Bradford's Anglican church is to cut clergy numbers and boost its missionary work

to tackle a financial crisis created by the crippling cost of church pensions.

Bradford Diocese is facing year-on-year cutbacks as it struggles to meet rising pensions costs - currently £650,000 per year from

its total salary and related costs budget of

£3.6 million.

Nationally, the Church of England will have to reduce its clergy by up to one-third to meet a £104 million pensions bill.

The Bradford Diocese is responding by axing two clergy posts per year over the next five years. It has already lost two ministers per year over the past five years.

Bradford is already one of the smaller

dioceses with 100 clergy. The largest, Oxford, has 500 clergy.

Bradford will also step up its missionary work in the community as part of a broader shake-up, in a bid to grow church membership. Sunday service attendance levels have fallen by three per cent over the past three years.

Currently, the diocese gets the largest chunk of its £5 million yearly income from donations from churchgoers - a sum of £3.6 million, with £925,000 from the church commissioners.

The Bishop of Bradford, the Right Rev David James, said: "Although income has increased thanks to the exceptional generosity of the people of Bradford, the costs have actually gone up.

"The church did not have to provide church pension funds until 1998. Since then parishes have had to contribute to clergy pension so that's why we are experiencing financial difficulties.

"This is an on-going problem but in the short-term it will mean fewer clergy. Although it is a slight fall it adds up over the years."

He added: "We are working on a strategy to help the church be more mission-minded, look outwards more, serve more and engage with the people more."

Next month a report to the General Synod will propose radical changes to the Anglican Church to cope with the problems.

Bishop David has backed suggestions in

the report to redistribute wealth from

the richer dioceses to poorer ones, a move which would benefit Bradford. Under the

proposal, richer dioceses would provide

extra cash by contributing to the central pot, which is currently financed by church commissioners.

But the bishop goes further than the report's proposals, advocating that the money from the central pot should be redirected from bishops and cathedrals to the parishes, so it can be used at a grassroots level.

The bishop also supports the idea of bringing the church to the home to cope with

the problems posed by crumbling church buildings.

In the past two years, two churches in Denholme and Low Moor have closed down due to high maintenance costs.

Bishop David said: "Churches are too big to get a sense of being. We need to meet more in small groups so if some churches shut down it wouldn't be a bad thing.

"It doesn't matter where you meet, if it's in a pub or non-church building."