Our treasurer James Bennett, could only sit on the side-lines and watch as the Promise Cards came in, first slowly and then more quickly. The reductions in giving came in first, as is almost always the case. After two truly outstanding financial years during the worst of Covid, it looked like we had seriously hit the buffers in 2022.
A number of people had decided to re-locate to new towns or had chosen to move to another church within Swindon. We cannot expect people to keep on giving to St John’s if they are worshipping elsewhere, so that all led to a very scary drop of about £8k. I cannot recall a bigger fall in income.
However, we trust in God and it was not the end of the story. New giving and increased giving gave us a rise of £3,220. Rental income increased by £2,500 as tenants returned. That improved the picture considerably. But we still fell just over £2,000 short of last year’s total.
That will need to be addressed. But we intend any shortfall to come from savings rather than cutting costs. One big take-away is that the largest component of our financial response came from the congregation – a 3.6% increase.
For many years St John’s was the only Anglican church offering the kind of weekly worship and Bible teaching that we do. Our musicians brought a real sense of worship to us—and continue to do so.
However, in 2018 the Diocese set up Pattern Church, and last year The Well opened up. This inevitably means that people looking for a church now have a greater choice of fellowships to join. When it comes to contemporary worship are no longer the only show in town.
This is not a disaster. Each church offers something different. The number of people who are in a position to join the electoral roll in St John’s this year is strong. We continue to see new faces on a regular basis.
Let’s pray that God will raise the spiritual temperature in this area and in our town leading to ever more growth. In two years time, there will be a new vicar in this church. We want St John’s to thrive under their leadership and a solid financial base will be key to that.