Church of England parish churches set a record £953 million in 2013 as the amount raised from a combination of regular and one-off donations, investments and legacies.

The amount is an increase of £24m over the 2012 figures and, with expenditure down, saw the parishes achieve a combined surplus of £33m.

The money has been used to fund the work of the C of E at parish, diocesan and national level; as well as £46m which has been used to support other organisations working around the world in areas from food banks to children’s charities and international aid appeals.

“With the latest financial statistics, we’ve seen average weekly giving rise in 2013 to our highest ever level,” the C of E’s national stewardship adviser, Dr John Preston, said. “We rely on the generosity of our committed church members to support the mission and ministry of the Church. Post-downturn, people have really looked at what is important to them and found a sense of community and belonging within the Church.”

The figures show that average weekly giving amongst those who subscribe to tax-efficient giving schemes has continued to rise year on year, to £11.60. And the average weekly amount given per church member rose to £7 in 2013 – matching the peak level last achieved in 2009.

The average “church member” contributed 3.3 per cent of their income to the church.

One of the dioceses that has seen an increase in giving is Sheffield – one of the most socially deprived in the country – which has seen its churchgoers become the most generous in terms of the proportion of their income that is given for the work of the church.

The diocese has been promoting generous Christian stewardship and giving over the past 20 years, to help churchgoers support the mission and ministry of their parishes. 

This work has mainly been done by a network of parish giving directors working with clergy and Parochial Church Council.

One of the parishes in the diocese – Ardsley – serves a population of 6,300 and has a usual Sunday attendance of 55 adults and eight children. It is in the bottom 15 per cent of parishes nationally according to deprivation indexes.

“Over 20 years ago the PCC took a decision not to fund raise through events but to challenge people to give generously out of Christian Fellowship,” the C of E said. “At the same time they decided to demonstrate Christian generosity by committing to giving away 10 per cent of their income to charitable causes each year.”

The parish developed a high commitment to Christian stewardship through a combination of regular teaching about discipleship from the pulpit and in church groups.

The statistics show that parishes in the diocese of Bristol have given more to charity as a proportion of their spending than any other diocese in the country.

“Fundraising is very much an intrinsic part of life here,” the Associate Vicar of St Mary’s, Olveston, the Revd Roly Bain, said. “We try to make it fun and thereby make it an important aspect of being part of the local community.

“We organise a lot of events to fundraise for the church and also for a whole host of other charities, both local and overseas. There’s always something going on, from cinema and quiz nights to concerts, harvest lunches and our big annual ball, appealing to a wide range of tastes and people in the community.

“Last year we raised £22,000 for outward giving, and our annual turnover is pretty hefty. But we got nearly £16,000 through Gift Aid [a UK government scheme that enables charities to reclaim the tax paid on donations]… Giving is a vital part of being a Christian.”

The Revd Rod Symmons, Vicar of Redland in Bristol, said that the parish was committed to supporting the church overseas in addition to meeting its own costs.

“Alongside our giving to the diocese and meeting the costs of our own ministry, we have always been active supporters of mission partners in this country and abroad,” he said. “Our annual budget has a figure of around £60,000 to support our mission partners, but we also have a Mission Gift Day, where we seek to raise money for other projects.

“This summer, for example, we have already raised around £15,000 which will be divided between our link dioceses in Uganda to help with clergy training, a vocational college in Tanzania to provide improved facilities, and the Vine Trust which is building houses for AIDS orphans in Tanzania.”

The church is supporting the projects with more than money – 20 church members will be visiting the Vine Trust houses in Tanzania next month.

“One of my favourite illustrations of the generosity of the PCC for this kind of project came some years ago when we considered an urgent request from one of our partners for a loan of £10,000 to help to secure the purchase of the premises used for the training of African pastors in South Africa,” he said.

“‘Why would we want to do that?’ someone asked. I was a bit shocked, as I had really hoped that we would be able to do this, but the point of the question was if we had the money why would we loan it rather than give it?

“I have taught at the college on two visits to South Africa in recent years and I know how much that gift meant to the college and to its ministry.”

The C of E’s statistics report can be downloaded here