{"id":148472,"date":"2026-11-02T17:24:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T22:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=148472"},"modified":"2026-11-02T17:57:23","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T22:57:23","slug":"church-times-bishop-philip-north-money-alone-will-not-solve-c-of-es-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=148472","title":{"rendered":"(Church Times) Bishop Philip North–Money alone will not solve C of E\u2019s woes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Professors John Craven and Robin Gill are to be thanked for bringing to our attention in their report, Wasted Money in a Diminishing Church<\/em> (News, 23 October<\/a>), the serious financial issues that will face the Church of England over the next few years, and the unsustainable deficits faced by many diocesan boards of finance<\/a> (DBFs). This is why the church economy will be the subject of a major debate early in the new General Synod<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So much of their report is inaccurate or unrealistic, however, that I fear that it will skew that debate in unhelpful directions. I, therefore, want to push back in three areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, the report reaches a strange conclusion<\/em>. The authors decide that the way to address what they diagnose as fundamentally a financial problem is to make the deanery the heart of the Church\u2019s administrative life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most area deans, however, want to be pastors, not middle managers, and I can readily see why. With an eviscerated diocesan structure, area deans would have to take on, alongside their parochial responsibilities, duties now fulfilled by archdeacons and bishops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>

📉 Philip North takes issue with three aspects of a new report that warns that the C of E is heading for financial disaster #ChurchTimes #Comment #Opinion https:\/\/t.co\/gdFJMCZqAD<\/p>— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 30, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote>\n