Kirk makes £8m savings – but fall in members cancels it out

A DRAMATIC decline in membership has cancelled out £8million worth of savings made by Church of Scotland leaders, it has been revealed.

The Kirk has made a raft of cuts over the past five years to reduce its annual outgoings.

But now its chief officer, Dave Kendall, has revealed that the savings have been ‘cancelled out’ as a huge drop in membership led to a fall in giving.

Writing in its house magazine, Life and Work, he warned that the Church is still facing ‘significant budget deficits’.

Mr Kendall wrote: ‘Over the last five years we have significantly reduced our national outgoings against the 2018 baseline by over £8million annually, mostly in the central spending of the Church.’

But he goes on to say: ‘However, our continuing membership decline has resulted in a further

‘Significant budget deficits’

decrease in income which cancels out the savings.

‘Despite prudent financial management, we’re still facing significant budget deficits for the next five years without taking corrective measures.’

He also said: ‘In truth we should be increasing our income year on year just to stand still.’

Recent Church of Scotland figures show about 60,000 people worship in person on a Sunday, compared to 88,000 pre-pandemic, with a growing number choosing to worship online or in ‘other ways’.

In 2021 the Kirk had 283,600 members – down from 1.3million in the late 1950s.

A report presented at last year’s General Assembly warned that having more than 1,000 churches to cater for the number of people attending was ‘simply untenable and unsustainable’.