News New
attendance figures show mixed picture for church-going New
attendance figures show mixed picture for church-going Figures
just released by the Church of England for 2004 show a
mixed picture for trends in church attendance. Regular
Sunday church attendance fell by one per cent –
largely offsetting a similar increase the previous year. But
weekly and monthly churchgoing held steady and the number
of children and young people at services rose by two per
cent. The new
statistics confirm that more than 1.7 million people
attend Church of England church and cathedral worship
each month while around 1.2 million attend each week
– on Sunday or during the week - and just over one
million each Sunday. The
figures for 2004 show that: Average
Sunday attendance fell by one per cent to 1,010,000,
largely offsetting a similar increase last year. (2003: 1,017,000;
2002: 1,005,000). Average
weekly attendance held steady at 1,186,000, following
last year’s one per cent increase. (2003: 1,187,000;
2002: 1,170,000). Average
monthly attendance also held steady at 1,707,000,
following last year’s one per cent increase. (2003:
1,704,000; 2002: 1,682,000). The
average number of children and young people at services
rose by two per cent to 235,000. (2003: 230,000; 2002:
229,000). The
traditional ‘usual Sunday attendance’ measure
held steady at 903,000, following a two per cent drop
last year. (2003: 901,000; 2002: 919,000). The Revd
Lynda Barley, Head of Research and Statistics for the
Archbishops’ Council, said: “These latest
figures confirm that patterns of churchgoing are changing.
Although weekly Sunday attendance has dropped -
offsetting last year’s increase - levels of both
weekly and monthly churchgoing have remained steady,
largely consolidating last year’s one per cent rise.
Taken over the past two years, attendance levels are
holding steady overall. “The
figures also show that attendance at church services
outside Sundays continues to add a significant number to
local congregations. For every 50 people attending church
on a typical Sunday, another 10 attend during the week. “There
are signs in several areas of the country of more
sustained growth beyond special occasions. More than a
third of dioceses saw an increase in their regular church
attendance levels over 2003 and 2004. They are mainly
clustered in the Launch
of Christian Muslim Forum The
Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, hosted the
inaugural meeting and formal launch of the Christian
Muslim Forum at the end of January. The Forum
brings a wide range of Christians and Muslims involved in
community life together with specialist members. The
Forum is also supported by scholar consultants drawn from
academic life. The
Christian Muslim Forum has come into being as the result
of a Listening Initiative first proposed in 1997 whose
report, published in 2004, recommended that a formal
structure for dialogue and encounter would bring
stability and promote understanding between the two faith
communities as they encounter issues of difference and of
common concern and seek to enhance their contribution to
public life. The Forum
has been constituted as a charitable company. It has
eight presidents - four Muslim and four Christian; twelve
specialist members covering Community and Public Affairs,
Education, Family Issues, International Affairs, Media
and Youth; and six scholar consultants. The Forum's
structure also provides for two full-time directors, one
of whom has already been appointed from the Christian
Community. The Forum
will meet three times a year; and will itself determine
the precise nature of its business in its early meetings.
Funding
for the project has come from a mix of sources including
grants from Christian and Muslim bodies, other trusts and
a start-up grant from the Home Office. Dr
Williams hoped that the Forum will provide an opportunity
for the members and consultants from both communities
“to explore together their common and different
perspectives on issues affecting us all. I look forward
to seeing their work develop" Milestones
on the Christian journey The
latest in the Common Worship series has been published,
offering parishes a single resource for marking important
occasions in the life of the Church - and the lives of
individual Christian worshippers. Landmark rites for
confession join worship resources that celebrate baptism
at the heart of Christian life, including the definitive
services for Baptism and Confirmation. Government
Minister calls for chaplaincy in every college Bill
Rammell, Minister of State for Further and Higher
Education, has made a powerful public call for all
colleges to look at ways of engaging the services of
chaplains: “Colleges
are the ideal place for young people to develop into
rounded members of society through their spiritual and
moral development." The minister specifically
endorsed multi-faith chaplaincy as the best means of
doing this, and called on faith groups to identify
opportunities to help provide this vital service to their
local further education institutions. Around 200 colleges
currently have chaplains, 40 of which are organised on a
multi-faith basis, with the balance being primarily
Christian. Christians
are more generous if they are taught about giving by
their churches, says a new survey Church
leaders who regularly teach their congregations about
giving can expect to find more money in their collection
plates, according to a new survey. Christians
whose churches teach that people should give at least 10%
to church or charity do seem to take note. They give an
extra 26%, compared to people whose churches do not teach
this. And the
more often a church teaches about giving, the more people
give. The
survey was conducted on Christians who attend evangelical
churches, which are often thought to be more proactive in
teaching about giving than other churches. Bill
Lattimer, of Christian Research, who was responsible for
carrying out the recent research on money management
among evangelicals, commented: “Church leaders
sometimes wonder if their preaching has a real impact on
people’s behaviour. They are also sometimes
reticent about seeming to ask for money. This survey has
shown that people do listen and respond to teaching about
giving”. Helen
Calder, Finance Director of the Evangelical Alliance,
said, “These figures show that churches could do
more to teach people about how to use their money. Use of
the resources that God has given each of us is an
integral part of Christian discipleship. We want to
encourage churches to teach regularly from the many Bible
passages on the use of money.” The
‘Money Management’ survey of 1,200 evangelical
Christians, from all the main Protestant denominations,
such as Anglican, Baptist and the Salvation Army, was
sponsored by Kingdom Bank. Some of the questions were
framed by the Stewardship Forum of the Evangelical
Alliance, which helps Christians develop their
understanding and practice of biblical principles of
stewardship. Chris
Sheldon, Director and Deputy Chief Executive of Kingdom
Bank said, “Kingdom Bank has been delighted to
sponsor this research which shows that evangelical
Christians are generous with their money, regularly
giving a significant proportion of their income away to
help charities and churches. As a leading Christian Bank
we aim to use this information to develop our services to
enable evangelicals to make even better use of their
money across the Books
sales lowest in February Booksellers
were delighted with the upsurge in sales which occurred
the week before Christmas. More than £90 million
was spent in bookshops that week, and over 10 million
books purchased. Foyle’s had their biggest
ever trading day on the Thursday. January is the
month for sales in many bookshops, including Christian
ones. But after
all that excitement, February sees fewer sales of books
than any other month of the year. While £66m for
the month may still seem a high figure (9 million books),
it is the lowest (based on 2001-2004 records). The
next lowest month is May. February is also the
second lowest month for religious books being published (January
is worst). However,
people are not tired of reading books - for every book
bought there’s probably another borrowed! Visitors
to public libraries are increasing year on year, though
more to use their internet services than to borrow books. Books are
popular because they are enjoyed – fiction continues
to sell well – but non-fiction data can often be
replicated or updated from the web, so younger people
especially tend to go there first. From
Christian Research Baptists
to pray for more children Baptist
children are disappearing fast: the Baptist church
in the “Get
on your knees for the children!” Baptist churches
are now being urged. It is believed that only God
can bring them back. Sunday 11
June has been set aside as a ‘day of prayer and
awareness’ following the news of such a catastrophic
drop in attendance. The
Council of the Baptist Union of Great Britain is
organising the day, and BUGB’s Mission Department
will research the reasons and remedies for the decline. The day,
entitled On Our Knees, will include prayers of lament,
repentance and promise, and prayers for guidance. There
will also be sermons and all age events. Some
churches are thought to be planning a 24 hour prayer
vigil. The
Baptist churches will also use the day to review their
own local work with children, to try and discern what is
going wrong. In many cases, there are few
local youth leaders, or children have other things to do
on a Sunday. Those churches with INCREASING numbers
of children have managed to open new groups, and have
good local youth leaders who are focussed and intentioned
about their children’s ministry. For more
details: www.baptist.org.uk/onourknees. |