In previous weeks we have written to clergy and wardens about the Mission and People aspects of our proposals to the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board (SMMIB) for funding under the Diocesan Investment Programme (DIP). At Diocesan Synod on 12 October a budget for 2025 was unanimously agreed. This letter explains:
- The financial aspects of the DIP proposals.
- The 2025 budget.
- Parish Share in 2025 and beyond.
Like it or not finance is important. Having the money enables us to make choices about what we do to pursue our mission.
The DIP plan explained
Through our DIP bid we have developed a financial plan which:
- Supports our plans for growth.
- Puts more resource into the frontline mission and ministry to support that growth.
- Builds a financially sustainable diocese.
A large part of the plan involves helping every church in our diocese get on top of their finances. If we have churches that are financially sustainable then the leadership can focus time on money on mission. That is our aim. So, the plan includes a commitment to continue the work we have started under the Talking Money initiative, work to encourage good and faithful stewardship practice in every church. We will also need to work with every parish to ensure every church has a balanced budget. By supporting every church in this way, securing your finances, then you can be confidently putting your money into supporting your mission.
Financial health and sustainability for the church of the future will not come from giving alone. For every church to be financially healthy they will have to assess how sustainable their church is and a range of ways that we can work together to keep churches serving their communities. This will include creative approaches to income generation and management of costs. The DIP bid provides good support for this.
But the plan will call us to be realistic and we will need to think about those churches who struggle to be viable. In those cases, we may need to bring in fresh leaders or plant new congregations. We may have to consider closing unviable church buildings and finding different ways to serve. That may lead to difficult decisions but securing funding via the plan will mean we can be realistic, honest and upfront about what works for the mission of the church and for a hopeful and hope-filled future for our diocese.
If we get the money then our plan will include investing in the local church. This is an absolutely fundamental aim – to get more resource into the frontline of mission and ministry. We have plans to create resource hubs and support services that enable us to get the benefit of bulk purchasing and deliver support so church leaders have more time to deliver mission. This is why Larger Single Parishes are crucial to the plan. They give you the ability to get that support, lose some of the tasks you are not called to do and free your time.
We also want to set up what we are calling Funding the Future grants. These will be given to support mission provided that the local church is showing that it is secure in its financial plans and has a desire a grow. Funding the Future grants will be able to be spent on:
- Training and development, e.g. costs of LyCiG, discipleship courses, skilling for parish officers.
- Costs of events/programmes, e.g. stewardship campaign, parish mission week, outreach events.
- Costs of setup/seed money for new communities, e.g. school worshipping community, justice. initiative, youth service.
- Advertising and publicity, e.g. noticeboards, website development, printing costs.
- Match funding/development costs, e.g. leverage of larger grants, fundraising, legal costs of developing parish assets.
- Small improvements to buildings to enable new income streams (e.g. installing Wi-Fi or redecorating a room to enhance hiring income).
And much else besides.
Finally, we want to improve buildings. We need the right buildings and good standard housing so that we offer a decent living and decent places for flourishing ministry.
If our plans receive the funding from SMMIB then there will be significant investment but it will come with conditions that the DBF will need to comply with. These will include expectations parishes pay Parish Share in full, have up to date budgets, mission plans and dashboards. This is a reasonable ask for us show due stewardship for the significant investment the national church entrusts in us and we want to use to support your mission and ministry. And it will include hard and honest choices around the health and viability of certain parishes and a need to turnaround those who are not in good financial and missional health.
The 2025 budget and Parish Share
The 2025 budget agreed by Diocesan Synod serves two purposes:
- It is a budget for growth if we can secure additional investment via our DIP plan.
- It is a holding position while we make difficult decisions about our future capacity if we fail to secure DIP funding.
As much of the 2025 budget depends on the outcome of the SMMIB discussions then we cannot say whether this is the first year of a new model to support growth or a bridge to a less certain future. When we have greater certainty we will of course let you know.
What we do know is that since 2020 we have seen the impact that weakened parish finances has on Parish Share collection and therefore our ability to sustain the costs of local missional leadership. As we know Parish Share pays the costs of our clergy, our work in church schools and our contribution to the national church. It does not pay the costs of St James House.
If you are one of the significant number of parishes paying your share in full then we thank you. Your generosity alongside the support of the national church has helped us maintain our clergy leadership. If you struggle to pay we understand and while we are asking for all parishes to pay up to their allocated share we are also looking to support those who struggle. We were able to secure a final tranche of support from the Archbishops’ Council for 2024 to support those parishes who are struggling. This support is not available into 2025.
For 2025 we propose to:
- Sustain clergy deployment at 2024 levels unless deaneries tell us they want to reduce (or increase) clergy numbers
- Discontinue Deanery and Mission Growth Fund allocations from 2025
- Reduce Parish Share by 13% on the 2024 request
Please note that the Parish Share reduction is on the total Parish Share budget for 2024; it is not a reduction on the amount paid in 2024. This is a key distinction. The Parish Share budget for 2024 was £8.019 million; in 2025 it will be £6.705 million. This is irrespective of DIP support.
If we secure DIP funding our budget assumes we can maintain this lower level of Parish Share whilst also sustaining clergy deployment levels and improving the condition of our clergy housing.
We anticipate that every parish will benefit from the reduction in Parish Share in 2025. But we know that decisions about the Parish Share that each church pays are set at the deanery level. However, what is crucial is that all parishes pay what is asked of them in 2025 in full. This is critical to re-establish the culture of high levels of Parish Share payment which we were rightly proud of, a culture that was biblically rooted in the sense of missional giving, a culture that enabled us to support ministry in some of the most deprived parts of our diocese.
We also need to improve the Parish Share collection rate in 2024. When setting the 2024 budget we asked all parishes that had paid Parish Share in full in 2023 to continue to do so in 2024, and for those churches who hadn’t paid in full in 2023 to increase their Parish Share payment by at least 5% in 2024. We need that to happen for 3 reasons:
- To begin to get back to that sense of Parish Share being a priority in every parish budget and that each parish pays what is asked of them.
- To ensure the DBF has enough cash to continue confidently to be able to meet its commitments to clergy and other key calls on its funds.
- To signal to the national church that the Diocese of Liverpool remains a place where it can confidently invest.
A word on Deanery Mission & Growth Funds (DMGF). We have taken DMGF out of the 2025 as a key means of reducing the headline level of Parish Share. However, it is important to note 2 things:
- There will be no raid on DMGF. Any DMGF held by deaneries at the end of 2024 will be available to them for investment in mission and growth.
- If deaneries want to continue to collect DMGF via Parish Share in 2025 they are, of course, welcome to do so. They simply need to inform St James House of the additional amount of Parish Share they want to collect to enable this.
We will send treasurers and clergy a separate email setting out the process for deciding the actual amount of Parish Share per deanery so these can be included in your budget projections for 2025.
