Lausanne World Pulse – Pulling Out of the Nosedive in the United Kingdom!
By Peter Brierley
6. The Church as a Whole Is Aging
The average age of those going to church has increased to from age forty-three to age forty-five; this is against a population average of forty. This is because twenty-nine percent of churchgoers are sixty-five or over. This means that we lose many people through being “promoted to glory.” Chart 3 illustrates the gap.
The Church is weakest among those aged twenty to forty-four (the age of many parents) and comparatively strong among those aged sixty-five and over (the age of many grandparents). Some church children are brought up by their grandparents, not their parents. Grandparents can hold an important position in their families, and often in a church. They are frequently asked to help with Sunday School. A few churches have experimented with holding “Being an Effective Grandparent” sessions.
7. Less Frequent Attendance
Judging by the decline in frequency of attendance (seventy-two percent which is among women) shown in Chart 4, there is considerable pressure on those aged thirty to forty-four. This was a similar finding to that in Scotland in 2002, where focus groups showed that this was primarily because of the strains of looking after a home and family while going to work, many having to take jobs on Sunday partly because many such jobs were available and partly because childcare would be provided by their partner.
How can churches help alleviate stress and strain on those aged thirty to forty-four, especially if they have a young family? Can services be held for them at more convenient times, either during the week, or even on a Sunday? One Baptist church switched its morning service from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and found its numbers doubled!
8. Evangelicals Are Declining
The number of Evangelicals in England is fewer in 2005 than it was in 1998, dropping nine percent from 1,390,000 to 1,260,000. The decline was least among the charismatic (five percent) but greatest among those describing themselves as Broad Evangelicals (twenty percent). The overall smaller rate of decline among Evangelicals is, however, because of the growth of the non-white church community, not because of the growth of conservative or strongly Evangelical churches which are mostly white.
9. Midweek Opportunities Not Being Taken The numbers attending midweek meetings were greater in 2005 than in 1998. However, this was not because more churches were holding midweek meetings; rather, it was because more people were attending the midweek services that were being held. The percentage of Anglican churches holding a midweek event dropped from fifty-one percent to forty-five percent, and Baptists from forty-five percent to forty-one percent, but it increased in other denominations, especially the Methodists, United Reformed and New Churches, so that the overall percentage of forty-two percent remained unchanged. Almost three-quarters of attendees at these meetings also came on Sunday.
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Dr. Peter Brierley is the Senior Lausanne Associate for Church Research. He attended Lausanne I in 1974 and has been involved with the Lausanne movement since 1984. Formerly a government statistician, he is currently executive director of Christian Research, a UK charity which produces resource volumes like Religious Trends and the UK Christian Handbook. Brierley can be reached at [email protected]. |