Marginally later than in some previous years, the full details of the annual returns on attendance for the Church of England has been published (‘Statistics for Mission’). This is in two parts, both linked here: a report, giving the main statistics and trends, helpfully illustrated with graphs; and the detailed breakdown by diocese in a series (not ‘serious’!) of spreadsheets. Both are worth looking at. Thanks as ever to Ken Eames in Church House for their production.
Preliminary figures were released in June, and I commented on them then. As Ken had predicted, the overall picture has not shifted; the early data is a reliable indicator of the full picture, but this report comes with more detailed analysis and reflection.
So, what is the headline? According to the press release on the Church of England website, it is:
Attendance at Church of England churches rises for the fourth year in a row
The overall number of regular worshippers across the Church of England’s congregations rose to 1.009 million in 2024, a rise of 0.6 per cent, according to the annual Statistics for Mission findings.
It was the second year in a row in which the Church of England’s “worshipping community” – the combined number of regular members of local congregations – has stood above a million since the Covid-19 pandemic.
All age average attendance on a Sunday also rose 1.5 per cent to 581,000 in 2024, extending rises over recent years.
And overall attendance across the week edged upwards by 1.6 cent in a year, and stood at just over 702,000 last year, according to the figures.
The increase was driven by a recovery in attendance by adults (over 16), among whom average Sunday attendance was up by 1.8 per cent and weekly attendance rose by 1.8 per cent.
Read more Here: https://www.psephizo.com/life-ministry/is-the-church-of-england-growing-again/
Brislington Community News 