Church of England expects attendance to fall for next 30 years
Rural Church buildings and other assets are important parts of the sustainability “kit” in rural areas. One delegate at our seminar in Northallerton last week described them as more numerous than post offices. On that basis and in the light of its other content this article makes you think! It tells us:
The scale of the Church of England’s atrophy has been starkly set out by figures presented to its general assembly that show church attendance will continue to fall for the next 30 years.
Previously, the church predicted that its decline in numbers was likely to continue for another five years before recovering.
But John Spence, the C of E’s finance chief, has said the decline was expected to continue for another three decades, with today’s figures of 18 people per 1,000 regularly attending church falling to 10 per 1,000. An 81-year-old was eight times more likely to attend church than a 21-year-old, he said. “On all likely measures of success, given the demographics of the church, it is unlikely we will see a net growth in church membership within the next 30 years,” said Spence. “I could have given you other facts, but I think you get the point.”
However, these forecasts do not take into account the potential impact of the C of E’s emphasis on evangelism and its £72m programme of “renewal and reform. The programme is aimed at modernising the church and increasing by 50% the number of priests being trained, to 600 recruits a year. But the programme also involves shifting funds away from ‘struggling’ rural parishes with small and elderly congregations to urban churches which are seen as having potential for growth.
In a separate session, the synod called on the government to launch an independent review of the impact of benefits sanctions after hearing anecdotal accounts of hardship and humiliation from bishops, clergy and lay members.