Changing Church?

A new study shows that church attendance has fallen by a third since 2019, with many regular worshippers attending only monthly since in-person services resumed this summer. 

For its report, ‘Changing Church’, the Evangelical Alliance surveyed 552 church leaders and 1676 church members over ten days in October and found that attendance has fallen by 32 per cent. The decline in regular attendance is also reflected in volunteering and financial giving. With youth and children’s ministry also significantly reducing from pre-pandemic levels. A quarter of churches reported that they were no longer offering youth ministry, and 17 per cent were no longer offering any children’s ministry. 

The lead theology researcher at the Evangelical Alliance, Rich Powney, said:  

“The Church continues to face a changing, and at times challenging, landscape. Yet this is also an opportunity to reflect and reset, to ask strategic conversations and hold formative conversations as we learn some lessons from lockdown. As we do this, let’s pray that we all remain committed to making Jesus known through our words and actions.” 

The report has some interesting findings, but we want to focus on moving forward. Why has attendance dropped? Has the church landscape changed forever? What can we do to encourage regular attendance? 

Please, this is a topic that we all need to input on. If your attendance has changed, or you have thoughts on this topic, email us at comms@salisbury.anglican.org and we will feature your thoughts in an upcoming Grapevine.