Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Churchgoing on its knees as Christianity falls out of favour (the dying British Churches)
The Times of London ^ | May 23,2008 | Ruth Gledhill

Posted on 05/24/2008 1:03:02 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Church attendance in Britain is declining so fast that the number of regular churchgoers will be fewer than those attending mosques within a generation, research published today suggests.

The fall - from the four million people who attend church at least once a month today - means that the Church of England, Catholicism and other denominations will become financially unviable. A lack of funds from the collection plate to support the Christian infrastructure, including church upkeep and ministers’ pay and pensions, will force church closures as ageing congregations die.

In contrast, the number of actively religious Muslims will have increased from about one million today to 1.96 million in 2035.

According to Religious Trends, a comprehensive statistical analysis of religious practice in Britain, published by Christian Research, even Hindus will come close to outnumbering churchgoers within a generation. The forecast to 2050 shows churchgoing in Britain declining to 899,000 while the active Hindu population, now at nearly 400,000, will have more than doubled to 855,000. By 2050 there will be 2,660,000 active Muslims in Britain - nearly three times the number of Sunday churchgoers.

The research is based on analysis of membership and attendance of all the religious bodies in Britain, including a church census in 2005.

Coming just months after the Archbishop of Canterbury suggested that the introduction of aspects of sharia into British law was unavoidable, the report is likely to fuel calls for the disestablishment of the Church of England.

Martin Salter, the Labour MP for Reading West and a member of Reading inter-faith group, said: “I think all faiths could be treated equally under our constitution. These figures demonstrate the absurdity of favouring one brand of Christianity over other parts of the Christian faith and the many other religions that grace our shores.”

Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary with responsibility for community cohesion, said: “We will look at these findings very closely. Britain is a secular democracy with a strong Christian tradition but many faiths have a home in Britain.”

The report makes it clear that Christianity is becoming a minority religion. It also reflects the changing nature of religious practice worldwide and will further aid the stated aim of the Prince of Wales who, on his Coronation, hopes to become Defender of Faith rather than Defender of the Faith.

Only in the large, evangelical churches of the Baptist and independent denominations is there resistance to the trend, but many of these churches also show some decline. One small area of growth is in Northern Ireland, where the enthusiasm of Pentecostals and other independents has led to a slight increase in numbers of churches - a trend expected to continue to 2050. The three growing denominations are the Orthodox, Pentecostals and smaller denominations, all dependent to a degree on immigration.

The crisis is particularly acute for Methodists and Presbyterians, as many worshippers are aged over 65. The report predicts that these churches might well have merged with others by 2030. “The primary cause of the decrease in attendance is that people are simply dying off,” the report says.

By 2050 there will be just 3,600 churchgoing Methodists left in Britain, Christian Research predicts. Anglicans will be down to 87,800, Catholics to 101,700, Presbyterians to 4,400, Baptists to 123,000 and independents to 168,000.

The national breakdown shows similar declines across England, Wales and Scotland. Churchgoing across all denominations in England will fall from about 3 million today to about 700,000 in 2050. In Wales it will tumble from 200,000 to 42,000 and in Scotland, from 550,000 to 140,000. The figures take into account the recent boost to Catholicism from the number of Polish immigrants to Britain, particularly in Scotland.

The report predicts that by 2030, when Dr Rowan Williams’s successor as Archbishop of Cantebury will be approaching retirement, there could be just 350,000 people attending just 10,000 Anglican churches, with an average of 35 worshippers each. The next Archbishop after that could find his position “totally nonviable”, the report says, with just 180,000 worshippers in 6,000 churches by 2040.

David Voas, a professor of population studies at the Institute for Social Change at the University of Manchester, said: “The difficulty is in retaining the children who have churchgoing parents. So long as churchgoing is something that gets you laughed at, so long as there is a social stigma attached to being a churchgoing young person, it will be difficult to reverse the trend.” He said that young Muslims operated in a different environment. “Being religious is a way that you show you are different, that you are proud of your heritage. One of the ways young Muslims assert their identity is by being more observant than their parents.”

The Church of England disputed the forecasts last night. Lynda Barley, its head of research, said: “These statistics represent a partial picture of religious trends today. In recent years church life has significantly diversified so these traditional statistics are less and less meaningful in isolation.

“There are more than 1.7 million people worshipping in a Church of England church or cathedral each month, a figure that is 30 per cent higher [than the Sunday attendance figure used by Christian Research] and has remained stable since 2000. We have no reason to believe that this will drop significantly.”

— Hundreds of churches are protesting at soaring water bills, with some parishes facing increases of up to 1,300 per cent. Senior churchmen from the Church of England, Methodist and other churches are meeting officials from Ofwat, the industry regulator, to argue their case against the charges today.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: anglican; anglicans; antitheism; atheism; britain; church; churchgoing; coe; culturewar; deathofthewest; demographics; eurabia; europeanchristians; whereisyougodnow

1 posted on 05/24/2008 1:03:02 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

Comment #2 Removed by Moderator

To: SeekAndFind

This is one of those things that absolutely broke my heart when I studied abroad in England. I guess I’d grown up reading one too many Victorian novel. Church-going had always seemed something respectable and enriching. It’s something I grew up loving. Indeed, the church had always seemed a very warm, welcoming place to me.

Arriving in England, I saw people not only not attending services, but outright bitter and spiteful towards it. Meanwhile, it was pretty routine for people my age to wind up stuperously drunk 3-4 times per week.

I saw kids take a piss on a Union Jack flag, and I, the American, was the only one who stood up against them.

The downward spiral in England is depressing. When you read up on the liturgical history of Britain, it was once the single strongest Catholic tradition in Europe. They’ve completely tossed all that aside. Many a beautiful church goes wholly unrecognized and un-entered by kids my age.

Just very disheartening.


3 posted on 05/24/2008 1:12:02 PM PDT by CaspersGh0sts
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CaspersGh0sts

And, where the Lord is not welcome, Satan is.

Islam marches onward against the West.


4 posted on 05/24/2008 1:35:00 PM PDT by Arkansas Toothpick
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I’m not going to weep over the demise of a lifeless husk of Christianity.

Liberalism and syncretism have strangled the life out of this once vibrant Christian nation.

When people no longer want to hear, God moves on to people who will.


5 posted on 05/24/2008 1:37:28 PM PDT by PetroniusMaximus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Huber; sionnsar

Anglican mention ping


6 posted on 05/24/2008 1:39:27 PM PDT by kalee (The offenses we give, we write in the dust; Those we take, we write in marble. JHuett)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CaspersGh0sts
When you read up on the liturgical history of Britain, it was once the single strongest Catholic tradition in Europe.

From the eighteenth century onward, Britain also experienced periodic Christian revivals led by evangelists such as John Wesley, founder of Methodism, William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army and Rodney "Gypsy" Smith. Besides recharging Christianity's batteries, these revivals may have contributed to limiting the appeal of Jacobinism, Bolshevism, and other pernicious ideologies among the British.

7 posted on 05/24/2008 1:50:37 PM PDT by Fiji Hill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Fiji Hill

“Britain also experienced periodic Christian revivals led by evangelists such as John Wesley, founder of Methodism, William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army and Rodney “Gypsy” Smith.”

And John Knox, as well. But of course.

” Besides recharging Christianity’s batteries, these revivals may have contributed to limiting the appeal of Jacobinism, Bolshevism, and other pernicious ideologies among the British.”

I have no doubt. The message of personal accountability found in Christianity is anti-thetical to a number of vile ideologises that you mentioned. The Churches I attended in California were often filled with Chinese immigrants who had fled the communist control of China, and Christianity remains a serious threat to the power structure of ChiComs. Time will tell....


8 posted on 05/24/2008 2:03:43 PM PDT by CaspersGh0sts
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: CaspersGh0sts

In some estimates, there might be more Christians in China by the end of the century than there will be in the U.S.


9 posted on 05/24/2008 2:16:36 PM PDT by D_Idaho ("For we wrestle not against flesh and blood...")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Fiji Hill
"Britain also experienced periodic Christian revivals led by evangelists such as John Wesley, founder of Methodism,"

Actually we never would have heard of Wesley and there probably wouldn't be a Methodist church if not for a 20 year old evangelist named George Whitefield. He led the great awakening, the early 18th century revival the effects of which are still felt today.

10 posted on 05/24/2008 2:23:57 PM PDT by joebuck (Finitum non capax infinitum!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
Having gone through one of those conflict periods at my church of twenty-nine years, and having spent the last year visiting churches, I can see why people not connected to a church might have a negative attitude toward the church. Church people can be very cliquish and contentious. We fight and pick over the smallest things and people are tired of it. I say this as an insider because we have found another church and are working hard at fitting in. If I had not had the experience of church being important in my life, though, I would say, "why bother?"

I found the book, unChristian to be very enlightening on the view twenty-somethings have of the church. We are in danger of being in the same place as Europe in a generation.

11 posted on 05/24/2008 2:58:46 PM PDT by aberaussie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PetroniusMaximus

“I’m not going to weep over the demise of a lifeless husk of Christianity.”

I have to agree - the mainline Churches in Britain are apostate, lukewarm at best. It is noteworthy that the article states: “Only in the large, evangelical churches of the Baptist and independent denominations is there resistance to the trend....”


12 posted on 05/24/2008 3:25:12 PM PDT by gscc
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Jesus said in the Beatitudes: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.” (Matthew 5:13)
Christians are to preserve society from the rot of sin and evil, as salt preserved food in ancient times. If the Church fails in this mission, it is worthless.


13 posted on 05/24/2008 3:27:26 PM PDT by kittymyrib
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Just let us all know when London is officially renamed as Londonistan!

The way England is shifting towards a mental and spiritual laziness, the Islamists may actually be an improvement.

Someone remind me to not buy British products...

Yours Truly,
The Woim


14 posted on 05/24/2008 3:27:45 PM PDT by The Woim (Respect private property. Abolish 40% of the govt and encourage tax consumers to stop.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CaspersGh0sts
It is quite likely that by 2050 or so there will be three billion Christians in the world; the proportion of those who will be non-Latino whites, people like myself, will be somewhere between 15 and 20 percent. Imagine a map of the Christian world as of 2050: Where are the largest Christian populations? It's an interesting list. Heading the list is the United States, though, of course, a lot of the Christians will be of Latino and Asian and African descent. Where next? Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, Nigeria, Congo, Ethiopia and China. What are the names that are not on the list? Oh, Germany, France, Italy, Spain – maybe the people in this room are old enough to remember something called Western Christianity – (laughter) – well, it died in our lifetime.

Global Schism: Is the Anglican Communion Rift the First Stage in a Wider Christian Split?


15 posted on 05/24/2008 4:03:28 PM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion (The conceit of journalistic objectivity is profoundly subversive of democratic principle.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: CaspersGh0sts
It is quite likely that by 2050 or so there will be three billion Christians in the world; the proportion of those who will be non-Latino whites, people like myself, will be somewhere between 15 and 20 percent. Imagine a map of the Christian world as of 2050: Where are the largest Christian populations? It's an interesting list. Heading the list is the United States, though, of course, a lot of the Christians will be of Latino and Asian and African descent. Where next? Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, Nigeria, Congo, Ethiopia and China. What are the names that are not on the list? Oh, Germany, France, Italy, Spain – maybe the people in this room are old enough to remember something called Western Christianity – (laughter) – well, it died in our lifetime.

Global Schism: Is the Anglican Communion Rift the First Stage in a Wider Christian Split?


16 posted on 05/24/2008 4:03:30 PM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion (The conceit of journalistic objectivity is profoundly subversive of democratic principle.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: ahadams2; jpr_fire2gold; Tennessee Nana; QBFimi; Tailback; MBWilliams; showme_the_Glory; ...
Thanks to kalee for the ping. "Mother Church" may be gravely ill, but she has already produced a vibrant crowd of Anglicans worldwide who quite out-number the totality of Britain's subjects -- and this worldwide crowd's numbers are increasing daily. The Anglican church is not dying, it is growing; and in realms never before imagined.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.

FReepmail Huber or sionnsar if you want on or off this moderately high-volume ping list (sometimes 3-9 pings/day).
This list is pinged by Huber and sionnsar.

Resource for Traditional Anglicans: http://trad-anglican.faithweb.com
Humor: The Anglican Blue

Speak the truth in love. Eph 4:15

17 posted on 05/24/2008 8:05:56 PM PDT by sionnsar (trad-anglican.faithweb.com |Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: D_Idaho; All
In some estimates, there might be more Christians in China by the end of the century than there will be in the U.S.

If you count serious, evangelical Christians in America, the kind who attend church regularly, say they have a personal relationship with Christ, and live it out... China may well already have more Christians than the USA. No more than 15 or 20% of Americans fit that category, and that makes 60 million, tops, being generous.

Some estimates range as high as 100 Million Christians in China, most a part of secret house churches--most all of them following Christ with considerable personal risk--of prison, or worse. From the article: Church attendance in Britain is declining so fast that the number of regular churchgoers will be fewer than those attending mosques within a generation, research published today suggests.

This is already the case in France. Something like 3 times as many people are in mosques there on Fridays, than are in Churches on Sunday. More American Churches need to seriously consider Europe as a wide open mission field.

18 posted on 05/25/2008 10:56:04 AM PDT by AnalogReigns
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: D_Idaho; All
In some estimates, there might be more Christians in China by the end of the century than there will be in the U.S.

If you count serious, evangelical Christians in America, the kind who attend church regularly, say they have a personal relationship with Christ, and live it out... China may well already have more Christians than the USA. No more than 15 or 20% of Americans fit that category, and that makes 60 million, tops, being generous.

Some estimates range as high as 100 Million Christians in China, most a part of secret house churches--most all of them following Christ with considerable personal risk--of prison, or worse.

From the article:
Church attendance in Britain is declining so fast that the number of regular churchgoers will be fewer than those attending mosques within a generation, research published today suggests.

This is already the case in France. Something like 3 times as many people are in mosques there on Fridays, than are in Churches on Sunday.

More American Churches need to seriously consider Europe as a wide open mission field.

19 posted on 05/25/2008 10:57:55 AM PDT by AnalogReigns (formatted correctly)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson