Minutes of a meeting held on 13 June 2015 at St Peter's Church Centre, Wellesbourne, held to agree the payments to and from the Support Fund in 2016.

Transcription

1 Diocese of Coventry Support Fund meeting 13 June 2015 Minutes of a meeting held on 13 June 2015 at St Peter's Church Centre, Wellesbourne, held to agree the payments to and from the Support Fund in Deanery representatives: Alcester: Revd David Silvester 1 Mr Alan Greathead Coventry East: Revd Clive Hogger 1 Coventry North: Revd Robin Trew 1 Mr David Fletcher Coventry South Revd Steve Burch 1 Mr Mark Perryman 2 Fosse: Revd Kate Mier 1 Mr Pete Ashton 2 Kenilworth: Mr Alan Hanbury Mr Tom Walls 2 Nuneaton: Revd Dr Richard Hare 1 Mr Peter Rogers 2 Rugby: Revd Canon Peter Watkins 1 Mrs Helen Simmonds 2 Shipston: Revd Dr Jill Tucker 1 Revd Chris Goble Southam: Revd Craig Groocock 1 Mr Steve Copley Warwick & Leamington: Revd Charlotte Gale 1 Others attending (non-voting): Independent chair: Mr Graham Wright Warwick & Budbrooke parishes: Revd David Brown Mr John Luxton Area Dean of Kenilworth: Revd Mark Bratton 1 Archdeacon Missioner: Ven Morris Rodham Archdeacon Pastor: Ven John Green Chair of the DBF: Canon Ian Francis Diocesan Officers: Canon Simon Lloyd Mr David Oglethorpe Mrs Anita Smith Mr Matt Jermyn 1 Area Deans; 2 Deanery Lay Chairs 1. Election of the chair and morning prayer After breakfast David Oglethorpe welcomed everyone to the meeting. He explained that the first business of the meeting was to elect the independent chair and that Graham Wright, who had chaired the previous four Support Fund meetings, had agreed to be nominated again. Graham was elected unanimously. Morning Prayer was held in St Peter's Church, led by Richard Hare. One of the readings he chose and based a short homily on was from Proverbs 19, including the verse Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and will be repaid in full. After Morning Prayer, all returned to the St Peter s Church Centre for the rest of the meeting. 2. Deanery presentations Graham explained that the representatives of each deanery would give a presentation on their deanery and he would then ask for offers of and requests for support. 3. Nuneaton Peter Rogers told the meeting that, while they would like to ask for more, the level of support being received by Nuneaton felt about right. In 2014 the deanery had been unable to allocate its deanery share to parishes in full and so for the 2015 allocations a new system had 1

2 been adopted in which the deanery standing committee, after meeting with every parish, allocated the share. Peter said that three parishes were able to meet the cost of their ministry plus 10% of unrestricted income. The remaining parishes had had share increases of around 7%, which only two parishes had objected to. Peter spoke about the challenges and opportunities in the deanery. In 2016 the deanery's credit for parochial fees had reduced by about 15,000, which Peter hoped would be offset by savings in the cost of posts. As Nuneaton has the highest number of clergy, the proposed increases to the cost of the Diocesan Training Partnership would have a large effect on the deanery. Peter spoke about clergy deployment in the deanery, saying that a curate was to be placed at Camp Hill. Clive Jones at Attleborough and Don Jones at Atherstone were soon to retire and another curate would be placed at Atherstone. Wolvey was in interregnum and discussions about the future shape of that post were ongoing. It was hoped that Weddington would take on a 0.5FTE post, and that in due course Bulkington would become a 1.0 post. The vacancy at Stockingford had been filled by Kate Massey. Peter also noted that work was ongoing to close the church at Caldecote, but that progress was slow. It was noted that the deanery has about 16 clergy, about half with only one church. 4. Warwick and Leamington (Leamington parishes) Charlotte Gale said that, for finance purposes, the Warwick and Budbrooke parishes operate separately from the Leamington parishes, and that she was to talk about the Leamington part of the deanery, which included 8.5 clergy and 12 churches in 9 benefices, with an average congregation of 132. Two years ago, the Leamington churches had offered support of 1 post, which ultimately they had been unable to pay. Last year, Charlotte said that she had wanted to offer a realistic amount and had agreed to contribute 0.6 posts. When it came to allocating this, however, a contribution of 0.9 posts had been agreed. The deanery had agreed strongly that for 2016 they should offer to contribute 1 post. Charlotte said that this would be a huge challenge for them, as many of their churches felt that they are giving at capacity. Three of their nine benefices were receiving internal support, one substantially. She noted that on average churches were paying 110% of their cost of ministry and that 45% of unrestricted income is used for parish share. Speaking about challenges, she said that two churches were in the process of building church halls, absorbing both energy and finance. Charlotte said that large amounts of new housing were being built, which was leading them to think about changing parish boundaries and create a new post, which she said they would want to fund without reducing their giving. 5. Warwick and Leamington (Warwick and Budbrooke parishes) David Brown, vicar of Budbrooke, spoke. He said that in Warwick and Budbrooke there are 5 clergy posts, which are separately funded by the King Henry VIII Endowed Trust, Warwick ("the Trust"). The Trust also makes annual grant payments to the PCCs, which are restricted and must be used for work in Warwick, although they can be used to pay Training Share costs. Historically these churches have contributed support of more than 2 posts. The Trust had challenged this on the grounds that grants from the Trust were effectively being used for this contribution. This had led to a dialogue between the parishes, the Trust and Diocesan 2

3 officers which had, after significant work, led to agreement by the parishes, advised to the trustees, that the contribution from the parishes would reduce to 1.58 in After a further smaller reduction in 2017, David said that the Warwick and Budbrooke parishes would be free to participate normally at the Support Fund meeting. David said that while they were not fully part of the conversation about 2016 share, it was right for them to give account to the Support Fund meeting on how they are meeting the challenges they face. He said that the process of reaching agreement had exposed weaknesses in the PCCs, which they were working to address. While some of the churches had been able to maintain their contribution to the Support Fund, some had not. He said that one benefit of the process had been greatly improved relationships between the Trust, Diocesan officers and the parishes. This had led to the parishes being challenged on how they are using the funding they receive, with the idea that the parishes should be a beacon where mission and creativity can flourish. David said that in the past year the Christchurch LEP had closed and the funds that had been allocated to it, rather than being redistributed to the other churches, had been used to create a biddable fund. David and John spoke about the mission which is ongoing in Warwick, noting that having five parishes in a relatively small town is itself a significant statement of the mission of the church. St Mary's Warwick has built up a tradition of very high quality choral music, with a salaried director of music and four choirs. John said that the annual Carols at the Castle event proclaims the gospel musically to audiences of 5,000 people. He said that St Mary's is also part way through a 2.4 million fundraising project for work to the church building. David spoke about St Michael's Budbrooke, which does large amounts of work with youth and in schools. David said that for him the biblical command for 'those who are rich to do good and be rich in good works' summarised the responsibility of the parishes to use the gift they receive well. He said that the intention is to be a serious contributor to the Support Fund, and his hope was that applying the funds for mission would lead to growth, both numerically and in the capacity to provide support. A number of questions were asked. It was noted that giving in the parishes is not as high as elsewhere and John said that all five churches were engaging actively with stewardship, so that after 2017 they can increase their support fund contributions in future years. David and John were thanked for the positive message of their presentation. 6. Coventry North Robin Trew began by saying that Coventry North is made up of the poor and reiterated the message from Proverbs 19 that those who invest in the poor invest in the Lord and will be rewarded! He thanked all those who contribute to the Support Fund for their investment. Coventry North is a populous ex-industrial deanery where industrial skills have disappeared and housing is being built on former factory sites. There are high concentrations of young adults and immigrants. This context creates both challenges and opportunities for the churches, which have few resources to meet the needs. Robin said that several churches had taken part in the Winter Night Shelter for the homeless project and that Radford St Francis, which had been almost destitute, had engaged very successfully with its community and was giving help to job seekers and a daily cafe. Urban Hope had grown too large for its cafe venue and was meeting in a theatre, and was starting to contribute to deanery share. A city 3

4 centre church in an interregnum had been spurred to creative thinking and action and had recently presented five confirmation candidates. Robin said that the deanery is very grateful for the support received, which has encouraged increased giving in all of the churches. He had produced a generosity index, calculating the relative generosity of different churches, and he said that there was often a correlation between generosity and growth. He said that the challenges faced were the need to be more generous, the social and demographic changes which are happening, and the dearth of professional skills in churches. He noted the increasingly non-church culture, but said that the deanery rejects the narrative of inevitable decline. He noted the exciting prospects of the Acceler8 project. David Fletcher spoke, saying that the deanery is very conscious of the support they receive and parishes are encouraged to put paying share high on the list of their priorities. He said that almost all of the receiving parishes in the deanery had reduced the level of support they were getting, although many of them had finished the year with a deficit. In 2015 the deanery had increased their request for support to meet the costs of Urban Hope. David said that the credit for fees had risen and the deanery had lost 0.5 of a post, which was leading to a reduced request for support in 2016, going from 4.47 posts to 4 posts. 7. Kenilworth Mark Bratton, Area Dean of Kenilworth, explained that he would have to leave the meeting after his presentation and thanked Alan Hanbury for agreeing to take his place. Mark explained that Kenilworth Deanery is diverse, with two very large churches in Kenilworth, one slightly smaller church in Berkswell, and three other parishes which are net recipients of support. Historically the deanery has been a significant net contributor to the Support Fund. In the deanery, Kate Massey had finished her curacy at Meriden and moved to Stockingford, and had been replaced by Linda Lilley. Meriden had agreed to a very large share increase, and the financial position at Hatton was continuing to be resolved. The deanery had taken on the travel expenses of a priest living outside the deanery and the funding for the Area Dean post. Mark also said that Kenilworth St John's reordering had reached an advanced stage. The key challenges in the deanery were an exceptional situation at St Nicholas Kenilworth, which had led to a steep reduction in the contribution to share they were able to offer, encouraging smaller congregations to take responsibility for giving to the wider church, and the need for additional ministry support in one church. For 2015 the deanery had offered support equivalent to 2.75 posts to the support fund, which Mark said had been right. Because of the significant drop in support from St Nicholas, however, they would be offering support of 2.07 posts for Mark said his hope was that in three years time, the situation at St Nicholas would have been resolved, that Hatton would be in good financial order, that Meriden would have a permanent priest, and that there would be an increased sense in the struggling parishes of responsibility to others. 8. Southam Craig Groocock said that in 2015 Southam Deanery was receiving support for 0.2 of a post, which had been exactly what was needed. The deanery has a population of 20,000, 18 churches spread between a number of villages and one town, Southam. There are 3.67 stipendiary clergy in the deanery, one of whom, Tim Britton, has recently retired. 4

5 Craig said that there are a number of issues in the deanery, one of which is that Southam St James is not currently paying for its cost of ministry. There are also things to celebrate, such as the deanery mission which had run for a week in September, which had involved all the benefices and had seen numbers of people recommitting themselves to Christ and becoming Christians for the first time. There was numeric growth in the west side of the deanery which was very positive, and there are new housing developments. Craig said that there is a real desire for the churches to work differently to see growth. Steve Copley said that when the new deanery share system had begun Southam Deanery had been receiving 60,000 of support. Since then a lot of work had been done and at the Support Fund meeting two years before, Craig had not asked for any support. The deanery had worked hard but had not quite managed to achieve this. Steve explained that the village churches have committed themselves to meeting the deficit from Southam, but that this year the churches had indicated that their reserves have been exhausted and they are unable to offer as much. Churches with aging congregations had less capacity for fundraising, and one churchwarden had paid personally for the church's insurance. Steve said that the deanery had looked at reorganising the clergy again, but had not found a viable option and so the deanery was faced with having to ask for increased support. 9. Rugby Peter Watkins and Helen Simmonds said that Rugby Deanery has a mix of urban and rural areas, with 29 churches in 14 groups. There are two clergy vacancies, including one benefice which has had a self-supporting minister. The deanery has been able to contribute to the Support Fund, and Helen said that this had been right, although for 2016 they would be offering slightly less than previously. The deanery has a number of new clergy in the town who have brought new life, but also has some clergy who are discouraged and there are some parishes which have persistently defaulted on parish share payments. There has been some encouragement from parishes in vacancy where the laity have taken the lead in trying new approaches. There are also opportunities coming from the new housing estates which are due to add more than 10,000 new houses over 10 years, along with 2 new secondary schools and 3 new primary schools. The deanery was expecting to need to increase their number of stipendiary clergy, partly to serve the new estates and partly to replace retiring self-supporting ministers. This meant that the deanery would have to slightly reduce the level of support it could offer to the Support Fund, although the level of internal support was to rise. 10. Coventry East Clive Hogger said that Coventry East deanery has a population of about 120,000 people, served by 10 clergy posts. The context of the deanery is very similar to Coventry North. It is post-industrial, the population generally has low educational attainment and have a lot of young people. Coventry University attracts a lot of international students as well as white British working class students, however not many stay after graduation. Clive said that there is a high level of social and spiritual need in the deanery, which is the most deprived in the diocese. He said that the churches are in good heart, are doing very creative work to meet these needs and are being recognised as part of the fabric and structure of life in the city. Clive said that financial resources are scarce in the deanery. Apart from the clergy, there is one paid employee, an administrator shared between three parishes. Parish share paid is approximately equal to the income from giving, leaving the churches reliant on finding other 5

6 sources of income to fund their running costs. This other income is largely from 2 churches which attract weddings, funerals, and hiring out church buildings for other events, which Clive said restricts the ability of the churches to use their space for mission. He emphasised that the churches are growing and are in good heart, saying that they had recently found funding for an extra house for duty post. They had agreed that their long term goal is to be self-sustaining financially, however Clive said that for the time being they would continue to ask for the same level of support. 11. Alcester Alan Greathead spoke, saying that Alcester deanery is mostly rural, with pockets of light industry and has a population of about 32,000. There are 31 churches in 6 benefices, with 6.5 stipendiary clergy and 2 House for Duty priests, who rely on support from self-supporting ministers, retired clergy and lay ministers. The deanery has been providing support to other areas, but this is becoming more difficult. Alan said that he had reviewed the churches' finances for the current year and unfortunately the deanery would need to offer less support in The largest challenge for the deanery is the aging congregations, with giving dropping as people retire as well as when they die. There is a lack of affordable housing in the deanery, which means that very few younger people are staying in the area. The people who do move to the deanery have little affinity to the area and most do not respond to invitations to come to churches. Opportunities for outreach are being taken and Alan said that one church is trying to take over a community centre, which would be the hub of the village. There is a lot of deanery cooperation, sharing ideas and resources between churches and there was some hope to have an extra half time clergy post, to develop links with schools. In three years Alan said that he hoped that this post would be filled and that the current level of ministry would continue, and that the contribution to the support fund would get to a sustainable level. 12. Fosse Kate Mier said that Fosse deanery is long and thin, stretching from Stratford to near Banbury. It has 8 benefices and 9 posts, two of which are in Stratford, and there are 2 House for Duty priests. There are 29 communities with 28 church buildings. The level of support being given is realistic, and in some places there is a desire to give more. Opportunities in the deanery include new housing developments, pioneer ministries and other work to establish new patterns of worship, such as the Rosebird centre in Stratford and Messy churches. There is a lot of lively Christianity going on in schools, and work on stewardship is ongoing, particularly in Stratford. Kate said that the 8 essential qualities work is proving helpful and that people are coming to faith. She said that the greatest challenges to come will be in matching clergy deployment to the new housing, the transient population and aging congregations which make it difficult to maintain lay leadership. Funding rural ministry alongside maintaining buildings is a big challenge and Kate said that the healthiest benefice financially has had to take out a loan to fund building work, while another parish will have to find approaching 300,000 for repairs. The deanery's aim had been for each benefice to meet its clergy costs, but they had now had to accept that that is not a realistic target. Kate said that this meant they had little capacity to give more to the wider diocese. Whether keeping all of the church buildings open is viable had been questioned, but Kate said that this is a very emotive issue. She said that capable new clergy had moved into the deanery from 6

7 urban areas and were finding rural ministry harder than expected. She said that she welcomed the current review of rural ministry. Looking ahead, Kate said that they would hope to maintain their current number of clergy and would continue to give a similar level of support. 13. Coventry South Steve Burch said that Coventry South has 11 parishes with 10 stipendiary clergy and 4 selfsupporting ministers. He said that a joy was that all of the recent clergy vacancies had been filled, and that relationships between the clergy are strong. He said that a number of churches have recently lost significant givers or have had them made redundant, which has left a large hole in finances. Coventry South is the richest part of the city, although he noted that some parishes would like to see more giving from richer areas of the city outside the deanery. There are about 21,000 people in their 20s and 30s in the deanery, some former graduates of Warwick University attracted by less expensive housing. Steve said that in the past the deanery had offered support to other areas, and that would continue this year. Steve said that in about 3 years another stipendiary post would be needed to replace some of the self-supporting ministers. 14. Shipston Jill Tucker spoke about Shipston Deanery. It is the smallest deanery by population, with only 15,000 people. It has 26 church buildings in 5 multi-parish benefices. About one third of the population live in Shipston town and the remaining parishes have an average population of 240, with some having fewer than 100 people. There are 5 incumbents and 2 House for Duty priests. The deanery share funds almost all of its ministry costs, and they are trying to meet the remaining amount. Jill said that there is some internal support in the deanery as some benefices are able to give more than others, and that the amount of support the deanery is receiving in 2015 is slightly more than she would ask for in Chris Goble said that the sleepy, unreal perception of village life is inaccurate and that they are in fact places of growth. He said that having lots of churches is positive and that they are open every day. Across the deanery, a huge variety of activity takes place, including choirs, messy and cafe churches, hospitality and services in schools and village halls. He noted that stability in the size of congregations represents growth, as new people are replacing older members who have passed on. Jill said that much of this takes place outside churches, and that the huge variety of new life taking place is exciting. She also spoke about challenges, saying that there is a wide variety of churchmanship within the deanery which does not make relationships easy, that rural ministry requires heavy involvement in what is going on locally, but the distances between parishes mean that travel takes significant time. Small congregations require a rethink of how worship should work, and maintaining all of the church buildings is a challenge, although they are valued. Jill said that in 3 years' time she hoped the clergy deployment in the deanery would be substantially unchanged. A new pioneer ministry post was to be created which she expected to be externally funded and she hoped that would have a positive ripple effect on parish share. She said that she would love to reduce the support received by the deanery to 0 and to start giving, although this would be challenging. 7

8 15. Inflation in the cost of a post David Oglethorpe said that the increase in the cost of a post was likely to be between 2.5% and 3% in He explained that this was above what might be expected because the costs of the Diocesan Training Partnership, which are paid for by Training Shares, were to rise in response to the national initiative to recruit more priests. 16. Diocesan subsidy Simon Lloyd said that the DBF s contribution into the support fund had risen significantly in 2015 to 1.77 posts, although the original intention of the share system had been for parish share to fully meet the cost of ministry. He explained that at present the DBF receives annual funding from the Church Commissioners which is approximately equal to the diocesan subsidy. This was likely to be discontinued from 2017 onwards, however, and Simon said that because of this the diocesan subsidy for 2016 could not be increased over the 2015 level and maintaining the subsidy at that level beyond 2016 would be very challenging. 17. Offers of and requests for support Graham Wright told the representatives that he would ask each of them for offers of or requests for support. There would then be some discussion if the payments going into and out of the Support Fund did not balance. If this does not produce balancing payments Graham would propose a schedule which would be adopted if it had 85% agreement. If this were not given, the 2015 payment schedule would be used in After a short break the deanery representatives made initial offers of and requests for support, which were: Deanery Bid Deanery Bid Alcester 1.25 Rugby 1.25 Coventry East Shipston Coventry North Southam Coventry South 0.70 Leamington parishes 1.00 Fosse 0.61 Warwick & Budbrooke 1.58 Kenilworth 2.07 Diocesan subsidy 1.77 Nuneaton Total A wide ranging discussion followed. Whether it was wise for the DBF to offer a subsidy of 1.77 posts was questioned, if it would have to drop in a year s time. Whether this could be compensated for was discussed and it was noted that there was some hope that the situation in Kenilworth Deanery would have improved by the time of the next Support Fund meeting. It was noted again that the Warwick and Budbrooke parishes presentation had been very positive and that they are in an unusual situation. Whether they could raise their offer of support was queried. David Brown and John Luxton said that, while it was right for them to report back to the Support Fund meeting on stewardship and use of the Trust income for mission, they were not able to offer more than the amount which had been agreed between the parishes. Simon Lloyd said that the Henry parishes were not being inflexible without good reason. He explained that the agreement which the Warwick and Budbrooke parishes were holding to had emerged after a lot of work and discussion and had enormous benefits. It was also suggested that St Mary s Warwick and Holy Trinity Stratford might be similar parishes and that a link between them might allow them to share useful experience. 8

9 After another break, Graham asked the deanery representatives for revised offers of and requests for support. Some deanery representatives noted that their revised bids would be challenging to meet if inflation on the cost of a post approaches 3%. Nine out of the eleven deaneries representatives offered to revise their bids, with the Kenilworth Deanery representatives agreeing a much reduced drop their offer reflecting hope that the situation in the Deanery would improve. The revised offers were: Deanery Bid Deanery Bid Alcester 1.35 Rugby 1.40 Coventry East Shipston 0.00 Coventry North Southam Coventry South 0.80 Leamington parishes 1.00 Fosse* 0.70 Warwick & Budbrooke 1.58 Kenilworth 2.49 Diocesan subsidy 1.77 Nuneaton Total 0.00 *Fosse deanery s offer of support was based on the hope that the increase in the cost of a post will be less than 3% and on the assumption that the Fosse deanery share in 2016 would not exceed 526,282. This schedule of contributions and receipts from the Support Fund in 2016 was proposed by Chris Goble, seconded by Charlotte Gale and was approved unanimously. 18. Conclusion Graham thanked the representatives for their work to reach a successful conclusion, and for sharing the stories from their areas. Archdeacon Morris said that there is always a need for more money for mission but that as churches grow and new members start giving more money is available. The need to grow the income of the Diocese was noted. Graham asked the representatives whether they would prefer to continue with the pattern of holding one meeting or whether they would prefer to hold two meetings, one to share stories and a second to put the proposals. The consensus was that the pattern of one meeting should continue. Not stating any figures during the presentations was suggested and it was noted that this had been the original intention. David Oglethorpe proposed that the results of the meeting would be announced in 3 days' time at the Diocesan Synod and that a news bulletin item should be published earlier that day. This was agreed. David told the representatives that he would send out draft deanery share statements on or before Friday 18 September, before the deadline for deanery objections to the agreement, which is 30 September. Any objections would be considered by the Bishop's Council on 13 October along with the DBF's 2016 budget. The budget would be put for approval at the Diocesan Synod in November. David asked the representatives to finish the allocation of the 2016 deanery shares to parishes by the end of The meeting ended in prayer and was followed by lunch. 9