Church Statistics 2005/6

Definitions

In the tables relating to attendance at church services new measures of church attendance are employed:

Average Sunday attendance

= the average number of attenders at Sunday church services typically over a four week period in October.

Average weekly attendance
= the average number of attenders 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.

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

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

In the tables relating to finance, components of income and expenditure are defined as follows:

Income

Tax-efficient planned giving

= tax-efficient planned giving including regular Gift Aid donations.

Total direct giving
= planned giving plus church collections and boxes.

Other voluntary income
= all other voluntary income for ordinary expenditure excluding income tax, e.g. fund-raising events, net profit on magazine/bookstall, sundry donations.

Total voluntary income
= direct giving plus income tax plus other voluntary income.

Other recurring income
= dividends and interest, recurring diocesan and other grants, and all other income for expenditure on ordinary purposes of the PCC, net surplus from church hall or other buildings, income from endowments or trust funds if used for ordinary purposes.

Total recurring income
= total voluntary income plus other recurring income.

Expenditure

Total recurring expenditure

= the total of ALL expenditure (including charitable giving) for the ordinary purposes of the PCC i.e. excluding only non-recurring items of capital expenditure and non-revenue items.

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