Church of England’s £248m ‘Reform’ Programme Failed to Stop Decline in Worshippers
by Victoria Friedman, Breitbart:
The Archbishop of Canterbury has admitted that spending hundreds of millions of pounds on attempts to bring new members to the Church of England has so far failed.
Speaking to the Church Times late last week, Archbishop Welby said that turning around declining numbers “has not so far happened”.
Asked whether he thought England’s national church could become a smaller, “faithful remnant”, he said: “If that happens, it happens… But it’s not us who grow the Church. It’s God who grows the Church.”
The Times of London reported on Monday figures from the last General Synod revealed £248 million was spent on the church’s “renewal and reform” programme between 2017 and 2020.
The initiative sought to “reverse the decline of the Church of England” through attracting new worshippers, building new congregations, and maintaining impoverished parishes. One project spent £4.9 million on converting a nightclub in multicultural Bradford into a church, including a cafe and gym.
Despite the efforts, typical Sunday church attendance fell to 690,000 in 2019 from 740,000 in 2016.
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