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 Williamss 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.
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.
And, where the Lord is not welcome, Satan is.
Islam marches onward against the West.
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.
Anglican mention ping
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.
“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....
In some estimates, there might be more Christians in China by the end of the century than there will be in the U.S.
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.
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.
“Im 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....”
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.
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
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?
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?
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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.
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.
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