Working with a Covenant Pastor, by summer 2022 each parish is being asked to discern prayerfully what they are realistically able to contribute, in the form of a covenant pledge, towards the cost of stipendiary ministry across the Diocese of Lincoln. This money is gathered together in the ‘common fund’ and that money is then shared across the diocese to ensure that stipendiary priests are available to the community of Greater Lincolnshire and we can plan a sustainable future together. 

As a diocese we are called to work together collaboratively, supporting and loving our neighbours to see the Kingdom of God grow and lives transformed across Greater Lincolnshire. This means that when we give to the common fund through a covenant pledge, we may wish to consider this as a gift towards helping the mission and ministry of the wider church develop across the whole county, not just focussing upon our own local community. By working together and generously contributing to the common fund, we can work towards our ambition of having 100 stipendiary posts, located across the diocese, playing an active role in local communities, praying for them and providing sacramental ministry. This may mean festival churches see the £1k covenant pledge as a minimum amount they wish to give, choosing to give more, whilst key mission churches contribute more than the cost of a full stipendiary post. This generosity blesses the whole in a positive way.

All covenant pledges are decided by each church, with support offered by the Covenant Pastors. There is no formula to work with that decides what figure each church should give. This system did not work. Therefore the onus is on each parish to decide what it wishes to give. As part of this two-way pledge, the diocese commits to directing resources where there is the greatest need, and the LDTBF commits to funding all other costs and activity from other income (investments and assets). This means parishes can continue to receive at no cost support, training and expertise on mission, buildings, fundraising, finance, safeguarding, governance and more.

Please contact [email protected] for more information. 

Key Documents 

1. Covenant Agreement

Form for parishes to submit pledges. Click here to download an editable version in Microsoft Word or Click here to view as a PDF 

2. Covenant Pledge Decision-Making Steps