The Diocese of Lichfield, the Church of England in Staffordshire, the northern half of Shropshire and most of the Black Country, is to spend more than £16 million in 2010 – the bulk of which will be used to pay for clergy in its 583 churches.

The budget for 2010, which will be presented to members of the Lichfield Diocesan Synod meeting in Muxton, Shropshire, tomorrow (Saturday), sees an increase in the amount of new full time curates – trainee clergy in their first post since theological college – which the diocese will accept next year. The diocese had originally planned to accept nine new curates, but has increased this by four to accept all 13 curates allocated to it by the national church.

The budget also sees a potential total of £360,000 being allocated for ‘new work’ over the next three years. The exact details of that expenditure has yet to be decided – diocesan departments will be able to bid for funding under this heading from February 2010. And £240,000 has been allocated for the Bishop’s Growth Fund – an increase of 4.26 per cent on 2009 – which allows parishes to apply for funding for specific initiatives focused on growth and evangelism.

While many dioceses are freezing clergy pay, priests within the diocese will see their stipend increase from £22,315 to £22,765 – an increase of 2 per cent.

The bulk of the budget is financed from donations from churches within the diocese; and despite the additional posts and increased funding for the growth fund and new work; the total amount requested from the parishes will increase by just 2 per cent – which continues the pattern of reductions seen in recent years. Between 2003 and 2007, the increase in the total amount requested from the parishes was capped at 4 per cent. The increase fell to 3.74 per cent in 2008 and 3.5 per cent in 2009. Next year’s 2 per cent increase is the lowest for at least two decades. In addition, for the first time in recent history, there will be a local cap on each church’s increase, which will mean no parish receiving an increase greater than 5 per cent. The total amount requested from the parishes in 2010 will be £11,733,298.

Finance Director Jonathan Hill commented: “This is an innovative budget which, although containing an element of risk, provides an exciting way forward in the difficult economic times in which we live. In these bleak economic times, and amongst all the doom and gloom, this is designed to be an uplifting and exciting budget which will support the good work the parishes are doing to communicate the good news of the Lord.

“There is much work that we want to do as a diocese; but to fund this we are dependent upon the generosity of Christians who give to their local church. The demands placed on local churches by the diocese are great, but without the parishes’ share of the diocesan budget we would not be able to fund clergy and the associated costs of mission and ministry in this part of the West Midlands. An increasing number of churches are paying their share by direct debit and standing order and this is good news for our cash flow and helps reduce our costs.”