THOSE who keep secret their Christmas spending, who fear to add up their total debt, and who often feel anxious about money could be in need of debt counselling, the Church of England website warns.

The Church’s National Stewardship and Resources Officer, Dr John Preston, reports the statistic that 18 per cent of all adults in Britain have £10,000 or more of unsecured debt.

Dr Preston, who is to run a series of 16 seminars for clergy and laity based on his book The Money Revolution, has also launched “Matter of life and debt”, a dedicated part of the Church of England’s website.

As well as asking people to assess their attitude towards debt against his ten-point checklist, he wants clerics and parishes to download the material to use in sermons.

“It’s part of each person’s stewardship to look at their own levels of personal debt and to do it sooner rather than later. It’s an issue for everyone, and a number of clergy are saying people are bringing these issues to them more and more,” he said.

“Clergy can help people face up to reality and to take the appropriate action. We are not asking clergy to be FSA-regulated debt councillors, but we want them to know where to refer people.”

His colleague Howard Dobson, who helped to compose the web material, said that much of it was drawn from Dr Preston’s book, which applied Christian principles to handling money.

Christians Against Poverty is to launch a money-management course, CAP Money, at Holy Trinity, Brompton, on 22 January. Keith Tonduer, the former national director of Credit Action, said that it had “massive potential for churches to reach out to their communities in a relevant and professional way”.