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[Audrey Whitefield <a.whitefield@quest.org.uk>]

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Feb. 14, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications 
Anglican Communion Offices
London, England

[97.2.2.3]

ENGLAND: DECLINE IN CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

(CT) Church attendance in the Church of England has dropped. The latest
statistics which are based on 1995 figures show that the average total
Sunday attendance for the Church of England was 1,045,000 in 1995.  This
is
36,000 lower than the 1994 figures and the biggest fall since the
mid-1970s.

The figures were released this month in the latest edition of Church
Statistics published by the Central Board of Finance of the Church.

The decline is reflected in the other statistics in the book. Baptisms
have
dropped from 632,000 to 616,000; confirmations are down from 48,000 to
44,000; electoral roll numbers from 1,479,000 to 1,468,000. Easter
communicants were also down from 1,300,000 to 1,265,000. Financial
giving
by congregations however has increased. The Church of England's total
voluntary
income grew by 12.6 million, to 275,488,800.

The Bishop of Wakefield, the Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch, said that it was
time
the Church conducted a detailed survey of people's patterns of
attendance.
We need to test the claim made by parish priests that, overall, there
are
as many people coming to church as before - it's just that they come
less
frequently.  Certainly this bears out my impression, and that of my
fellow
bishops, that the life of the Church is stronger than it was 10 years
ago