St Paul's is part of the Church of England. The Vicar 'reports' to the Bishop of Kensington who is an Area Bishop in the Diocese of London. The Diocese is 'presided' over by the Bishop of London.

The Vicar is given charge of the 'cure of souls' in a particular geographical area known as a parish and in which the main church building is situated.

The decision making processes of the Church are governed by Church of England law and tradition. The relevant measures provide that the running of the Church is shared between the Vicar, the Church Wardens and the Parochial Church Council (PCC). In practice the Church staff drive much of the ordering of the life of the church and report to and receive authorisation from the Wardens and PCC. It is always open to a Warden or member of the PCC to propose new initiatives within the church.

The Wardens and the PCC are elected by those on the electoral roll (and, in the former case, those resident in the parish). In order to stand for election as a warden or as a member of the PCC, the candidate must be on the electoral roll and must be proposed and seconded by people also on the electoral roll.

Admission to the electoral roll is granted to those who habitually worship at St Paul's or who live in the parish.

A very significant way to participate in the decision making processes of the Church is, therefore, to participate in the elections which take place each year towards the end of April or even to stand for election.

Parallel to this structure is a pastoral structure. Here the staff work in partnership with those lay people who head up ministries (for example, the night shelter scheme or the intercessory prayer meetings) and who run Life Groups (the basic pastoral building block of the church).

St Paul's is entirely self-financing. It receives no money from the Church of England or London Diocese central funds (although the Church of England does provide the Vicar with housing). Apart from a little property income from hiring out the church building, all the our income is generated by the giving of members of the congregation.

We do not formally teach that members of the church should tithe (that is give 10% of their annual income to the church each year). We do believe that regular financial giving is a very significant spiritual discipline. We do believe that we hold everything we own personally on trust for God and his purposes. Accordingly, we treat the tithe as only a good guide to a basic starting point in regular giving and call the congregation to be open to giving more as God might direct them. Equally we recognise that there may be occasions or seasons when people may not be able to give significant amounts financially.

There are tax efficient ways of giving and details are available from the church office.