The Church of England (CofE) is careening toward a “financial disaster” unless it drastically reduces the number of dioceses and reins in expenses, according to a new academic report, which notes that 37 out of 42 dioceses are now running budget deficits compared to 19 just a few years ago.
Written by professors Canon Robin Gill and John Craven, the latter of whom was a member of the Archbishops’ Council for nearly a decade, Wasted Money in a Diminishing Church argues that the denomination needs to cut the number of dioceses at least in half if it wishes to remain financially solvent, along with making ruthless cuts to staff headcounts and stopping spending on large unpopular projects involving slavery reparations and net-zero emission targets.
“We want to break this silence because we are convinced that the Church of England is heading for financial disaster. More and more of its funds are being spent on administration in every diocese while churchgoing continues to decline, and less and less is spent on supporting parish clergy…As clergy are spread ever more thinly in urban and rural areas, services are less frequent, congregations are getting smaller, and less money can be raised in church collections from people who wonder what they are getting for their money.”
The problems for the Church of England are numerous. Along with electing its first woman Archbishop of Canterbury and becoming progressive on the issues of homosexuality and LGBTQ acceptance, denominational metrics are crashing.
Attendance has continued to plummet, down 25% since 2015. A third of attendees are over the age of 70. Giving is down 30% over the last decade, with the average amount given weekly by parishioners dropping to around $21 USD a week.
Furthermore, members of the CofE are purposefully withholding their giving from large capital expenses they view as idiotic and unnecessary. GBnews shares:
“The report identifies the Church’s carbon reduction plans and Project Spire, a £100m investment fund designed to atone for historical links to the slave trade, as “costly” schemes that churchgoers regard as “unrealistic, extravagant, unsustainable and deeply depressing”.
The Church set a target to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2030, committing £190m to eco-friendly upgrades for churches and vicarages.It has since conceded it will not meet this deadline, with critics arguing the policy has left parishioners shivering in cold buildings and deterred attendance by restricting the installation of new oil or gas boilers.”
Still, they continue to balloon their bureaucracy despite rapidly diminishing relevancy. :
“The report also highlights a dramatic expansion in diocesan bureaucracy, with staff numbers rising roughly 80 per cent from 1,300 to 2,300 since 2005.
New positions include net-zero officers, safeguarding specialists and racial justice leads, even as the number of parish clergy has fallen sharply.
Meanwhile, Dioceses have multiplied from 22 in 1800 to 40 (mainland) today, while the number of bishops is now four times what it was in the Victorian era.”
