stipendiary
I’m a priest with PTO, following 11 years’ of stipendiary parish ministry on deprived estates in Byker and Sunderland.
I have served in both stipendiary and self-supporting ministry, in urban, suburban, city and rural parishes, and in larger churches and cathedrals.
communion through short and mid- term locum chaplaincy in Europe and the USA, and surveyed non-stipendiary ministry in the Diocese of Wellington, New Zealand during my 2025 Study Leave.
I am privileged to I have experience of serving in non-stipendiary and stipendiary ministry and the challenges faced in both.
Stipendiary clergy are down 28% since 2000.
We need to rebalance spending and reprioritise the parish, ensure good training and support for stipendiary parish clergy, and reform the Mission and Pastoral Measure so that it is fit for its stated purpose, which is “to make better provision for the cure of souls”.
Too many diocese are balancing the books by reducing stipendiary payments and selling capital assets.
Vocations are rising in some areas, but too many dioceses struggle to resource curacy posts or sustain stipendiary ministry.
sustaining stipendiary ministry and finding the resources to invest in evangelism and growth.
the more likely they are to decline.” (From Anecdote to Evidence, 2013) THE CHURCH'S EXISTENTIAL CRISIS 27% Fall in full-time stipendiary positions 40% Church closures in top 10% deprived parishes 25% Decrease in new ordinands (2020-2025) 35%
If elected to General Synod, I will advocate: ● support for parish ministry including the prioritisation of resources to ensure that parishes and priests are able to flourish in their mission and ministry ● reviews of the church’s policies so that reform where necessary can release funds to support ministry in our parishes and priests to serve in them ● listening to what the Spirit is saying to the church by refreshing of our identity from our foundational sources – the living tradition through which the Spirit’s voice can be heard ● theologically-grounded social justice as a key component in the Church of England’s mission both nationally and in our local communities ● encouraging vocations to lay and ordained ministry, and ensuring that those who offer service to the church receive support, theologically-informed training, and ongoing deployment – this means protecting stipendiary ministry as the basis of the parish system ● the need to escape the “faddish” nature of many mission initiatives, policies and strategies, and to refocus on the church’s core priorities and identity ● ensuring our reasoning and practices are informed by the gospels and not excessively shaped by secular practices that do not reflect gospel values ● the importance of ensuring clergy discipline and safeguarding issues are well handled, and that current processes are constantly reviewed to ensure that they are transparent, fair and not unduly protracted ● promoting the importance of the church’s place, voice and teaching in national debates on subjects of contemporary ethics, especially where such matters pose greater risk to the vulnerable ● faithfulness to the church’s identity in teaching and the practice of the sacraments, particularly Holy Matrimony and the seal of Confession
• to reverse the decline in the numbers of full-time stipendiary positions in parishes.
I’d aim to speak up for all our clergy in General Synod, stipendiary and non-stipendiary, parish based and workplace based and also those involved in various forms of Fresh Expression of Church and pioneering.
Since 2000 the number of stipendiary parish clergy nationally has fallen by 28% - we must reverse this trend!
If only half the £500 million total return from 2025 was spent on parish clergy it would pay for over 3,000 extra stipendiary posts (at £80,000 each).
The Diocese of Carlisle, for instance, now has more staff (82) than stipendiary clergy (77).
Women's access to stipendiary, full-time and senior responsibilities remains uneven.
I will advocate for the maximum sustainable share of Church Commissioners' funds to reach parishes, stipendiary ministry and the least-resourced communities.
However, there are still questions to be addressed about the remuneration package for stipendiary clergy.
I hear too many stories from other dioceses of clergy (both stipendiary and SSM) being bullied by diocesan officials or laity in the parish.
➢ I want to see the Church Commissioners funds restored to their founding purposes of supporting stipendiary parish clergy.
• proper funding for frontline stipendiary ministry.
I believe there should be a detailed case study identifying dioceses that are managing to avoid this trend and have a stable number of stipendiary clergy alongside those that do not, and identify the key lessons to be learnt and the detailed actions that should be taken to reverse the trend.
In May, I travelled to Cornwall to speak at a hearing against turning an entire deanery of six benefices with six stipendiary (paid) priests into a single megabenefice with two priests.
I would like to see more allocated to help fund stipendiary ministry — especially in low-income communities — to support parish ministry, more invested in clergy training and wellbeing, but I continue to see a role for strategic investment in new mission initiatives.
Claire Levin candidate for the House of Laity, Diocese of Chichester The Church of England currently has just 6250 Full time Stipendiary positions, a drop of 28% since 2000.
Strategic restructuring is cutting stipendiary posts and spreading those remaining so thin, that they are unable to meet the needs of their parish(es).
A flourishing Church needs properly resourced parishes, sustainable stipendiary ministry, well- supported clergy, valued lay volunteers, and finances directed clearly towards mission and the cure of souls.
to value stipendiary clergy and protect them from unsustainable workloads;
A healthy mix of stipendiary, self-supporting and other forms of ministry is important to enable people to offer their different gifts as valued parts of the life of the Church.
The recruitment and training of ministers, both ordained and lay, is crucial for the future but during the period of the last Synod we have lost 900 stipendiary positions.
After many years in secular employment I completed my curacy and became a full-time stipendiary Team Vicar in Stroud, and in 2024 was appointed Team Rector.
The celebration and financial support of parishes and chaplaincies; in particular keeping stipendiary posts in poorer churches.
I will work with others to restore the Church Commissioners' funds to their founding purpose: stipendiary parish ministry.
My contribution so far: Since 2024, I have served on Leicester’s Diocesan Synod and become familiar with the challenges our Diocese faces, particularly in supporting parish ministry and stipendiary posts in the rollout of Minster Communities.
Release of funds could stem the cuts in stipendiary priests and eventually reverse the trend towards larger parish groupings: in the meantime, I favour introduction of a Charter of Care for Clergy that protects our priests against the potential for mental and physical stress.
The charter would include provision to halt any cuts in stipendiary posts as a means to balance budgets and also seek to redefine measures of ‘success’: job prospects and security for parish priests are baseline requirements for a future healthy church.
More is asked of fewer stipendiary clergy, and honest, hopeful advocacy is needed.
Between 2019 and 2024, the Diocese of Truro lost 23% of its stipendiary priests.
Commissioners’ funds to that values our clergy and Charter’ that honours the their founding purpose: guards them from mental and volunteers who hold our stipendiary parish ministry. physical exhaustion. parishes together.
We also need to build Lay Ministry to support dwindling stipendiary funds, and because it is valuable in its own right.
Coming into full-time stipendiary work slightly later in life, I am blessed to be bringing the experience of careers in business, education and global healthcare.
Clergy Wellbeing – I have seen the importance of this from different angles – confidentially supporting clergy through my diocesan role, experiencing the same but different stresses and strains of being non-stipendiary, and I am going into incumbency with my eyes wide open to best practice, and hoping to create good habits and wise boundaries – we shall see!
the headcount of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in all diocesan offices to one quarter the number of their FTE stipendiary clergy.
to the Church’s ministry by our non-stipendiary and PTO clergy, our chaplains, youth workers, pioneer, and lay ministers, and call for more investment and training to help them flourish in their ministries and receive the recognition they truly deserve.
• Frontline Parish Ministry First: Frontline, stipendiary parish ministry must come before central
National forecasts from the Ministry Development Team show stipendiary clergy falling from 7,000 to around 5,400 within a decade, requiring preparation, not wishful thinking.
Given stipendiary clergy may well be in short supply, local oversight, focal leadership, funded interim ministry and shared benefices matter.
I now have a new stipendiary deacon.
The Church of England faces important decisions around its response to issues of racism, clergy remuneration and pensions, the reduction in stipendiary clergy numbers, and the ongoing challenges of financial sustainability, particularly in dioceses such as Leeds.
The answer to financial pressure cannot simply be an ongoing reduction in stipendiary numbers.
amalgamate parishes, close local church buildings, or reduce the number of stipendiary clergy.
Existing short-term funding models are not solving the problem of reductions in stipendiary clergy and ever-increasing benefice sizes.
Clergy terms & conditions need to reflect the demands made on both stipendiary and non-stipendiary priests.
redirect funds from bloated diocesan bureaucracies back into stipendiary parish ministry.
With increasing workloads for our stipendiary clergy and the rapid pace of change in society, I believe that growing healthy churches will depend on a laity who are well resourced, well trained, and well supported; this would be one of my priorities as a member of General Synod.
I reject the assumption that fewer stipendiary priests, ever-larger benefices and Mission Communities are inevitable.
Yes, there are hard decisions to make as we live with new realities about stipendiary numbers and financial challenges.
I support SAVE the Parish, and with them will keep raising the voice until we see the following changes: Restore the Commissioners' endowment to its founding purpose — sustaining stipendiary priests in parishes, especially the poorest — rather than funding strategic projects and central staff.
Full-time stipendiary clergy have fallen to a historic low of 6,295, down 28% since 2000, and in 2025 more priests resigned than retired.
That is not a recruitment problem; it is a Church burning through its own priesthood. — Stipendiary cuts must stop being used to plug budget deficits — job security is a baseline, not a luxury we can no longer afford. — Benefices capped at a size a single priest can actually know and be known in — no more than five parishes. — Ministry judged by whether people are visited, buried, and cared for well, rather than by growth metrics.
I have some sympathy with the ‘Save the Parish’ concerns, and I am delighted that in this diocese we are committed to maintaining our stipendiary numbers.
• to work, as best I can, to encourage the flourishing of stipendiary ministry and to increase the provision of
With fewer stipendiary clergy available, we must not merely expect lay people to fill gaps.
We must put an end to cutting stipendiary posts and the creation of impractical mega-benefices, and ensure that the ordinary work of clergy in parishes is properly valued.
o More than a quarter of ordained ministers licensed in the Church of England are self-supporting o However, they are much less frequently to be found in any of its representative bodies o Although many issues facing clergy are common to stipendiary and self- supporting ministers o There are issues specific to self-supporting ministers which specifically affect their well being o It is important that there is a voice for these issues in General Synod o If elected, I would offer such a voice, speaking on behalf of all self- supporting ministers, regardless of role or theological tradition.
I have been in this diocese since 1999, initially as a non-stipendiary minister and then as vicar of St. Luke’s Prestonville in Brighton since 2010.
My main motive in standing for General Synod is to bang the drum for rural ministry and to join with others in wishing to see restored Church Commissioners' funds to their primary purpose, namely stipendiary parish ministry.
Crisis in Stipendiary Clergy Numbers
General Synod must address the crisis in stipendiary clergy numbers in the Church of England.
According to the Church’s own Ministry Statistics the number of full-time stipendiary parish clergy has dramatically declined to an all-time low of just 6,295 across the entire nation.
47% of all stipendiary priest are over 55; only 37% of all active clergy are in stipendiary roles; there are more clergy of 75 and over than under 50; and there was a 23% decrease in new ordinands between 2020 and 2023.
The reason I am standing for election to Synod can be summed up in three themes: mission; the fall in stipendiary clergy numbers; and unity.
The number of active stipendiary clergy is at a historic low.
Restore Church Commissioners’ funds to their founding purpose: stipendiary parish
It is an established fact that parishes with a priest flourish and grow; however, the number of stipendiary parochial clergy has slumped to an all-time low.
The restoration of the Church Commissioners' funds to its founding purpose of funding stipendiary parish ministry would devolve money back to the local level and tip the scales to help to start to fix these issues.
According to Save the Parish, there are now 6,295 full-time stipendiary parish clergy – a fall of 28% since 2000 – while only around 8% of the Church Commissioners' planned annual distribution is ring-fenced for parish ministry.
We must protect stipendiary posts, seek manageable benefices, and ensure that priests have the time to be priests: to preach, teach, pastor, visit, and build Christian communities.
As a parish priest for 16 years, and during that time Co-Area Dean, Dean of Women’s Ministry, a Training Incumbent, Spiritual Director, MDR reviewer and mentor, I have a deep understanding of what matters to clergy, both stipendiary and SSM, across a wide range of contexts and traditions.
With clergy numbers falling and many dioceses facing financial challenges, many of us are anxious that pressures on clergy, both stipendiary and SSM, will increase.
I care deeply about safeguarding done well, about supporting stipendiary and self-supporting clergy, and about making Synod’s decisions understandable and workable in the parish.
When we returned to the UK in 2021 Andrea and I took up non-stipendiary roles as Mission Enablers in the Deanery of Yardley and Solihull.
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 am a strong advocate of the importance and centrality of parish ministry and therefore support the Save the Parish Movement, which campaigns for funded stipendiary parish ministry, enabling mission and the cure of all souls in every parish and understanding clergy wellbeing as vital to the health of the church.
This means safeguarding the well-being of stipendiary clergy and curates, actively supporting our vital Permission to Officiate (PTO) clergy, and equipping our lay leaders who carry heavy operational burdens.
We have been reminded of the crisis the Church is facing regarding vocations, with the predicted number of stipendiary clergy falling to 5400 by 2033 if the tide is not turned.
At the same time, I am sure most of us would be opposed to further cuts in Stipendiary Clergy.
As a non-stipendiary priest, I would like to put myself forward to serve Durham Diocese on General Synod.
We need a formal covenant of care that calls an immediate halt to cutting stipendiary posts as a means of balancing budgets.
• Restore Church Commissioners’ funds to their founding purpose: stipendiary parish
The ethos is simple - an ordained stipendiary priest in a local church in the traditional parish setting is core to the Church of England and its survival and future.
According to the Church of England 2016 report, Going Deeper, “an increase in clergy is associated with the likelihood of growth in attendance, while a decrease in clergy is associated, on average, with a decline in attendance.” Yet only 37% of all active clergy are in stipendiary roles, and there has been a 25% reduction in new ordinands between 2020 and 2025.
founding purpose: stipendiary parish ministry
Clergy wellbeing With diminishing numbers of clergy and increasing parish responsibilities and pressures, I will speak up for stipendiary, salaried, self-supporting and retired clergy in the diocese.
With Where I live increasing pressures on stipendiary clergy, I believe SSMs can play a vital role.
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.
Having a number of clergy friends from different dioceses, I have witnessed the pressure clergy are under and I want the House of Laity to support them (and their spouses) as best we can, including trying to ensure all clergy are in stipendiary roles. (1 Tim 5:18).
Specifically I would like more stipendiary priests to be financially supported from Church Commissioners’ Funds.
This could be used to fund 29 fulltime stipendiary parish roles, which would increase community outreach and congregations7.
Winchester’s Diocesan Stipendiary Fund (DSF) worth £23m, has also flatlined the last 5 years8, income at 5% would have provided another 17 vicars for free, or more vicarage upgrades.
The additional vicars would represent 49% increase in parish stipendiary roles2 for Winchester.
I will also work to get more stipendiary clergy back into front-line ministry — currently only 37% of vicars nationally are in front line parishes roles2.
It’s imperative the income from Church Commissioners Funds is returned to its agreed and original purpose; “with particular regard to the cure of souls in parishes where such assistance is required”; i.e. stipendiary vicars in parishes.
I want to see better, more consistent support for Christians in linked Dioceses by tithing of Church Commissioners income to our poorer linked Dioceses and bringing the Church Commissioners back to their original purpose of supporting stipendiary vicars.
In 2025, 379 priests resigned while 278 retired; the number of full-time stipendiary parochial clergy had fallen to 6,295.
I have the delight to be training two curates; one non-stipendiary, who came through the Caleb Stream at St Mellitus, and the other, a full-time stipendiary, through Ridley Hall.
These relationships mean that non- stipendiary, stipendiary, and the ministries of retired clergy are all cherished, vital parts of the ministry in which we share.
restoring Church Commissioners’ funds to their founding purpose: stipendiary parish ministry: this is the single, most important matter - it addresses the existential threat to parish ministry.
1.CUT WASTE AND INVEST IN PARISHES TO STOP CLOSURES: I will continue challenging excessive diocesan/national spending, six-figure salaries and opposing proposals to close thousands of Churches and slash stipendiary Clergy posts.
Clergy & Vocations Crisis: Transitioning effectively to the new Clergy Conduct Measure (CCM) to replace the CDM, alongside creating sustainable pathways for younger stipendiary vocations and clergy wellbeing.
Whether clergy be stipendiary or self-supporting, there needs to be sustainable patterns of ministry and structures in place that enable them to live well.
We must redirect national funding back to where it matters most — supporting local stipendiary ministry and caring for all in ministry so they can in turn give out to their communities.
Again, during the period of the last Synod, the number of stipendiary priests fell by 10%, but it was STP who drew this to people’s attention.
I want General Synod to understand the pressures on parish clergy – both stipendiary and SSOMs - so that decisions are made that support clergy and the places that they serve in, enabling the flourishing of both lay people and clergy so we can work together for the Gospel.
To act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.” WHO AM I? “ Since ordination, I have been blessed to serve God and the Church in a wide variety of contexts and in both stipendiary and self-supporting roles which has enabled me to walk alongside colleagues with empathy and through lived experience.
Having served as both self-supporting and stipendiary clergy, I have a very real grasp of the challenges that both contexts can bring.
In Southwark, we face cuts to our level of stipendiary priests, and I want to fight for finances from the national church institutions to minimise the need for further cuts, and ensure that lay voices are a part of any cuts process.
I want priority given to funding stipendiary parish ministry wherever possible, and more funding to be released for this from the National Church Institutions.
I will also join with Save the Parish proposing a charter of care that values our clergy and guards them from exhaustion, including an immediate halt to cutting stipendiary posts as a means of balancing budgets, and a limit to the number of parishes a priest is required to cover.
Alongside traditional models of stipendiary and self-supporting ministry, we need to be more creative about patterns of ministry and deployment, enabling people to find ministry that is sustainable and life-giving.
We may have frailty in the numbers in stipendiary or non-stipendiary ministry but without reform of the traditional working practices that are reinforced within the modular parish system, we will to our detriment, fail to harness and sustain support from laity in the numbers required to be effective.
Parochial clergy (both stipendiary and self-supporting equally) must be set free to live the life to which they have been called rather than struggling with the ever-increasing demands of compliance and common fund and the burden that this places on us and on our people.
Since being ordained in 2007, I have ministered in city centre, suburban and inner-urban contexts, in both stipendiary and non-stipendiary roles and until April 2026, as Vicar of St Barnabas Erdington, and Oversight Minister for the Erdington Area.
These experiences have given me a broad understanding of the varied challenges that stipendiary and self-supporting clergy face and the ability to work across traditions with respect and empathy.
I am first and foremost a pastor - I’m the non-stipendiary Associate Vicar of St John the Divine, Kennington, and am also a volunteer chaplain at St Christopher’s Hospice.
numbers entering ordination training, while many stipendiary clergy are approaching retirement.
stipendiary clergy will be needed more than ever to ensure the best deployment of gifts and skills; I say this as someone who has had the privilege of working closely with wonderful self-supporting colleagues for many years.
To be a voice for clergy Our clergy, stipendiary and self-supporting, need to be valued and cared for.
Funding parish ministry The first Save the Parish commitment is to restore Church Commissioners' funds to their founding purpose: stipendiary parish ministry.
Restoring parish ministry The Save the Parish manifesto points out how diocesan and national headquarters have ballooned in numbers in recent years, while stipendiary clergy numbers have shrunk, by 28 %.
Independently I have negotiated with Better, a national gym and health chain, to offer a discount on membership to stipendiary clergy nationally as part of my passion for clergy wellbeing.
In my job, I see the impact that the rising cost of ministry has on churches, with fewer churches able to support and sustain stipendiary ministry.
I consider, however, that reducing the numbers of stipendiary clergy should be the very last resort and that we should encourage vocations to ordained and other ministries as a priority.
While much has been done recently, I think more could, and should, be done to support clergy, whether stipendiary, non-stipendiary, or retired.
to their founding purpose – stipendiary parish ministry.
new way to measure impact, a halt to cuts in stipendiary posts.
There is no doubt that sometimes we all feel the strain and stress of the dynamics we find ourselves in as serving clergy, whether stipendiary, SSM, chaplaincies or other aspects of ministry that we live through, most keenly felt through the way in which resources are not as they once were.
This must be done by restoring the Church Commissioners’ funds to their original purpose; stipendiary parish ministry.
If elected, I will do my utmost to promote the parochial system and its ministry, whilst recognising the constraints faced by falling stipendiary clergy numbers and the financial challenges faced by all parishes and diocese.
Supporting stipendiary Clergy - Since the year 2000 there's been an over 30% reduction in the number of stipendiary clergy posts in our Diocese.
I firmly believe this is not the right way forward and that the only way to reverse decline in church attendance is to increase funding for stipendiary clergy posts.
I feel I can be a strong voice for the diocese having previously lived in Dorset, and later served as a parish priest as both self-supporting minister and in full-time stipendiary minister in the Dioceses of Durham, Canterbury and more recently, a return to Salisbury as Rector of Corfe Mullen.
from mental and physical exhaustion The latest ministry statistics show that the number of stipendiary clergy continues to be under considerable pressure.