Anglican leaders have warned that the Church of England is facing falling congregations [VirtueOnlin

Anglican leaders have warned that the Church of England is facing falling congregations



Anglican leaders have warned that the Church of England is facing falling congregations

Church of England attendance plunges to record low
Sunday attendance slumps by 22,000 to 765,000 as older worshippers die and Archbishop of Canterbury warns of struggle in 'anti-Christian culture'
Only 1.4 per cent of the population of England now attend Anglican services on a typical Sunday morning

By John Bingham,Religious Affairs Editor
THE TELEGRAPH
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Jan. 12, 2016

Attendance at Church of England services has plunged to its lowest level ever as the Archbishop of Canterbury warned it was battling to maintain its place in an increasingly "anti-Christian" culture.

Official figures -- based on an annual pew count -- show that only 1.4 per cent of the population of England now attend Anglican services on a typical Sunday morning.

Even the Church's preferred "weekly" attendance figures, which include those at mid-week or extra services, has slipped below one million for the first time ever.

"Given the age profile of the CofE, the next few years will continue to have downward pressure as people die or become housebound and unable to attend church"

The Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Rev Graham James, said: "The 2014 figures are not in any way a surprise. Whilst the recent trend of the past decade continues, it has been anticipated and is being acted on radically.

Overall average attendances at Sunday services across England fell by 22,000 to 764,700 in 2014 - a fall of seven per cent in just five years.

The proportion of the population attending Sunday services now is only around one third of that in the early 1960s.

The Church said that even though some congregations have been growing strongly -- primarily new evangelical "church plants" -- the overall gains were being wiped out by the sheer demographic effect of older worshippers dying.

It estimates that it loses around one per cent of its membership each year through death alone. Clerics now expect numbers to continue to fall for another five years but believe there will be an eventual upturn.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, acknowledged the slump in an address to Anglican leaders around the world at a crisis meeting to discuss a split over homosexuality.

In a plea to archbishops and bishops from Africa and other parts of the "global south" not to break off communion permanently with more liberal branches of Anglicanism, he said it would be "easy to paint a very gloomy picture" about the Church of England's prospects.

"The culture has becoming anti-Christian, whether it is on matters of sexual morality, or the care for people at the beginning or the end of life," he told the meeting in Canterbury. But he insisted: "It is a struggle, but we are not losing."

In extracts from his address to the Primates, leaked through the Nigerian news website Vanguard, he added: "In this country many talk of the post-Christian society, but the Church of England educates more than a million children in our schools.

"We are involved in almost all the food banks as, for the first time since the 1930s, we have hunger in this country. We are still a major part of the glue that holds society together.

"A recent attempt to introduce assisted suicide was crushingly defeated in Parliament. "We are exempted from the Same-Sex Marriage Act, showing that our voice is still heard against the prevailing wind of our society, and at much cost to ourselves, by the way.

"The Church of England is still a primary source of leadership for communities, to the dismay of the secularists."


Click here for the rest of the story:
http://www.virtueonline.org/anglican-leaders-have-warned-church-england-facing-falling-congregations

 

It's astonishing and a little worrying to read that less than a million attend c of e services. Unfortunately I have to say it appears to be committing suicide

 

This is what our Lord predicted. When we separate from him, we wither. A house divided against itself cannot stand. One cannot serve both the Lord and Mammon. The Church cannot have two masters. Christ hath overcome the world..

etc etc.

The parables and supernatural truths on this point are countless. When we separate from our Lord and follow the apostate and fallen world, we ourselves become apostate and fallen. It only makes sense.

 

Todays Gospel reading, 1928 PB, was on the parable of the sower. Very fitting.

Fr. Mark