The diocese of Lincoln — the wealthiest in the Church of England, with the lowest level of giving — has warned that it cannot continue to sell its assets to balance the books.
This week, a rector in the diocese, who is also a member of the Archbishops’ Council’s Finance Committee, suggested that its historic wealth had “blinded us to the real costs of mission and ministry”, and that it would be “immoral” to exhaust it.
A statement issued by the diocese last week notes that it is running an annual cash deficit of about £3 million, “which has been steadily increasing for some years, and is not sustainable”.
“For several years, bridging the gap between the parish share income and the clergy stipend costs has been met by disposing of our assets,” it says. “Although this does result in an immediate injection of funds, we lose a proportion of the interest (income) on the greater amount of the asset, thus putting further pressure on our finances.
“Whilst the diocese has some historic assets, by 2021 we will have reached the safe limit of what we can sell off to pay the deficit without causing damage to those assets.”
A statement issued by the diocese last week notes that it is running an annual cash deficit of about £3 million, “which has been steadily increasing for some years, and is not sustainable”.https://t.co/CAonZJD0Ty
— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) February 28, 2020