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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Give as much as you can.

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.

@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.

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.

@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.

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

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.