Is this the solution to our missional challenge?

Oct 5, 2018 by

By Ian Paul, Psephizo.

[…] the mission of the Church cannot be reduced simply to attendance, but numbers do matter since numbers represent people. And ‘coming to church’ isn’t the only thing that matters, since people have (in the past) come to church for all sorts of reasons, and experienced all sorts of things. But in the present context of numerical decline, addressing the question of how many people actual attend church is at the very least and important part of mission—and attainment of the first goal of the Archbishops’ Council (‘Evangelism’) is measured in terms of growing attendance across the Church.

So, if you could guess what one factor correlated with increased attendance, what would you guess it would be?

My instinctive response was to do with social context. Hereford, Carlisle and Gloucester are substantially rural dioceses, whereas Manchester, Chelmsford and Birmingham are substantially urban. But it turns out that the correlation in question actually applies within dioceses, and in the comparison between areas of similar social context.

The answer is: number of stipendiary clergy.

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