The Lord be with you.
We thank God for the peaceful elections and pray for the continued peace of our country as new coalition Councils are formed.
- Archdeaconry Executive
The Executive met on Zoom on the 4th November at 18h30.
The Executive prepared for the Archdeaconry Council and discussed a number of key issues in the life of the Diocese. I am grateful for the work done by the Stewardship Committee. We are looking for a new Property Commissary who can assist with the building and maintenance aspects of our Archdeaconry. If any parish has someone who is willing to assist, it is a wonderful opportunity to put their gifts to work. Two people would make the work load lighter. I look forward to hearing from you. - Archdeaconry Council
We will meet at 18h30 on the 18th November at Woodlands (St Etheldreda) to discuss the budget and give feedback from Diocesan Council. A light snack will be served, please arrive early to facilitate Covid Compliant registration at the meeting.
Revised Agenda:
• Feedback from Diocesan Council
• Budget 2022
• Report from Stewardship Committee
• Property Issues - Review of Financial situation
In any business, Budget time is stressful. Money is a complex subject. So, I ask you to be prayerful and patient with each other, use your diverse experience to support each other. Respect each other’s points of view. But at the end of the day – we need a reasonable and forward thinking and committed contribution to the budget.
Reviewing the Budget has been a difficult exercise as we are all aware of the challenges brought about by Covid. Preparing our own Parish budgets has been difficult because we know that the expenses are rising, and that income is under pressure. However, there are things that we can be doing to address this.
Re-building the confidence of our parishioners is key to increasing the financial contributions. We can all show ways that we are managing the money well and being good stewards.
We need to consider that if we are in arrears with Assessment – the Clergy have been paid out of the Investments of the Diocese which has depleted these Investments and therefore the interest that we were drawing down to cover part of the Budget is no longer available. Thus, a shortfall in Assessment has a double negative because it reduces our ability to earn interest on investments, our only other income stream.
There is more to the story than this. But let’s start here and contribute to the solution.
We are grateful to those Parishes who are faithfully paying the Assessment to cover the Clergy costs and Diocesan Overheads.
I continue to encourage you all to:
• Determine the number of people on your Parish Roll.
• Do you know how many pensioners, how many unemployed, how many students you have on your parish Roll?
• How many are on your Dedicated giving System?
• What would the value of your income be if everyone gave what they committed to?
• How much do the top 10 or 20 (if your parish has more than 500 people) give?
• How much do the bottom ten or 20 give?
• what is the amount that most people pledge?
• If your whole congregation gave that amount what would your income be?
• How many give by EFT
• How many give by Envelope
• What percentage of your income is Pledge, and what special appeals, and what loose plate?
We would love to discuss and compare this analysis with each other on the 18th.
I again appeal to every parish Council to produce a real summary of expected expenses, not just what you can pay for but what needs to be done. That Million Rand roof repair, that new car that’s needed, that extra staff to make the mission work. Draw up a “what we’d like to do budget” too. If you don’t have dreams and visions, then we are not doing what God requires of us. Too many things never happen because we don’t know how we will pay for them, so we give up on the vision for God’s church, we give up on growth, we give up on doing our best for God. In the words of our Stewardship Committee – People don’t give to a budget they give to an activity, a vision, a mission a plan – the budget needs to show the Plan not just the
numbers.
Be of good courage! Let’s be good stewards of what God has given us.
In conclusion.
Let us continue to work together to strengthen God’s ministry in our area and build the
Kingdom together. We all have many trials in this life, but we are called to a life of love
of God and of each other. Let us fix our eyes on things above.
Be assured of my love and prayers.
Love and peace.
Revd. Andrew Manning.
