The Church of England has said that it’s experiencing a surge in interest and that it has registered a record variety of services this Christmas.
Earlier this 12 months research from the Bible Society suggested that a “quiet revival” is happening in Britain, with increasing numbers of individuals, particularly among the many young, beginning to attend church frequently.
The research was backed up by anecdotal evidence up and down the country that there was a big rise in attendance at Easter services and events this 12 months.
An additional poll by Savanta, conducted on behalf of Tearfund found that this Christmas 45 per cent of adults in Britain are planning on attending a church event or service this Christmas, up 40 per cent from last 12 months.
The Church of England is searching for to capitalise on this renewed interest with its Joy of Christmas campaign, which is geared toward engaging individuals with videos, reflections and devotional content over the festive season.
The Church has also released its first-ever Christmas picture book called, The Grumpy Owl and Joy of Christmas. An animated version of the book can also be available on YouTube.
The Church of England believes its efforts could have already reached hundreds of thousands of individuals. Its church finding website achurchnearyou.com had 891,000 views on Sunday, up from 743,000 every week earlier.
Analysing data from its church finding website, 6,870 services have been tagged ‘Advent’ – already ahead of last 12 months’s final 6,658 – while 23,147 services are tagged ‘Christmas’. The Church of England expects the ultimate total of Christmas services this 12 months to “comfortably surpass” last 12 months’s total of 23,525.
In other encouraging signs, a special video called “Christmas isn’t cancelled” has already had over two million views online, with one other 2.4 million impressions coming from related posts.
The Church of England is just not alone in its outreach activities this Christmas. Across the United Kingdom around 2,000 churches from over 60 denominations have joined forces for the Shine Your Light campaign which is hoping to achieve two million individuals with the gospel via services, and evangelistic events in shopping centres, markets and even prisons.
Pastor Jonathan Oloyede, Shine Your Light founder, said, “This Christmas, in a season of political and cultural tension, the Church is stepping out – into high streets, shopping centres, marketplaces and even sports grounds – to lift the name of Jesus.”
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