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General Assembly 2008: Assembly will hear that 'Kirk's
congregations keep digging deep'
Christian Giving
While the communicant membership of the Church of Scotland
continues to decline, the offerings of members and adherents
continue to increase.
- Offerings, excluding tax recoveries, amounted
to £60.1 million in 2007 - an increase of 2.1%.
- Tax recoveries from Gift Aid amounted to £11.4
million in 2007 - an increase of 5.3%.
- Total offerings, including tax recoveries,
amounted to £71.5 million in 2007 - an increase
of 2.6%.
The Stewardship and Finance Committee urges congregations
to encourage members and adherents to review annually
the level of their Christian giving of money.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer's Budget in March 2008
reduced the basic rate of income tax from 22% to 20%
from April 2008. The Committee was delighted to hear
that, despite this reduction in the tax rate, the level
of tax recovery on offerings given under the Gift Aid
scheme will continue to be 28% until April 2011.
Stewardship
The Committee launched 'Together we make a difference'
in the Presbyteries of Ardrossan and Falkirk during
2007. This is a pilot programme for a national stewardship
initiative and is concerned with the Christian giving
of money. As the full results of this pilot programme
will not be known until Congregational Accounts for
2008 and 2009 are available, a second phase of pilot
programmes will be launched in four other Presbyteries
between April and June 2008.
Congregations which are participating in the pilot
programme have embarked on something which requires
a considerable amount of time and effort, and are to
be commended for taking this step. The Committee commends
the Stewardship staff, for whom this has been a demanding
and sometimes stressful year - delivering the pilot
programme and meeting requests for stewardship programmes
from congregations in other Presbyteries.
The Committee's major concern is the fact that some
congregations feel that they can ignore the need to
talk about the Christian giving of money, even when
they are dependent on the financial support of other
congregations to meet the total cost of their ministers.
The Committee believes that congregations and the Church
centrally could receive more income from legacies. While
recognizing that this form of giving has to be handled
sensitively, the Committee intends to formulate a strategy
for promoting legacies for the work of the Church.
The Committee believes that congregations and the Church
centrally could receive more income from legacies. While
recognizing that this form of giving has to be handled
sensitively, the Committee intends to formulate a strategy
for promoting legacies for the work of the Church.
Congregational Contributions 2007
Congregations contributed £42.9 million to their
Ministries and Mission allocations in 2007 - 98.4% of
the total requested.
Late contributions in the following year tend to cover
much of the shortfall in payments.
Ministries and Mission Allocations
The Committee is asking the General Assembly to approve
its wish to drop the word 'allocation' and use the word
'contribution' in relation to what is expected from,
and paid by, congregations. These contributions are
a way in which financial resources are shared, and each
congregation supports the whole work of the Church.
In the autumn of 2007 the General Treasurer and the
Head of Stewardship led 8 area meetings in different
parts of Scotland to explain the process of determining
what each congregation should pay and to provide information
about the ways in which contributions enable the work
of the Church.
Charity Regulation in Scotland
The Committee organised 18 workshops in 13 different
locations throughout Scotland to provide training and
support for Congregational Treasurers as they come to
terms with new requirements which have originated with
the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).
To ensure compliance with the requirements of OSCR,
the Committee is proposing further revision of the Regulations
for Congregational Finance and Presbytery Finance.
Ends
Note to news desk
For further details, For further details, please contact
the Rev Gordon Jamieson,
Head of Stewardship, telephone 0131 240 2226.
A full copy of the report is available on our General
Assembly pages online
here.
GANR/16/04/08
Friday 25 April 2008
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