Virus accelerates radical blueprint to restructure church finances
Building a sustainable financial future for the Church of Scotland is vital after the shock of the pandemic, according to its chief officer.
A radical action plan for restructuring and financial accountability had already been put in place before the Covid-19 pandemic. The merger of congregations and sell-off of surplus buildings was also under way. But the changes have been accelerated by coronavirus and Dave Kendall, who was appointed the Kirk’s first chief officer as part of the financial plan, believes the pandemic has helped speed up the process. Mr Kendall said: “Your planning assumptions have to keep changing and the horizon keeps changing. “You can’t have any real certainty about when you can return to anything like normality in this. It’s difficult.
“But some of these new ways of work and adapting to different ways of work were all part of the picture, having much more robust accountability, closer working with everybody, all these things were part of the plan.”
Work has started to amalgamate churches where it makes geographic sense, with ministers in Aberdeen spearheading cooperation between neighbouring congregations. Three churches in Broughty Ferry, near Dundee, are also set to join up later this year, while three in Paisley have done so in recent years.
The Kirk currently has 21 churches along with houses and community centres for sale on its website.
The Rev James Wilson, Dundee Presbytery Clerk, said: “It is too early to see to what extent we have been impacted by Covid. “Certainly, income from hall hires and collections are down because clubs have stopped during social distancing and restricted attendances at church mean lower collections.
“I can see contactless payment being introduced for donations in churches and parishioners will be able to tap their phones on the way in.”
The Rev Doug Gay, principal of Trinity College and lecturer in practical theology at Glasgow University said: “The Kirk is going through the most significant set of reforms. Covid has had this effect across many institutions. Very few organisations will go back to what they were before.”