parish share
Only one fifth of this investment return went to parish ministry, yet parishes struggle to pay their parish share and bills.
Proposer: Sue Say, Holy Trinity Wavertree, Toxteth & Wavertree, Parish Safeguarding Officer Seconder: Peter Dorling, St John the Baptist Burscough, Ormskirk, Diocesan Parish Share Review Group
Due to my computational modelling for the Diocesan Synod Parish Share Review Group, they have been able to develop a just system of parish share for 2027, awaiting discussion with Deaneries:
In our diocese, benefices are routinely left vacant so that parsonages can be rented out, while PCCs continue to pay Parish Share.
While I managed to persuade our diocese to withdraw a policy of making the filling of parish vacancies conditional on paying Parish Share, other dioceses are pushing similar initiatives.
If the Church Times is reporting that clergy feel "isolated" and "lonely" (5/12/25) and many “feel strongly the twin pressures of attendance figures and parish share," leading to feelings of their own "failure and shame”, it's time for the national church to be transparent with national funds in order to make sure they are distributed fairly. (Especially in areas where priests now have cure of souls for parishes into double figures.) I am not afraid to ask the difficult questions, with an aim to serve my fellow clergy.
Linked to this the challenge of rising parish share and further amalgamation of benefices has brought about a crisis in vocations and clergy retention.
rural communities, where churches can struggle under the pressure of meeting their parish share; this cannot be just.
▪ Knowledge of the current vocations climate as a Bishops’ Advisor in the discernment process. ▪ Knowledge of the stresses and strains facing ordinary clergy as a Diocesan Reviewer for MDR. ▪ Elected to Diocesan Synod in 2024 where I have spoken in debates and asked questions about vocations, Parish Share, and finance in the Diocese. ▪ Ecumenical involvement through the Inclusive Church group in our area. ▪ Nearly a decade as a School Governor in local community schools.
Flourishing parish ministry is at the heart of our mission and this realignment will help reduce Parish Share demands so that local giving can be focused on spreading the Gospel. ➢ I want to see the Lowest Income Communities Fund further increased.
Particularly in smaller communities, increasing parish share per church member above inflation annually (as St Albans has been doing), while 30% of parishes are already unable to pay, can only fail.
Please see the Save the Parish manifesto for thriving parishes: https://www.savetheparish.com/general-synod-manifesto-2026/ I stand with STP’s aims for the next Synod: fund the priests our parishes need, creating manageable clergy jobs; spend parish share on parish ministry; improve clergy wellbeing; train ordinands properly without skimping; adopt a charter to support church volunteers; make church closure harder than survival.
In Liverpool, I have served on Deanery Synod, the Deanery Mission and Pastoral Committee, Diocesan Synod, and the Bishop’s Council, frequently contributing to debates and to work on the Parish Share and the DAC Constitution.
Parish share (which keeps going up and up) should be directed to mission and the cure of souls, not ever inflating central costs.
Direct the parish share to 4.
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I therefore understand the financial pressures that many churches in the Diocese face, both in relation to maintaining historic buildings and payment of the parish share.
• Reduction in parish share payments
At the same time, clergy and congregations are increasingly struggling to meet Parish Share demands, with nothing left to support their work locally.
Minimising Parish Share – common
A decline in giving from aging and shrinking congregations has combined with rising costs, especially around utilities and building maintenance and repair, to make balancing the books while paying parish share more difficult than it has ever been before.
To do this, we need fairer funding mechanisms, and the parish share system needs urgent reform.
I'm 40, married to Becky, with two children, Elliot (8) and Isaac (6), and I'm beginning my ninth year in ministry: five as Associate Minister in a church revitalisation in Doncaster, which turned from an ageing, shrinking congregation into a younger, growing one, moving from paying a quarter of its parish share to nearly the full amount.
The Benefice can be four, eight, and now in Cornwall and several other Dioceses up to 32 parishes with one ordained Parish Priest, and a system of worship divided amongst lay people, retired clergy, churchwardens taking services and rarely seeing their parish priest for which the long suffering congregations are paying for in the Parish share.
Many told me of the struggle to pay Parish Share and a sense of unfairness that the Church Commissioners have large investments but are spending money on other things, rather than supporting parishes.
One recent positive example of my engagement has been the creation of the Complementary Parish Share Scheme.
The Parish Share: Many Churches simply cannot afford to pay the money they are asked to provide, and vital finances take money away from mission work, and PCCs worry about spending anything beyond the very basics.
Direct the parish share itself toward mission and the cure of souls, not toward servicing a diocesan centre that keeps growing while parish clergy numbers keep falling.
Parish Share I have a keen interest in taking a closer look at parish share and how that can be more equitable for all.
For some parishes, meeting the full cost of parish share is simply out of reach.
On key issues like Parish Share, I realise that many local clergy and congregations struggle to meet demands and too often there appears to be a ‘tin-ear’ or worse to these concerns at the centre.
Direct the parish share to mission and the cure of souls.
Save the Parish’s (STP) aims for the next quinquennium include ensuring that Church Commissioners’ funds and parish share are used for their original purpose of supporting parishes and their mission, making sure that clergy are valued, cared for and theologically trained, and valuing the volunteers who hold the local church together.
We cannot meet our Parish Share.
Practically, how we resource this is an enormous issue and there are several Diocesan Synod motions waiting to be considered by General Synod in relation to the financial resources, structure and use of Parish Share (Common Fund) and funding of central services at national and diocesan level.
1 Restore Church Commissioner’s funds to their founding purpose: stipendiary parish ministry 2 Direct the parish share to mission and the cure of souls.
I will argue that more support is needed from the church commissioners to go on frontline Ministry and help release some of the burden of parish share on individual congregations.
As a small rural parish member, I am only too aware of the strain on vicars having to juggle multiple churches, of an ever-diminishing number of volunteers trying to raise funds to maintain ageing buildings and of PCCs unable to pay their Parish Share.
This year I’ve been chairing the Parish Share Review Group for our Diocesan Synod, and nationally I’m a member of the Triennium Funding Steering Group, working for a fair allocation of resources both locally and nationally.
I think we must adapt our financial arrangements so the impact of all giving, particularly that giving which goes on Parish Share, can be really felt by the local congregations.
I will argue for that so that Parish Share can be kept as low as possible and more of your giving and parish money be freed up to support our buildings and local parish ministry decisions.
I agree with Save the Parish that we need a ‘Charter of Care’ for Clergy, to properly resource Parishes from historic funds and not constantly increase Parish Share, to honour and resource the volunteers who hold parishes together and to reform the Mission and Pastoral Measure.
Many of us will serve in parishes with unsustainable parish share assessments.
Of this money £319 million went to dioceses in 2024 as parish share.
• Direct the parish share to mission and the cure of souls.
Having had the other experiences referred to above, I understand the problems faced by parishes, in meeting not only the demands of the parish share but also caring for a church.
Finally, during the last quinquennium, I asked a total of twenty-one written questions at General Synod ( the equivalent of Parliamentary Questions ) on the following subjects: The folly of closing the churches at the beginning of lockdown; the imbalance of power and resources between diocese and parish when a church is threatened with closure under the existing and proposed Mission and Pastoral Measure ( in parallel, I sat on the Reference Group for the revised Mission and Pastoral Measure ); the eye-wateringly high staffing and refurbishment costs of Lambeth Palace; the paucity of spending on training of new ordinands; the amount of time wasted by bishops in the House of Lords; the ruinous cost and lunacy of trying to achieve net zero by 2030 and the burden, which this places on parishes; the fact that so few dioceses use Total Return Accounting ( thereby increasing the financial burden on parishes of parish share ); the non-validity of the Church’s Vision and Strategy ( it was never voted for by General Synod and yet it is depriving principally rural parishes of vicars and stipendiary boots on the ground ); what percentage of the Church Commissioners’ total assets come from parochial endowments, which were seized in 1976 ( for the first time, the written answer to this question established that it is 19% ); concerns about increasing centralisation of Church governance and control of funding; how significant amounts of money are being diverted away from the parish in order to finance episcopal vanity projects; and seven questions about Project Spire and slavery reparations.
▪Fund the priests our parishes need ▪Spend parish share on parish ministry
I’ve been a treasurer leading a church to increase giving to cover a doubled parish share.
Resourcing parishes and deaneries, particularly around finance, parish share and vacancies.
I support the principles of the 2026 Save the Parish manifesto, particularly the responsible use of Church Commissioners' funding, a fair approach to parish share, investment in training and support for clergy, honouring voluntary service, and maintaining the parish system as a vital foundation for mission.
In the last few years I have been appalled by the devastation to parish finances, membership and unity resulting mainly from diocesan exploitation of the supposedly voluntary parish share system.
directing parish share to mission and the cure of souls, but reducing that demand on poor parishes;
We must use our assets better, reduce Parish Share and put more money into parish ministry, clergy and mission to grow the Church.
I want much more of the Church Commissioners’ available resources directed towards sustaining ordinary parish ministry, relieving pressure on parish share and reducing the financial incentive to create ever-larger benefices.
develop local parishes, rather than undermining them through the current pressures of the voluntary 'parish share' system.
The withdrawal of the financial infrastructure that ensured the poorest parishes were not abandoned has forced the closure of churches, reduction of clergy, merging parishes with parishes and forcing the parish share up beyond the point at which churches feel that they can pay them.
The church pays ‘parish share’ to the diocese, that helps to support the cost of clergy.
Parish share goes up, buildings need money we do not have.
The National Church Institutions (NCIs) should commit to a long-term role in the general funding of parish ministry in a reform of the ‘Parish Share’ system.
It is my understanding that these monies are intended to provide ministry for parishes that struggle to afford an incumbent due to the ever-increasing burden of meeting the required parish share.
But I am also realistic about the challenges we face, maintaining buildings, raising parish share and sustaining ministry are increasingly difficult.
We continue to pay our parish share in full, receiving little pastoral or spiritual support in return, and our congregation, sustained by an ageing but committed PCC, has recovered only to the high teens.
I will lend my support to those seeking a new settlement around the distribution of our Church’s historic assets, held by the Church Commissioners, to alleviate the growing burden of parish share.
My experience of dealing with the diocese during the interregnum brought home to me the threat to the future of small parishes (some with large parish share requirements): the possible future imposition of a part-time rather than a full-time priest; being made part of an expanded benefice and so on.
Staffing structures should move towards that sort of ratio by 2031 with the resultant savings used to bolster the work of mission in the parishes (not least by a reduction in the parish share).