How much to give every week at Church?

[GloGirl]

Just curious. I realise what I grew up with was not the norm from a different thread, where my Mum and I were poor and paid up to £1 between us.

I'm about to set up a standing order with the Church and wondering what to do. DH thinks £20 a month my heart says £40.

We are a family of 5 that are starting to attend Catholic church.

[CraftyGin]

I remember the week my DM came home from church in floods of tears yet again. She'd been pressured into giving all her house keeping for the week to various causes at church.

This is totally against the Fundraising Code of Practice (which CofE churches should follow). This should have been taken to PCC, who are the trustees of the charity. The money should have been returned to her.

[CraftyGin]

@Fink

I work for a Catholic church.

a) No one will care what you give or think you're mean. I count the money in our parish and have no idea who gives what. Out of the gift aided envelopes, £20/week is quite common, but so is £10. £5 is probably the most common. Some people give significantly more (mainly via standing order), but some also give a lot less. The envelopes are anonymised so that we only look at names once a year, in order to send gift aid statements out. I still don't remember who gives what and I see these people at least weekly. There's no judgement or expectation of a particular amount. I've been to non-Catholic churches where the money side is preached about quite a bit, mostly Catholics don't do this. We're just happy with whatever you feel you can give.

b) How much you give really depends on your income and family circumstances. Some people have quite low outgoings on the same income as other people - e.g. number of children, mortgage repayments, travel costs are all different for different families. And obviously £40 out of a £2000 salary is different from £40 out of a £1000 salary.

c) You're not tied in to the same amount for life! This is one of the hard things working in a church - a lot of people give the same amount they've always given, and it's just not worth as much with inflation. So by all means choose an amount now, but then review how it's going and how it's affecting your family finances and adjust accordingly. It's not a one-off discussion.

d) As a pp said, please do gift aid if you're eligible! Even on a small amount that adds up and makes a huge difference.

You can also gift aid anonymous cash donations, as long as no one gives more than £50 at once (to your knowledge).

[CraftyGin]

@thegreenheartofmanyroundabouts

I give 10% of my net income and gift aid it. I don't know who is giving what in my congregation, only my treasurer know that, but we just about cover our running costs which include heating the church, paying the organist, insurance etc. If we had to pay me directly we would have to close. We rely on larger parishes with wealthier congregations to,pay into the central fund which pays ministers and priests. The C of E is not cash rich but does have a big property portfolio.

When the children were small and money much tighter I gave much less as there was much less disposable income around. So give what you can and review it frequently. I'm told we have some standing orders that have not changed for 20 years.

Are you in the Parish Giving Scheme?

[Fink]

I work for a Catholic church.

a) No one will care what you give or think you're mean. I count the money in our parish and have no idea who gives what. Out of the gift aided envelopes, £20/week is quite common, but so is £10. £5 is probably the most common. Some people give significantly more (mainly via standing order), but some also give a lot less. The envelopes are anonymised so that we only look at names once a year, in order to send gift aid statements out. I still don't remember who gives what and I see these people at least weekly. There's no judgement or expectation of a particular amount. I've been to non-Catholic churches where the money side is preached about quite a bit, mostly Catholics don't do this. We're just happy with whatever you feel you can give.

b) How much you give really depends on your income and family circumstances. Some people have quite low outgoings on the same income as other people - e.g. number of children, mortgage repayments, travel costs are all different for different families. And obviously £40 out of a £2000 salary is different from £40 out of a £1000 salary.

c) You're not tied in to the same amount for life! This is one of the hard things working in a church - a lot of people give the same amount they've always given, and it's just not worth as much with inflation. So by all means choose an amount now, but then review how it's going and how it's affecting your family finances and adjust accordingly. It's not a one-off discussion.

d) As a pp said, please do gift aid if you're eligible! Even on a small amount that adds up and makes a huge difference.

[CraftyGin]

@Toddlerteaplease

I give my time, but at the minute don't give any money as my parish priest is a knob and Is ruining the parish.

Why can't you just give a pound a week? It is regular and a commitment.

If you think your priest is a knob, find another church.

[Toddlerteaplease]

I give my time, but at the minute don't give any money as my parish priest is a knob and Is ruining the parish.

[CraftyGin]

Give as much as you can.

[Parker231]

Where does the money go that you give - does the church produce and release accounts so you can check the money isn’t being misspent?
I don’t go to church but give direct to charities I want to support and where I can check the money is going directly to those who need it.
Some religions and churches are very wealthy and corrupt.

[Glastokitty]

This thread reminds of Ian Paisley's church in NI, where he often requested a silent collection, in other words he didn't want to hear any coins. And I honestly don't understand how anyone who has visited the Vatican could bring themselves to give a penny.

[mrspotatolegs]

The point about disagreeing with the OH... Our solution is that about 95% of our income goes into the joint pot. From that we donate to charities we both support. The rest is paid into separate accounts. And we pay for things the other doesn't support from that, including my church standing orders - £80pcm to one church and £20 to another in my case. Which is not 10%, but is not useless either I hope.

[Scaredycat3000]

I remember the week my DM came home from church in floods of tears yet again. She'd been pressured into giving all her house keeping for the week to various causes at church. I would have been 7/8 years old with my DM sobbing, trying to pull herself together befor Dad got back from the allotment, begging us not to tell Dad, the only time she ever said this. There would have been no spare money to replace it, Dad was a laborer, I don't recall what we ate that week, I guess veg off the allotment, our food cupboards were hardly well stocked at the best of times. We seemed fairly normal back in the Billy Graham era.They would have been well aware of this, DM was heavily involved with the church, I feel that I spent almost all of my childhood spare time helping DM raise money for that that church. Shhhhh, don't tell anybody but you're not really a cannibal eating christs flesh during the service, it was a couple of slices of bread from our kitchen that the vicar said a spell over. All this was down to the new vicar, if harassment was taken as seriously then as it is now as he would have served time for what he did to my community, instead CofE promoted him, hes now in Africa spreading 'the word'. I think it's disgusting we give this organization special TAX and discrimination law privileges.
I'm not sure why CofE are classed as cash poor, if only I could afford to invest in an office block in California.

It continues to buy up land – securing 121 acres in Carlisle, 50 acres in Peterborough and 765 acres in Kent last year, as well as 17,000 acres of forestry in Scotland and Wales.The land it owns is not confined to Britain. Last year, it bought a share of an empty office building in Burbank, California, as well as land in Michigan for retail and residential development. It also bought 27,000 acres of forest in Virginia, and land in the Northern Territory, Australia to establish new sandalwood plantations.

www.churchofengland.org/about-us/structure/churchcommissioners/investment/property.aspx

It firmly looks to me like CofE don't want to pay for the up keep of it's own buildings, many of which are listed so they are legally obliged to, when they can get their congregation too. They're losing their power so now it's all about the money.

[AppleAndBlackberry]

We attend a small independent church and we give 10%ish but there's no sense of control or pressure, no-one apart from the accountant knows who gives what, including the trustees and the pastor. The pastor's salary is very average and the accounts are published so we know exactly where the money goes.

[LarrytheCucumber]

SillysongswithLarry love your name.
We aim for a tenth but as someone once said, 10 per cent of not very much is quite a lot.

[moonface1978]

That is, the cost of a week's worth of daily newspapers weekly ...

[moonface1978]

Our parish priest (a monsignor) said that "the good news in exchange for the cost of the daily news". He went on to say that the cost of a decent daily newspaper was a reasonable amount to donate.

[Trashbox]

Isn't the Vatican one of the richest countries in the world, though?

[SugarMiceInTheRain]

We give 10%. Our church has no paid clergy so that money goes to help humanitarian causes throughout the world, welfare needs of some members (all kept v confidential obviously) and upkeep of the buildings.

[Madhairday]

I'm fairly suspicious of those sort of churches where everything seems about money. Not all so-called mega churches have this emphasis thankfully; I attended one while dh was training which had a congregation of around 1,000. They never took a 'collection' during services and there was never a requirement that people tithe (this wasn't an Anglican church). They had some services on stewardship etc with emphasis on supporting the poor and vulnerable. People gave to them because they felt they wanted to and the church was able to buy a warehouse from giving but there was never an insidious force in it. I would hate that.

But i have no doubt it happens, especially in some American churches. Just not all.

[quencher]

I used pastors to separate it from the vicars and priest. I was talking about the ones that are similar to mega churches or are mega churches. To me most of them are there to make money. I know there is a mega church in London that collects money three times within one service plus they ask you to start a standing order of ten percent of earning. It should be taught that it's nice to give, even if it's ten percent but not because you will get ten folds back. That's gambling with something that will never happen. A person has more of a chance in a gambling machine. Not that I advice them to do that. It was meant as a tongue in cheek comment.

Am not against people contributing to the church because Places like those need money to run and function. What I don't like is when they prey on the vulnerable.

It's not like these churches only get their extra money from church cake sales. They have shops that sell over priced holy water, oils, crosses, self help books, t-shirts, bags you name it. You would think they would go easy on their congregation.

Mega churches prosper because of tithe.

[ExcellentWorkThereMary]

I recently attended a talk from a church treasurer who said in his church it cost on average £10 a week per person to run the church. There are 4 of us attend my church but I can't afford £40 a week at the moment. I give what I can afford each week - and I give the kids £1 each to contribute. I try and make up for what I can't afford to give financially by giving my time.

[Madhairday]

Churches do not demand it, quencher, at least not mainstream c of e (or Catholic AFAIK). There may be some more cult like places which make it a condition of membership but I'd avoid any such.

Pastors lifestyle? No pastor/vicar I know has this prosperous rolling in it lifestyle. Dh is a vicar and paid 24k (varies a little by diocese) and out of that we pay a mortgage so that we have a home to retire to, rent pays some of it. I'd be horrified to think we were pressurising the vulnerable to give 10% as a forced number. Not my experience at all and I am sad if it is everyone's.

A tenth of salary is mentioned in the Bible and seen by many believers as a positive amount but it is not set in stone at all. Everyone is in different circumstances and can afford differing amounts or nothing at all and I have no concept of God as being caught up over amounts (cf widow's offering) but only with what is in the heart.

We've decided to give a certain amount because we believe that is right for us personally, and we have certainly experienced a measure of blessing in that (and I'm not talking prosperity Gospel here as I abhor the concept) I do believe that we are called to push forward beyond our means sometimes and feel the pinch, yes. People are starving, children dying, and we have the means to help. Jesus said explicitly that this is what God requires. Giving to church is part of that for me because I see church as something that supports the most vulnerable and brings hope where there is none. I am not giving to merely mend roofs and paint walls, but those things need to be done if the place is to stay in use and be a centre to reach out to society.

Our new church is a debt relief centre among other things and this sort of thing is at the heart of where I am with it.

[niminypiminy]

Clergy aren't technically employees so the legal situation is somewhat different. But in any case your house is part of your remuneration and goes with the job, so if you lose (or leave) your post then you have to leave your house. And of course you lose your house when you retire. But everyone who goes into ministry knows that's the deal.

[Dozer]

I don't think clergy have any employment rights either, and often could lose their home if fired.

[thegreenheartofmanyroundabouts]

Headteacher of small primary school and water came out as steer, not sure how that happened.