[Daily Telegraph by John Bingham] A bishop has warned his flock that the church is the area is facing a financial “death spiral” unless parishioners put more money in the offering plate.
Churchgoers in Truro diocese, which spans Cornwall and the Scilly Isles, were told that its reserves will run out in the next two years unless parishes can find ways of boosting their income.
The Rt Rev Christopher Goldsmith, the Bishop of St Germans, said the church in the area already spends less per head on outreach work and maintaining its buildings than any other diocese in England and so cannot rely simply on cuts to shore up its finances.
If the trend continues it would be thrown into a crisis from which it might never recover, he warned.
The problems in Cornwall, where average incomes are among the lowest in the UK, come despite new national figures from the Church England showing that parishes raised a record £929 million in 2012, even though changes in tax rules reduced the amount it could claim from the Gift Aid scheme.
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