by Emma Thompson, Telegraph (Photo: Unsplash)
The increase in administration is clearly self-imposed, not brought about by external circumstances
A new report has highlighted that, by spending money on administrators and fashionable projects, the Church of England is punishing the very people who keep it alive.
“Wasted Money in a Diminishing Church”, by Canon Robin Gill and Prof John Craven, recommends “an explicit recognition that every proposal for spending income from historic assets eventually requires greater contribution from parishioners”. It warns that “radical thinking” is necessary to attack a cycle of decline which has left many parishioners and clergy “deeply dispirited”.
The report’s statistics certainly make depressing reading. The Church has increased its administrative staff by nearly 80 per cent in 20 years while the number of parish priests has almost halved. Churchgoer and donor numbers have fallen, with the natural consequence that parish giving has fallen in real terms.
Where is the logic in running a charity which increases its administrative costs relentlessly while the donor base is shrinking? This is a fatal flaw. Continuing on the current course, and praying, is not an option to solve this key strategic problem. It simply defies psychology to expect donors to keep giving when so much funding is being redirected away from the front line.
Some of the causes being supported appear to be on the fringes of, possibly even beyond, the charitable purpose. Whatever you feel about the merits of any of the projects the Church spends its money on – and falling donations imply a negative reaction – urgent action needs taking. The authors call for an “explicit national commitment that ‘parish priests, not bishops or diocesan administrators, are our first priority.’”