The Church of England must repent. It’s the only way to stop the decline
by Tim Dieppe, Premier:
The most recent data released by the Church of England suggests the terminal decline is continuing.
This month’s Statistics for Mission report states that all-age average weekly attendance was 654,000 people in 2022. While this was an eight per cent increase on 2021, it was a drop of 23 per cent on pre-Covid figures (2019).
Some 641 churches have closed since 2000. And Church of England attendance has more than halved since 1987.
Rave in the nave
In what looks like a desperate attempt to attract people, Canterbury Cathedral recently hosted a 90s-themed silent disco. Over a dozen more ‘rave in the nave’ events are planned at other cathedrals across England.
But the events have not been a PR success for the Church, with many expressing shock and dismay that a sacred space should be used in this way. Christians laboured and gave sacrificially for years to build awe-inspiring places dedicated to the worship of God. Yet today, the Church thinks an alcohol-fuelled rave is the only way to get people into the building.
One might hope that the CofE would do some serious self-examination in the light of the steady decline. What about seeking to learn from thriving churches, asking them to also lead failing ones, or preaching the same confident gospel message that people are obviously attracted to? What about faithfully guarding the biblical doctrines of the 39 Articles, which all priests swear to uphold?
Even the rejection of the Archbishop of Canterbury by the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) last year, which represents 75 per cent of Anglicans worldwide, failed to cause any repentance or reconsideration of the path the CofE is going down.
Instead, the Church persists in debating whether to update its sexual ethics in order to better conform to society. And in so doing, it puts more and more people off bothering with Church at all.
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