The Church of England logoFaithWorshipLife eventsAbout the Church
Information Contact us
Media Centre Home
Media

Provisional attendance figures for 2007 released

19 February 2009

 

Figures from the Church of England released today show further evidence that, while some trends in churchgoing continue to change, the overall number of people regularly attending church has altered little since the turn of the millennium. The 2007 figures confirm that attending a Church of England church (including cathedrals) is part of a typical week for some 1.2 million people.

 

Regular attendance

While the total number of adults, children and young people regularly attending church has dropped one per cent overall since 2002, 2007 showed similar numbers attending on an average week as in 2006, including slightly more adults. Attendance levels over a typical month continue to show that around 1.7 million people attend Church of England services each month. For every 50 people attending church or cathedrals on a typical Sunday, another nine attend during the week and an extra 36 in total over a month.

The figures suggest, however, that the number of under-16s attending services has fallen by four per cent between 2006 and 2007. The overall drop in attendance by under-16s since 2002 is also four per cent.

The Revd Janina Ainsworth, Chief Education Officer for the Church of England, commented that the figures showed only a partial picture of the Church’s involvement with young people: “The Church has a wide range of links with children and young people, through uniformed groups, informal clubs and activity groups, and not least the one million children in Church of England schools. Many of these young people will be involved in some of the wide range of creative events planned by parishes and dioceses to celebrate the Year of the Child 2009*.”

  • In summary: Average weekly attendance was down slightly at 1,160,000 (2006: 1,163,000; 2005: 1,174,000), as was average Sunday attendance at 978,000 (2006: 983,000; 2005: 993,000) and average monthly attendance at 1,690,000 (2006: 1,694,000; 2005: 1,706,000). The average number of children and young people at services each week fell by four per cent to 219,000 (2006: 228,000; 2005: 232,000). The number of children and young people attending on a monthly basis also fell four per cent to 424,000 (2006: 442,000; 2005: 444,000).

 

Marking life events

By contrast, the number of baptisms rose between 2006 and 2007, specifically among children aged between one and 12 years (six per cent, to 40,300) and adults (six per cent, to 10,200). The number of infant baptisms (under one year old) fell by three per cent. The rate of child baptisms per thousand of the population aged under 12 reached its highest level since 2002 – at 5.7 baptisms per thousand children. Thanksgivings continued to grow in popularity, with significant rises of both infants (five per cent, to 4,700) and children (16 per cent, to 1,700).

The number of marriages taking place in church also increased slightly to 54,600 (significant changes to marriage law which widened the number of churches where couples are eligible to be married did not t effect until October 2008 and their effect is not, therefore, reflected in these figures). Blessings of marriages following a civil ceremony fell slightly (by three per cent, to 4,500). The total number of funerals fell slightly (by two per cent, to 194,300), particularly those taking place in crematoria (by four per cent, to 98,700).

Approaching nine in 10 Church of England churches completed attendance counts to produce the figures, which have now been verified across all 16,000 Church of England churches by the Research and Statistics Department of the Archbishops’ Council. The provisional figures can be seen on the web at: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/info/statistics/2007provisionalattendance.pdf.

The Revd Lynda Barley, Head of Research and Statistics for the Archbishops’ Council, said: “Taken as a whole, these figures show that over the past few years the Church has maintained stable numbers of regular worshippers while we are also continuing to explore creative ways of responding to the spiritual needs and lifestyles of those they serve – such as the 37,000 who returned to church on Back to Church Sunday 2008**.

“There are some encouraging signs in the ways the Church helps people mark important occasions in their life. We also know that there is significant expansion going on ‘under the radar’ in less traditional activities in which churches are engaged, such as the thousands of ‘fresh expressions’ initiatives***, where the Church is seeking new ways of responding to the nation’s spiritual thirst.

“More than half of the dioceses from the north west to the east and south east are showing signs of growth in church attendance in one or more measures. The figures for 2007 reinforce the pattern of attendance at church services outside Sundays adding significant numbers to local congregations.”

A podcast featuring Lynda talking in more detail about the latest statistics is available for download at: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/podcasts/wp-content/uploads/cofepodcastlyndabarley.mp3.

 

Celebrating festivals

Attendances and those receiving Communion at Easter remained broadly in line with 2006. As in other years when Christmas Day fell on a weekday, attendance over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in 2007 was considerably down on 2006’s figure (by 11 per cent). The figure – which does not reflect the increasing popularity of carol and Christingle services held in the run-up to Christmas – is in line with Christmas attendance seen in 2001-2004, when Christmas also fell midweek.

The Rt Revd Graeme Knowles, Dean of St Paul’s, comments: “It seems that as a general trend, when Christmas Eve falls on a Saturday or Sunday we see considerable increases in attendance at church services. When it falls midweek, attendances appear to be dispersed to other services and events during Advent, such as carol or crib services.

“Perhaps it is something to do with people wanting to go to a church they know well, but when people are more likely to travel away from home or where they take extended leave during Christmas because of the way that their statutory holidays fall, we do see an impact on church attendance.”

  • In summary: Attendance at Church of England church services on Christmas Eve/Day 2007 fell by 11 per cent to 2,656,800 (2006: 2,994,100; 2005: 2,785,800). These figures do not include the large number attending at other services during Advent. Easter observance dropped back by one per cent to 1,469,000 (2006: 1,484,000; 2005: 1,417,600).

 

Other features of the 2007 statistics released today:

The majority of dioceses – 24 out of 44 – saw increases in one or more measures of total attendance; 29 out of 44 saw increases in one or more measures of adult attendance.

Following one of the scheduled major revisions of the Church’s Electoral Roll, the number listed dropped by three per cent over 2006 to 1,173,000. This represents a drop of three per cent since the last major revision in 2002. “This is not surprising,” comments Lynda Barley, “because the number is broadly in line with the average number of weekly worshippers. The figure also masks wide-ranging practices across Church of England in how the Roll is explained and promoted at a parish level, and indeed how much emphasis is placed on ensuring a thorough update of the list.”

The traditional ‘usual Sunday attendance’ measure fell slightly in 2007 to 868,000 (2006: 871,000; 2005: 880,000).

 

Notes

Recent figures from Tearfund suggest that one in four adults in the UK attend a church of some denomination at least once a year, with 7.3 million attending at least once a month. The organisation’s tracking research (which interviews 7,000 adults every six months) showed that church attendance in September 2008 was slightly higher than a year previously, in September 2007.

* Year of the Child 2009 is an initiative led by a group of Children’s Advisers from across the Church of England’s dioceses, alongside representatives from the Methodist Church and other denominations and agencies, who identified widespread interest in making a distinctive Christian contribution to the 30th anniversary of the United Nations’ International Year of the Child. The network is promoting 2009 as an opportunity for local churches to review the work they do with and for children and young people, and to do more to recognise and celebrate their contribution in the life of the church and society.

**Back to Church Sunday is an initiative which encourages parishioners to extend a personal invitation to family, friends and neighbours who used to go to church but have stopped going for whatever reason, back to church on a specific Sunday in September. Figures based on returns from dioceses which took part in 2008 suggest that more than 37,000 people took up the invitation to try church again – with more than 31,000 of them ‘coming back’ to an Anglican church.

Thirty-eight Church of England dioceses from Cornwall to Newcastle took part in 2008, in addition to Churches Together in Scotland, the Church in Wales, Baptist, Methodist, United Reformed and Elim Pentecostal churches, and Anglican churches in New Zealand and Canada. Research by the Diocese of Lichfield after Back to Church Sunday 2007 showed that, six months after the event, between 12 and 15 per cent of ‘returners’ had become regular members.

 

The maps

The 14 dioceses that saw increases in (all age) weekly attendance figures in 2007 were: Blackburn, Bradford, Carlisle, Chichester, Coventry, Durham, Ely, Exeter, Leicester, Lincoln, Norwich, Sheffield, Southwark, Europe.

The 18 dioceses that saw increases in (all age) weekly attendance over 2006 and 2007 were: Bath and Wells, Bradford, Carlisle, Chester, Chichester, Ely, Exeter, Gloucester, Hereford, Lincoln, London, Manchester, St Albans, Sodor and Man, Southwark, Wakefield, Winchester, Europe.

Map showing dioceses reporting an increase in attendance by over-16s 2006-2007

Map showing dioceses reporting an increase in attendance by over-16s 2005-2007

Map showing dioceses reporting an increase in all age attendance 2006-2007

Map showing dioceses reporting an increase in all age attendance 2005-2007

 

Definitions

*** Fresh Expressions is a movement led by the Church of England and the Methodist Church to nurture contemporary forms of church life alongside traditional ones. Fresh Expressions are being formed in a variety of ways, from new congregations targeting particular groups such as Goths, to café churches and skateboard parks.

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 is 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.