MILLIONS of pounds of church money is at risk in the severe recession that is about to hit the UK, the First Church Estates Commissioner, Andreas Whittam Smith, predicted this week.
Speaking on Tuesday, during the last hour of the General Synod sessions, Mr Whittam Smith reported that the Commissioners had given £32.9 million to dioceses for mission and ministry last year, £27 million of which went to the poorest dioceses.
“I think we are possibly OK for the next triennium. But if this thing goes on for long, then all bets are off,” he said. The economic sky had “darkened”.
“I think very rough times are coming. I believe we will have a proper recession,” he said. “You can’t resist it.” The Commissioners held ten per cent in cash to help ride the storm. Their land holdings were particularly valuable. But he warned dioceses that, in a recession, people’s spending patterns changed. “Do people maintain their giving to church during a recession? I don’t know.”
The recession would be more like something from the 19th century than anything seen since 1945, he suggested. Governments were powerless to stop it. “They have lost control. If you didn’t start it, you don’t know how to stop it.”
The coming recession and credit crunch was caused by a reversal of the beneficial effects of globalisation: increased global production and the deregulation of financial markets. Now there was “unbearable” upward pressure on commodity prices. Money from the emerging economies was “bottled up” in banks who were unwilling to take the risk of lending to others. |
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