- 17 -
simple standard presentation. . .to make interpretation
and comparison easier and more meaningful" .
(3) His study is likely to advocate parishes adopting a
budgeting system stretching forward for five years
(C5)
.
The Diocese therefore faces a multiplicity of accounting systems
which make the allocation of share solely on any criteria drawn from the
presented parochial accounts as potentially inequitable. This is why,
when we come to work out a possible allocation system, we shall find
ourselves considering a number of criteria drawn from other sources.
2.4
Parish Resourcefulness
This is ancillary to parish accounting and a necessary basis for
diocesan accounting. Since it is the parish and not the diocese which,
in the main, generates the Church's income, it is on the resourcefulness
of the former that the latter's financial health must depend. Parish
resourcefulness is another area which appears very little researched
(C9)
,
but we may note a few points as being relevant.
Not only is free admission to church a behavioural preference
(C7)
it is a legal necessity
(B8)
, and whilst voluntary collections can be
made, there is a wide divergence of opinion in the diocese as between
regular weekly giving ('Christian Stewardship') and more irregular
special event giving (Spring Fairs, Autumn Bazaars, Gift Days)
(C4)
.
The diocesan policy is in favour of weekly giving, but "country chur-
ches prefer gift days ... [on the] community principle"
(C4)
. This
seems to imply an important sociological point - in a reasonably
cohesive community such as still tends to obtain in rural areas, an
event such as a church fete will have more than a money raising role
- it will provide a point of focus desirable - if not essential - for
the continued communal welfare, and that to seek its discontinuance -
as one interviewee certainly wished to
(C1)
and others implied they might
