Following our AGM, we wanted to give you a brief update on our church finances. Stephen Quirke, our people’s warden, will be speaking on this at our services this Sunday.
To start with the big picture, our denomination, REACH SA, operates with a federal model; with each congregation supporting itself and participating in the larger body. In terms of finances, this means that we are entirely self-sufficient before God. Rather than turning to a central organisation to support us, the reality is quite the opposite—we pay a levy based on our earnings to support our denomination and other underserved churches within our number.
To put our current need before you in the simplest way possible; our costs and commitments are currently exceeding our regular income.
We use the funds we raise to support our ministry. Our main expense is accordingly staff salaries. This is immediately followed by giving to missions, Christ Church Strand, and our levy to the denomination (listed above as CESA)—all of which can be categorised as gospel work both in our local community and further afield. These expenses are followed by operations and maintenance, the interest on our bond, and lastly small operations costs for specific ministries rather than the church in general.
Our aim is to glorify God through what we do at Christ Church Somerset West. Let us acknowledge some of the ways that God has blessed us.
He has given us Bible-focused teaching, good music and a lively community. The preaching is faithful to God's Word. We are not worshipping the Bible, but God himself. We are not worshipping mammon – or men or preachers or clever words. We are pointing everything we do to God. We have an attractive building. This is a twenty-first century equivalent of when communities would build a local church in the middle of the town where the steeple could be seen from miles away. We are literally a lamp on a hill, and we hold out the offer to our community to worship God with us and to grow in understanding and faith.
Though we do raise the matter of giving to support our gospel work in each service, perhaps we have not spoken about finances as often as we should. This has been to avoid the obvious distraction from God's Word. We do not want to be a church which is continually reminding the congregation to give money.
As to our present situation, we have been here before. The last time, we postponed staff increases for a period and we delayed their pension fund contributions. We also discussed, in council, the possibility of retrenchment.
But—we prayed.
And we spoke to you as a congregation, and through God’s gracious provision we came through the worst and were able to stabilise our financial position including all of our responsibilities to staff.
We have learned that there are times when we need to let you as the congregation know how our finances work, where we are at, and what you can do. That is what this blog is about today.
What steps can you take? First, you can familiarise yourself with how REACH is structured and with the finances of our congregation here at +CSW. Ask myself or any of the staff team about the 39 Articles or our latest financial statement—it is open to all.
You can pray about the work, the finances and your role in this body. You can prayerfully consider what you are prepared to give. And on that, there is a spectrum of giving; from the widow Jesus pointed out who gave her last little coin (this is not an injunction to give until you are destitute but an indictment of the leaders at the time), from those who can give very little (seemingly) to those who God has blessed with financial wealth.
If you have been giving very little, we love that you are here and praise God for you. Let me also encourage you by pointing out that you are one of many and that together we can provide a significant contribution. If you are already giving much, we also give thanks to God for you—your contribution has been vital in supporting the gospel work here.
So—in conclusion—the question before us, before God, is this: How does sacrificial giving look in my world?
