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New attendance figures show mixed picture for church-going

13 January 2006

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 Midlands and the south east though not exclusively so. This is tremendously encouraging news for local churches as they seek to meet the increasingly evident spiritual needs of their neighbourhoods.”

 

Other features of the 2004 statistics released today:

Sixteen dioceses* saw annual increases in their church attendance figures for 2004. The accompanying tables provide detailed diocesan information for 2003 and 2004 together with national comparisons for 2001 to 2004.

Seventeen dioceses of the Church of England saw growth in their church attendance figures over the two years 2002 to 2004 **. Over the most recent two years for which figures are available, overall national church attendance levels grew slightly by one per cent. The accompanying maps show the geographical spread of the diocesan annual and two year church attendance increases across England.

Over the two years 2002 to 2004 church attendance among adults grew in sixteen dioceses while in almost half, 21 dioceses, attendance at worship by children and young people grew. Over this two year period the national increase in church attendance among adults was one per cent and among children and young adults attending worship was three per cent.

Separate figures for children and young people attending other church sponsored activities were collected for the first time in 2002/3 and revealed that comparable numbers of children and young people under sixteen years of age attend activities other than worship connected with the church. Over a typical month 375,000 children and young people attend such activities compared to 437,000 who attend church services.

Attendance at festival services on Easter Day/ Eve and Christmas Day/ Eve 2004 remained at 1.5 million and 2.6 million respectively. Despite Christmas falling on different days each year and Easter being a ‘moveable feast’, church attendance levels on these occasions have remained constant over recent years and considerably higher than attendance at weekly church services.

In 2004, the parish electoral rolls stood at 1.3 million continuing the small annual increase of two per cent as people are steadily added to the roll by parishes until the major revision every six years. The size of the parish electoral rolls although similar overall to adult church attendance over a typical month, masks very different practices across the Church of England parishes and dioceses.

The number of baptisms in 2004 remained at a similar level to 2003 while the pattern of decline in confirmation numbers continued. The number of funerals decreased while the number of marriages increased slightly.

 

Notes

  • *The 16 dioceses that saw annual increases in their all age weekly and monthly church attendance figures for 2004 are Bath and Wells, Birmingham, Blackburn, Bradford, Canterbury, Chester, Coventry, Derby, Durham, Ely, Exeter, Lichfield, Lincoln, London, Wakefield and Winchester. See maps.
  • ** The 17 dioceses that saw an increase in their all age weekly and monthly levels of church attendance over 2002 to 2004 are Blackburn, Canterbury, Chester, Chichester, Coventry, Derby, Durham, Ely, Guildford, Hereford, Leicester, Lichfield, London, Peterborough, Sodor and Man, Winchester and Europe. See maps .
  • Other key statistics are: 72 per cent of people in England are Christian (Government census 2001) 86 per cent of adults have attended a church/place of worship in the past year (ORB 2005).
  • Church attendance at Christmas has increased by around a third in the past four years, according to research published in December 2005. See http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr9605.html . This research is supported by anecdotal evidence from Christmas 2005. See PR05/06 also issued today.
  • In the tables relating to attendance at church services (attached) the following measures of church attendance are used:

Average Sunday attendance: the average number of attendees at Sunday church services, typically over a four-week period in October.

Average weekly attendance: the average number of attendees at church services throughout the week, typically over a four-week period in October.

Each of the above measures are provided separately for adults and children/young people aged under 16 years. The highest and lowest counts over the four-week period are calculated as follows:

Highest Sunday/weekly attendance: the sum of the highest Sunday (weekly) attendances over the four-week period. The 'highest' figures on the accompanying tables are proxies (in fact under-estimates) for monthly attendance levels.

Lowest Sunday/weekly attendance: the sum of the lowest Sunday (weekly) attendances over the four-week period.

Attendance figures are only included where local churches held at least one church-based service (which included adult presence) during the week under examination.

The traditional usual Sunday attendance (uSa) measure is interpreted differently across the dioceses and is therefore not regarded as statistically accurate as a comparison.