A new section on the Church of England website signposts PCCs to existing mandatory and best practice information relating to protecting people from harm in a church setting, including a range of policies for the PCC to consider.
The Places of Worship Renewal Fund, a new Government grants fund for listed places of worship to help pay for capital works including fabric repairs and essential improvements, has been launched.
The finance team at the diocesan office now offers a bookkeeping service for parishes. It is hoped that this will be particularly useful for those churches who have treasurers wishing to retire or inexperienced treasurers who might need some support taking on the role, particularly with the legal aspects.
Grace Wrigglesworth, Operations Manager at Kingswinford and Wall Heath has used the Church of England’s grant database on the Cornerstone platform to raise £100k for their two churches in the past two years.
Cornerstone is a new initiative freely available to all our churches to help them with their stewardship and finances which has been funded and provided by the national Church.
Our Diocesan Stewardship team are running training courses this autumn for PCCs and churches on how to run a legacy campaign. While it can feel a tricky subject to broach it is vitally important when legacies can make such a difference to churches and the communities they serve.
Giving is an essential part of our faith—it enables our churches to flourish, support communities, and share the love of Christ. The Parish Giving Scheme (PGS) is an effective way to give regularly to your church, ensuring stability and sustainability for ministry and mission.
Thank you to everyone who helped contribute to Ministry Share in 2024, the generous payments made by our churches have meant that we have been able to pay and house our clergy and continue training new clergy for the future.
Over £1.5 million was given to our churches in 2024 through the Parish Giving Scheme. Read about how St Mary's Church in Oldswinford introduced the scheme.
Bishop Martin is calling for the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme to be extended past the current deadline of March 2025. He has written to local MPs setting out the difference that the scheme makes to our churches.
Sarah Powell has been appointed as the new Director of Finance for the Diocese, replacing Shaun Mooney who is leaving the role in January.
Stewardship and Resources Officer, Chris Ottershaw is changing his role slightly to spend more time supporting parishes with their finances.
A number of churches across the Diocese overpay their Ministry Share as a way of supporting other parishes, with these extra contributions forming part of the Ministry Support Fund.
Parishes will now be able to apply for grants of up to £10,000 to make repairs to their church buildings thanks to a new funding stream from the national church.
This article from the diocesan stewardship team looks at some practical ways to think about money in our churches during Lent.
As we begin a new year, our fantastic treasurers will be busy preparing the annual accounts for our churches. As with all charities, including PCCs, these are required by law, however, using your accounts well can be of real benefit to your church and give the PCC confidence in the decisions they are making.
In December 2022 the Parish Giving Scheme (PGS) introduced the option for donors to give a one-off gift to a parish and have so far raised over £1.6 million, with the average gift being nearly £200!
Kingswinford with Wall Heath and St John in Halesowen are the first churches to have national funding released.
Now we are in January and the busy-ness of Christmas has come to an end, many churches begin planning for the year ahead. Making sure that generosity and stewardship are a part of that plan can be very important in helping your church and community to go forward with confidence this year, improving health and sustainability.
Through your generous donations, the Parish Giving Scheme has processed nearly £1.5 million of donations and Gift Aid for our churches in 2023.
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4th June 2026