure the parish share system to make it fairer on bigger churches. One proposal being considered is asking every church to pay 80% of its ministry costs, and capping the amount that larger churches pay at 120%. At the moment, some churches pay only 50% of their ministry costs with others paying as much as 150%. The new system would give growing churches some financial flexibility to promote mission and outreach while maintaining the principle of mutual support.

The new Diocesan strategy says that parishes must move towards being more self-sufficient.

There will be extensive consultation on any proposals after this month’s synod meeting on March 6.

Brian Newey, chair of the Diocesan Board of Finance, said the principle of mutual support between parishes would remain integral. ‘Churches which may not be numerically strong can do an enormous amount of social good and will be supported,’ he said.