Church Take
a good look at your own church Take
a good look at your own church You
might like to write an article over-viewing the church.
This could include: how
many on the membership Britons
say they are Christian Most
Britons describe themselves as Christian, although many
of them attend church less than once a week, a BBC survey
has found. The
poll found that 67 per cent of people said they were
Christian, but only 17 per cent said they went to church
once a week or more. 30 per cent said that they
went once or twice a year, and 17 per cent said that they
never went. Muslims
are the most likely believers to attend a weekly
religious service, while Jews are the least likely. The
research, carried out by ICM for the BBC, found that
almost 75 per cent of people believed that the More
than a fifth of people said they did not believe in any
religion, but 44 per cent of those who said they had no
faith thought that the Single
parents and church Government
figures paint a shocking picture of the decline of
marriage in the The
proportion of single parents attending church is much
less than in the population as a whole (2% vs 8%) but
this still equates to 80,000 lone parents who go to
church. We
can pray for single parents, for relationships which are
in trouble, for the children who are affected. We
can also try and make sure that lone parents will find a
warm welcome in our church. Statistic
of the Month - one in five went to church at Christmas! The
Church of England has recently published its national
attendance figures for 2003, which make interesting
reading! They show, for example, that church
attendance at Christmas increased in 2003 over 2002 to 2,650,000
in 2003, a 2% increase over the previous year. If
that kind of increase continues there could have been
well over 2.7 million people in church this Christmas
– and that's just the Church of England! Since
C of E attendance is about 28% of the total, this
suggests there could have been nearly 10 million in
English churches this December, and probably more than 12
million in the whole country. That's 20% of the
population, one person in five! The
Church of England booklet breaks the figures down
further, to show that Christmas attendance is increasing
most in individual towns, and in remoter rural areas.
In towns, the average attendance is nearly 400 people per
church, which is a huge opportunity to tell people the
good news. In remoter rural churches, the average
is 100 attending per church, more than 3 times the usual
attendance. How can we best use these
opportunities? Top
destinations for mission workers These
figures come from Christian Research's 'Religious Trends
5: the Future of the Church'. Church
Army has recently published its annual review Mission Changes Lives. "To
see lives changed through encounters with the living
Christ remains our goal", comments Chief Secretary
Philip Johanson, "Church Army evangelists have some
exciting and encouraging stories to share of people
coming to know God for themselves." The
report tells the stories of a number of people such as a
nightclub doorman in Church
Army's approach to mission has been welcomed by the Revd Dr
Stephen Croft of Fresh Expressions who
comments: "the work Church Army is doing with its
key projects and pioneering evangelists will help many
more people find faith and engage positively with the
work of the church." More
examples of mission changing lives can be viewed in
the changed lives section of the new Church Army website
at www.churcharmy.org.uk/changedlives. For more
information about Church Army: info@churcharmy.org.uk or
phone 020 8309 3519. Blueprint
for a growing Church A
new book by church growth specialist Bob Jackson shows
how the Church can take 'The Road to Growth'. Packed
with the results of three years' intensive research and
consultancy with churches and dioceses, the book offers a
blueprint for how the Church can grow nationally. It
identifies key action points that can lead to a sustained
boost in congregation numbers and a renewed church life
for those already in the worshipping community. Bob
Jackson's research highlighted these eight themes: *
Planting new congregations with fresh formats or targeted
at specific groups; The
book - a sequel to the acclaimed 2002 book, Hope for the
Church - is part of the Explorations series, a growing
library of books which aim to stimulate debate within the
church. The
Ven Bob Jackson, Archdeacon of The
Road to Growth is published by Church House Publishing,
priced £12.99. Visit www.chbookshop.co.uk Premier
Radio wins prize Premier
Christian Radio has scooped first prize at the recent
Sandford St Martin's Trust Religious Radio Awards. It
headed up a list of winners that included programmes from
BBC Radio 4, the World Service and BBC Radio Wales. The
winning programme, ‘The Rainbow Through the Rain',
tells the story of Geoffrey Mowat's experiences as a
prisoner of the Japanese in the Second World War, and how
it influenced his decision to become a priest. "We
were all deeply moved by the powerful and compelling
narrative," said Baroness Neuberger, who chaired the
judging panel. |