One wedding and five funerals: What a typical CofE church will host next year as their decline continues

Dec 29, 2018 by

by Steve Doughty, Mailonline:

A typical Church of England parish church now hosts only one wedding every year, figures show.

The Church’s statistics also reveal that just five funerals are held at these middle-sized churches each year.

Smaller churches often have no weddings during the year.

The admission that the traditional white church wedding is dying out in many parts of the country follows figures showing that congregations in the CofE are dwindling fast.

The number of church weddings has been declining steeply since a change in the law in 1995, which allowed civil weddings in places such as stately homes, hotels and football grounds, shattered the Church’s monopoly on romantic wedding venues.

In all, the CofE hosted 38,000 weddings last year, a fall from more than 50,000 in 2007. The numbers are a dramatic drop since the mid-1980s, when there were more than 120,000 weddings celebrated in the Church of England and its sister Church in Wales.

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See also a more positive story from Church Times: Vicar offers church wedding and reception package for £1000

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