Those who have been around for a while will know that I occasionally post information about the finances of the church. All of this info is from the annual accounts.
The reason I am posting this now is that I have heard that the bookshop/ coffee shop in Falkirk is not opening again when lockdown is eased. That made me wonder what is happening on the finances front, so I have pulled together the latest figures, which are up to December 2019.
I enclose these below along with some figures from earlier years for comparison.
2009 (11 churches listed on website)
. . . . . . . . . . Income . . . . . Expenditure . . . . . Profit (or loss if negative)
Shops . . . . . . . . 387,387 . . . .. . . 377,561 . . . . . .. . . . 9,826
Conference . . . . . . 114,949 . . . . . . 113,769 . . . . . . . . . . 1,180
School Fees . . . . . 364,375. . . . . . 522,518 . . . . .. . . . -158,143
Church * . . . . . . . 583,812 . . . . . . 373,791 . . . . . . . . . 210,019
2018
. . . . . ……… . . . Income . . . . . Expenditure . . . . . Profit (or loss if negative)
Shops . . . . . . . . 353,220 . . . . . 419,493 . . . . . . . -66,273
Conference . . . . . . 99,710 . . . . . 108,887 . . . . . . . -9,177
School Fees . . . . . 577,001 . . . . . 737,552 . . . . . . . -160,551
Church * . . . . . . 349,203 . . . . . 315,877 . . . . . . . . 33,326
Investments . . . . . .16,283 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16,283
TOTAL . . . . . 1,395,417 . . . . . 1,581,809 . . . . . . .. .-186,392
2019 (9 churches)
. . . . . . . . . ... Income . . . . . Expenditure . . . . . Profit (or loss if negative)
Shops . . . . . . . . . 355,372 . . . . . 427,866 . . . . . . . -72,494
Conference . . . . . . . 93,838 . . . . . 135,006 . . . . . . . -41,168
School Fees . . . . . . 589,272 . . . . . 699,708 . . . … . . . -110,436
Church * . . . . . . . 332,995. . . . . 274,164 . . . . …. . . 58,831
Investments . . . . . . .15,265 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,265
TOTAL . . . . . . 1,386,732 . . . . . 1,536,744 . . . . . .-150,012
* I have separated out the conference form the church total in the accounts.
Some observations
The school seems to have run at a loss of over £100,00 per annum, often more than this, funded by donations made to the church.
The shops originally made a profit, but have recently been losing about £70,000 per annum, some of which is of course the salary of the manager. The solution offered in the annual accounts is to seek more volunteers while still paying the manager. Obviously nothing about the minimum wage here.
Church income is dropping a little each year.
The conference used to roughly break even (+ £ 1,180 in 2009) but has recently made a loss (- £ 9,177 in 2018 and minus a remarkable £ 41,168 in 2019). There may of course be good reason for this – funding of places for people who cannot afford it for example - but it is a bit difficult to judge when no further information is given. In any normal organisation, there would be clear information about why the conference had moved from a small profit to a reasonable loss, then to a rather large loss.
Leaving aside this detail, it is interesting to note the bookshop in Falkirk is closing. I presume the leadership will say how wonderful it all was and how God greatly blessed this work over the years it was open. Amazing how everything is always wonderful and blessed, even when there really is nothing to show for it. Other than Christ, none of the Biblical characters were that good - they all made mistakes and got things wrong, but not the Struthers Leadership. Every one of them is better that Moses, David, Peter and all the others.
The big question is what exactly was the purpose of this book and coffee shop? Why is the Falkirk one closing but (presumably) the Greenock one staying open? Was the purpose/ vision different or the same? Was one making more of a loss than the other, and will the overall manager's salary be affected as there is now only one bookshop? Can't wait for the next episode.