THE decision by Dr Jeffrey John to step down as Bishop of Reading does not end the financial threat from evangelicals to the future of the Church of England.

It does, however, mean the financial outlook for the Oxford diocese is more secure.

The threat from evangelical parishes to divert funds away from their dioceses in protest against the appointment of Dr John was not empty.

If every evangelical parish in the country had adopted this policy, it would have cost the Church of England about £200 million, or nearly half its income from parishes. This would have left it unable to pay all its clergy stipends or its pensions and, in effect, bankrupted it within a few years.

Parish share is calculated according to numbers on the electoral roll, or church membership. Parishes are under a moral obligation to give money to the dioceses but are under no legal obligation to do so. Evangelical parishes, which are by far the wealthiest, resent the fact that they are propping up failing liberal parishes which they do not regard as preaching the Gospel.

As a result, the practice of “quota capping”, or withholding some of the funds received from parishioners from the diocese, has become common in some of the country’s biggest evangelical churches.

Evangelicals who campaign hard for church growth in dioceses where they feel the emphasis is on managing decline feel resentful about the increasing demands made on churches to give large sums to these dioceses.

The money is needed to pay clergy stipends and pensions.

According to Andrew Carey, the son of George Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, successful mainstream parishes such as St Thomas’ Church, Crookes, Sheffield, now cap their quotas in defiance at what they see as unfair taxation.

In Mr Carey’s latest column in The Church of England Newspaper, the evangelical tabloid where he writes each week, he notes that St Helen’s Bishopsgate in the City of London cut its parish share and refused to take any more money from the Church Commissioners in protest at the appointment of Dr Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury.

A similar response to Dr John’s appointment was inevitable.

The first reaction of one Oxford cleric on hearing the news of Dr John’s appointment was: “Bishop Richard has bankrupted the diocese in one go.”

One source said that the funds would have dried up immediately after the ordination at Westminster Abbey on October 9.

If the three big evangelical Oxford churches, St Aldate’s, St Ebbe’s and St Andrew’s had all withheld their quotas, about 40 per cent of the income from the Oxford deanery would have gone.

Churches were considering setting up independent trusts or funds to manage the cash.

A survey to be published soon by Christian Research will show that the average income for evangelical churches is twice that of other churches.

More than one third of Sunday churchgoers are now evangelical.

For 2002, non-evangelical churches had an average income of £40,000, or £15 per worshipper, but for evangelical churches it was £84,000 or £17 per worshipper.

Giving by evangelical churches represents about 40 per cent of total parish church income. Total parish income was in 1999 nearly £450 million. The Church could not afford to put such a large part of its income at risk.

Having secured a substantial victory, the evangelicals will now be watching Dr Williams for any further deviation from the path of biblical correctness.

Dr Williams will know now that any such deviation is likely to cost his church dear.

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