Finance Update 

Like many churches Dayspring has seen a significant fall in income during the pandemic. As a result, we have had to make some quite drastic cuts to expenditure. Nevertheless, we have seen God provide in other situations and we are looking for something exceptional to happen as we pray and listen to God.

Most of us in Dayspring give by standing orders and income hasn’t gone down from our regular givers.  However, some of those who have left or moved away were financially committed and as a result our income has fallen.  In 2019 regular giving was £6,333 per month.  At the current rate, regular giving this year will be £4,382.
 
We already have less staff costs and have done what we can to reduce programme and projects—no cabaret, camp or brunches.  (If we decide on any of those projects we will fund them by inviting special offerings.) Even so, unless God sends us unexpected income, we will have £1,000 per month less than we need.  

We initially looked at whether we could save on the hire of Lansdowne Hall. However, we have very cheap storage there and, if we moved our equipment and resources elsewhere, it would cost us the same as the total hire of the hall.  Looked at that way our use of the hall is free!

The next area considered has been the office.  Our lease runs out in August. We have taken the decision not to renew from August and are trying to see if there’s any way we can find something more within our budget.  Dayspring probably just needs somewhere to keep an A3 photocopier and a cupboard of stationery and a few other resources. Open Blue needs a business address to function.  So we are looking at the office as one way to save some money.

In the meantime we have decided to substantially cut Dave Halls’ support while the deficit continues. Some background may be helpful.

During the era of starting “New Church” congregations, Dave, like most founder leaders were self-employed.  There were no denominational funders, and income came from several sources and was inconsistent.  From the time that Dave started to work for the church we have aimed to link staff support to teaching scales.  Most of the time this has not been possible for any of our staff, though with David Sandberg’s move to Open Blue his salary was set at level comparable to that of leaders of other small charities and includes a contribution to his pension.  

For Dave Halls, ‘it had always been envisaged by Core team and trustees that at some stage the shortfall would be made up and attention given to pension provision for Dave.’ This intention was written down in 2011. The trustees (at that time Raph Mrode, Ian Powell and myself) ‘recognised that Dave Halls in the start-up phase of Dayspring and beyond, has received levels of remuneration which have been well below that wished. It [was] proposed that any succession plan included continuing provision of support at an appropriate level after the handover of leadership.‘ He has already moved to a more advisory leadership role and is working towards semi-retirement at the age of 75 at the latest.  

When he began to take his deferred state pension in April 2019, Dave chose to take an equivalent reduction in support from the church. Now, to deal with the expected shortfall in income, we have cut Dave Halls’ support to the equivalent of around one day a week. (He is continuing to serve the church working more than one day a week).  He’s okay with this reduction, not because he thinks it’s good for the church to shirk its responsibilities but because he’s been in this position before and both he and Wendy have worked their way through it.  He believes that God is the source of his supply. However, we need to remember Luke 10:7 —'a labourer is worthy of his hire’.

While this solves the immediate problem, it is not a long-term solution. We have always envisaged replacing him with another supported leader—full or part time.  At the moment, we would not be able to support somebody with a family as a new leader, even on a part-time basis.

I’m just giving you a heads up. Little changes will not be enough. We need to pray!
 

• We need to pray for God’s direction.
• We need to pray for new people to come and be part of Dayspring.  
• We need to pray for more finance—perhaps from surprising sources.

God is good at doing something surprising. If we give what we can, he is able to take what we have and multiply it in ways we can’t imagine.  
 

So that’s just to bring you up to speed on where we are at this moment.  Nobody has dropped their giving to Dayspring, though some may find themselves led to give more. It’s just that a few of those who have moved on, were substantial givers. And in a small church a few people who give a tenth or more of their income can make a very big difference.

Each month we put a short note showing income and expenditure on the website. This will now be available on the App and easier to access. If you have questions about the details of finance or would like to see Dayspring’s management accounts do speak to David Sandberg. If you would like to discuss issues of principle or more general concern, please contact me or any other member of core team.