Interesting Links for 20-08-2023

[andrewducker]

1. 70 years ago, an Anglo-US coup condemned Iran to decades of oppression - but now the people are fighting back

(tags:Iran history USA UK revolution Islam religion )

2. Hundreds of churches will have to close, says Church of Scotland

(tags:Scotland religion )

Comments

[andrewducker]

That makes sense. 300 seems like quite a lot of people, but actually it makes sense from a "number of people you'd need to be paying towards upkeep to sustain a church" point of view.

Being over-churched by 5x doesn't seem very sustainable. Indicates that they think they can sustain a church with 60 congregants. Which sounds expensive per congregant.

[danieldwilliam]

St Giles Cathedral says it has 314 seats as a music venue - but there is plenty of space not occupied by seats. St George and St Andrews on George Street has a capacity of 250. So 300 seems like it would fill a large church.

Say a Church of Scotland minister costs £40k a year, then each of the 300 people in the congregation need to be chipping in about £150 a year just for staffing one minister.

I suppose the sustainability depends on how much of an endowment the church has. If I'm reading the latest accounts correctly they have about £50m in income from investments.

[andrewducker]

Oh yes, that's going to help a lot.

Checking, it seems like there are around 70 CoS churches in Edinburgh:
https://cos.churchofscotland.org.uk/church-finder/

[danieldwilliam]

70 feels like about 3 times as many as my very crude calculations suggest would be more sustainable.

You and I should join.

[andrewducker]

I hear they have £50million they need help spending!

[danieldwilliam]

There's a question about what happens to the funds under management when the church shrinks. The Church of Scotland might have a billion quid invested plus lots of property.

[andrewducker]

They should probably sell some of it off, as they go along, so that it's not "Last Christian Standing".

Not that I think it'll get *that* low. And also, they will have a bunch of pension liabilities and suchlike.

[danieldwilliam]

I could get right behind Christianity if I thought I was going to be the Last Christian Standing.

[andrewducker]

Like Highlander. But with nails.