At the beginning of 2026, letters were sent to the 96 member churches of the CPCE explaining a new contribution structure. This had already been decided by the Council at the end of 2025.
In recent years, there have been many changes in the CPCE’s finances: staff are no longer sent by member churches but are employed directly by the CPCE, inflation has increased costs, while contributions have remained the same and have been distributed very unevenly.
The work of the CPCE is largely financed by contributions from its member churches. Income from the sale of books or other economic activities accounts for less than one per cent.
Under the new contribution structure, the minimum annual contribution of EUR 300 will not be increased, but will only be paid by small churches (up to 20,000 members). For all other churches, the contribution amount will depend directly on the number of members. The benchmark is 1.5 euro cents per church member. In addition, the fact that purchasing power varies greatly in different European countries will be taken into account, so that a church’s contribution amount will also be adjusted according to how ‘wealthy’ the society in its country is.
In their letter, Executive President Rita Famos and General Secretary Mario Fischer explain that this change is being made ‘to ensure a fairer financial contribution within our community’. They describe the change as ‘a shift in the culture of the Leuenberg Church Fellowship’. After all, information such as the number of members is now an important factor that must be kept up to date.
Especially in times of financial strain, the tasks of the CPCE – to deepen the fellowship of Protestant churches in Europe, to conduct doctrinal discussions and ecumenical dialogues – become even more important. It is to be hoped that the CPCE will continue to do a great deal for the communion in the future, even with a small budget and few staff.