Is the British Church in Terminal Decline?

	On the face of it the British “religion” is secular consumerism. But this is not the whole story. At times of national and personal crisis our churches and cathedrals become places of pilgrimage. People create impromptu shrines, perhaps at the side of the road to remember the death of loved ones. In some ways we see the pendulum swinging back towards faith being a good thing. It is true that many people today see themselves as ‘spiritual’ rather than ‘religious.’ They have a godless spirituality and many adopt a ‘pick ‘n mix’ approach to their spiritual lives.  However, that is by no means the majority.  Modern lifestyles hinder regular church attendance and the current resistance to making commitments hinders people attending church. However I have recently come across some very interesting statistics* which show that the great majority of British people believe in God, pray and call themselves Christian and over a quarter attend church at least annually. They also show that one in 17 British adults are open to churchgoing, if only churches reach out to them. Here is my summary of those statistics which refer to UK adults):  THE BETTER NEWS 70% call themselves Christian - nearly two thirds of the women of this country and nearly half of the men (another 6% - 3.2 million belong to other religions). 67% believe in some sort of God 26% believe in a personal God 66% pray, including many who never attend church. 86% have been inside a church for some reason in the last year 63% would be very concerned if their local church was not there. 10% (4.9 million) attend church at least weekly 15% (7.6 million) attend church at least monthly and another 15% (7.3 million) have some allegiance to church. 26% (12.6 million) attend church at least annually 6% (2.9 million) who don’t attend church now say they are likely to go to church in the near future. THE BAD NEWS  However: 33% do not wish to attend church 59% (28.8 million) never or practically never go to church. 10% only of 16-24 year olds go to church regularly 33% only of 16-34 year olds call themselves Christian 50% or more of under 45 year olds are non-religious. THE POTENTIAL  One in every seventeen British adults are open to churchgoing, if only churches reach out to them.   36% of fringe churchgoers (i.e. attending less than monthly but at least 6 times per year) say they are likely to go to church more often in future 24% of occasional churchgoers (i.e. attending 1-5 times per year) say they are likely to go to church more often in future; 25-34s and 65-74s are slightly more likely than others be seeking to find out about Christianity. 35-44s are the age band most likely to attend for private confession, prayer or reflection (12%). 10% of weekly churchgoers said that in the last year they had attended to find out more about Christianity e.g. through the Alpha course or similar. THE CHALLENGE  This research also showed that the best way of encouraging people to come to church is through a personal invitation or encouragement from a family member or friend.  28% of those who don’t attend church are likely to respond to such a personal invitation compared with only 3% to a church invitation.  And the moral of the story is: INVITE YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY!  I encourage you also to read the Archdeacon’s challenging address at a recent meeting.  Tony Higton  [* “Churchgoing in the UK” See www.tearfund.org]  THE ARCHDEACONS’ CHALLENGE   The Archdeacon of Lynn, a good Woottons boy, recently gave a stirring address about the church being outward-looking which everyone should read:  “Of course being part of an institution can be quite comforting. We can avoid the need to change, turn a blind eye to those outside us and become a sort of holy huddle within which all we talk about is how we can keep our holy huddle going - Dealing with the legislation and the rules and regulations - raising money to keep the building in a good state of repair: these can be things behind which we hide - it may all be a terrible bind and burden at times but it is much less challenging than facing the need to change - living the gospel and proclaiming it.  “There is no doubt that the Church is being and always has been challenged to change. It is a constantly recurring theme throughout the whole of scripture. Last Sunday in the readings set for the day we heard about the "gentile pentecost" as it is often known. The Church in Jerusalem criticises Peter for going to the house of a gentile, Cornelius, an uncircumcised man and eating with him. Peter tells them about his dream which leads him to go to the house where he witnesses the Holy Spirit coming to the gentiles in the same way that the Holy Spirit had come to them. "If then", concludes Peter, "God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God." That was a huge change required of those who had been conditioned by years of Jewish up-bringing and tradition which had convinced them that they and only they were the chosen race. The early Church was nearly torn in two by the controversies surrounding that change.  “Considering challenges like "fresh expressions" [new experimental forms of worship] and whether we are "mission shaped" can easily make us feel as the early Jewish Christians must have felt in Jesus time. When it comes to facing change it is, of course, always difficult to discern between what is change for changes sake and what is change that is in accordance with God's will. All too often the need to change can become just as much of an idol as the need to not change. How do we discern God’s will in all of this - decide what is of God and what is not? How do we live the gospel? How do we proclaim it?  “It seems to me that this evening’s account from St. Luke’s gospel has much to say on this. If you remember Jesus has been teaching from Simon Peter’s fishing boat. When he finishes speaking he tells Simon to put out into deep water and let down his nets for a catch. Simon’s reaction is one typical of a reluctant Churchwarden who is tired and wants a rest. The last thing he wants is yet more work. “We’ve worked all night long and caught nothing,” he says to Jesus. I’m tempted to add “what on earth do you want us to do that for?” Reluctantly he obeys Jesus command. “Oh well, if you say so!” They catch so many fish that Simon Peter is overwhelmed, certainly by the number of fish and, perhaps more importantly, by his feeling of inadequacy and the recognition of his unwillingness to trust Jesus. “Go away from me Lord for I am a sinful man!” Jesus then puts the fishing incident in context. “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people. Simon Peter and James and John leave everything and follow him. The fishing trip is symbolic of the Churches mission which is totally dependant on Jesus. It is his mission and without him it will fail. The fishermen, you and I, if you like, are simply his disciples and without him we can do nothing. With him anything is possible and there is absolutely no need to fear.  “Our task as disciples of our Lord is to discern his will in all things and to follow him. It must be our constant prayer that we will be able to do just that - that we will be able to resist the temptation to stay in the shallow water, if you will excuse the metaphor, and have the grace, courage and strength to put out into the deep - that when 101 other things crowd in on us we will not lose sight of our prime responsibility as disciples viz. to obey Jesus and to follow him wherever he may lead.”

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