Church of England encouraged by increase in church attendance

The Church of England has welcomed latest figures showing a rise in attendance for the fourth consecutive yr.

The worshipping community as an entire rose by 1.2% in 2024 to 1.02 million regular worshippers, while Sunday attendance increased by 1.5% to 582,000. 

Weekly attendance was also up by 1.2%, rising to 701,000. 

Growing attendance amongst adults was a serious contributor to the rise, with Sunday and weekly attendance increasing by 1.8% and 1.5% respectively. 

Online interest within the Church of England has also increased, with its church finder website experiencing a 55% increase in visits – nearly 200 million page views in 2024. 

The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, who’s interim head of the Church of England, is inspired by the figures and sees them as an indication of more people coming to faith. 

“The Church of England exists to share the excellent news of Jesus Christ and to like and serve our neighbours in every community in England,” he said.

“So it’s encouraging to see further signs that more individuals are coming to faith in Jesus Christ and having their lives modified.

“Although that is only a snapshot and we don’t know the ages of those that have began attending church previously yr, other evidence suggests that a lot of these are young adults.

“This can also be my experience of visiting churches Sunday by Sunday and baptising and confirming recent Christians.

“That is a testament to the religion and hope of all those in our churches who share the gospel with their communities each day and my prayer is that, in these uncertain times, more people will come to know the message of affection and style of Jesus Christ.”

Debbie Clinton, the Church of England’s Director for Vision and Strategy, can also be encouraged.

“Our statistics are way more than numbers, each represents a person who is an element of an area church, serving their community across the country,” she said. 

“In 2024 we’ve got heard and seen exciting stories of growth in parishes in each urban and rural contexts, in our estates and in post-industrial and coastal towns.

“Nationally we aim to be sure that each young person has a flourishing children, youth and families’ ministry close by of them, we’re seeing growth within the variety of churches with greater than 25 young people attending.”

One church to have experienced a dramatic reversal of fortunes recently is St John’s Upper Norwood, in south London. 

Its vicar, Fr John Pritchard, says the church was formerly in decline but now has so many individuals coming through its doors that its team of 40 volunteers is working “flat out”. 

As a working example, over 300 people attended its recent Palm Sunday Mass featuring an actual donkey, while some 2,000 people got here to its Easter barbecue. 

Its monthly Messy Church meeting for kids is attended by around 400 people, a few of whom have gone on to be baptised and join the weekly congregation. 

The weekly faith-based parent and toddler group now has 400 regulars and the church’s weekly ‘Messy Meals’, which grew out of Messy Church, are joined by around 80 people. 

All of that is the fruit of two years of intentional outreach to children and young families pioneered by Associate Vicar Mthr, Rachael Gledhill.  

Next steps for the church include hiring a youth minister and developing its music ministry amongst children. 

“We were a church in decline but we usually are not in decline any more,” said Fr Pritchard.

“People are searching for a community and to feel valued, and the Gospel gives them this.

“At no point can we ever pretend we usually are not a church – we’re at all times in our dog collars. We follow the liturgical calendar. There is a narrative that means the church community isn’t welcome or relevant in people’s lives but that isn’t true in any respect.

“People are searching for, and trying to find a spot where they’ll belong – we’re all neighbours here.”