The Church of England, including the Diocese of Exeter which has oversight of Anglican parish churches in the County of Devon, has resolved to approve a departure from biblical teaching on matters of human sexuality. 

The Devon Good Stewards Trust has a Statement of Faith that is clear on the biblical foundations of its work and is aligned with the CEEC’s Statement of Faith. The Trust seeks to support ministry which is consistent with its Statement of Faith and holds to orthodox Church of England doctrine.

The Devon Good Stewards Trust operates a restricted fund.  Under charity law, money directed through this fund can only be used for the purposes for which the Trust has been established. This places restrictions on the recipient of the finances to spend it in a way which is consistent with the objects of the Trust, including its Statement of Faith.

Individuals. 

If you are an individual, you may use the Trust to direct one-off, regular or legacy giving to ministries of your choice within Devon (including to your own PCC), or the Trustees can direct your giving to beneficiary ministries of their choice, if you prefer. The Trust is registered for Gift Aid. Please email us if you would like to explore using the Trust.

Parochial Church Councils. 

PCCs can use the Trust as a conduit to pay some or all of your Parish Share to the Exeter Diocesan Board of Finance (Charity no. 249798). By using a Good Stewards Trust, payments can also be made to other ministries directly, if a PCC wished to support a specific church outside its own parish. Payments, including to the Diocese of Exeter, would be restricted by the Statement of Faith. 

Email the trustees if you would like to find out more about using the Trust as a PCC.

Ministries. 

If your ministry is in Devon, is consistent with the Statement of Faith and would like to receive financial support via the Trust, please get in touch with us.

The Trust has intentionally minimal costs which are expected to be easily met by supporting churches, individuals and other sources, although parish share payments would not be expected to assist with the Trust’s costs.  The criteria used for distributing surplus funds will be those set out in the Constitution of the Trust as the ‘object’ of the Trust.

Our trustees are introduced here. The Trust is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), registered with the Charity Commission and governed by the terms of its constitution. We take good governance seriously - please email us if you have any questions or would like to know more about serving as a trustee.

There is very little functional difference between the Devon Good Stewards Trust and The Ephesian Fund, set up by the CEEC. The key difference is one of scope and focus. 

At this time and for the foreseeable future, the Trust will be focused on supporting Devon ministries and working with one Diocese. We think that will bring some benefits over a national fund, although we’d still encourage support of the Ephesian Fund as it is working towards the same aim of enabling orthodox gospel ministry.