UK sees sudden surge in churchgoing after years of decline Ruth Gledhill | Christian Today Contributing Editor | 01 February 2016 The Bishop of Southwark, the Right Rev Christopher Chessun, dedicating a new church in Bermondsey As many as six in 10 British adults visited a church, chapel or religious meeting house in the last 12 months, according to a new survey. The survey results counter the more usual narrative of perpetual decline that has dominated surveys in recent years. Although too soon to give certainty, the survey is one of the first to give affirmation that the more confident, outward-looking evangelistic strategies of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and Pope Francis in Rome could be yielding tangible results. Adults in the North East of Enlgand were the most likely to visit a church or chapel, with 64 per cent saying they had done so. Those in Wales were the least likely, but even there nearly half, 45 per cent, had done so. While overall in Britain the number who went to church or chapel was 57 per cent, well over half, just one in five of these said they went for a non-religious activity such as a playgroup, cultural event, meeting or lunch club. The 57 per cent is an increase of nine per cent on the year before. Click here for the rest of the article: http://www.christiantoday.com/artic....churchgoing.after.years.of.decline/78336.htm
Let's put this in perspective, 60% of people visited a church possibly once in twelve months. Nothing to write home about, is it?