British Religion In Numbers reports on 2011 Census Detailed Characteristics for England and Wales:
On 16 May 2013 the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the first outputs from the third wave of results (Release 3.1) from the 2011 census of population of England and Wales. They comprised detailed characteristics for local authorities in terms of cross tabulations for the questions on ethnicity, national identity, country of birth, main language, proficiency in English, religion, provision of unpaid care, and health. The full tables can be consulted at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/detailed_characteristics
The BRIN article linked above contains a helpful summary.
There is a Statistical Bulletin here, and there is a shorter paper: What does the Census tell us about religion in 2011?
And David Voas has published Religious Census 2011 – What happened to the Christians? (Part II)
The Census detailed characteristics on religion for Northern Ireland were also published on 16 May and can be viewed here.
There is a press release: Census 2011: Detailed Characteristics for Northern Ireland on Health, Religion and National Identity and a Media briefing.
Updated Tuesday night
The Church of England has today released its annual statistics for 2011. They are accompanied by a press release summarizing the results; this is copied below the fold.
There are several reports in this morning’s national press.
Sam Jones in The Guardian Church of England reports rise in Christmas worship
BBC Church of England attendances ‘stabilising’
Huffington Post UK Church Of England Christmas Attendance Up But It’s Not Good News For Archbishop Of Canterbury
Steve Doughty in the Mail Online Hark! The flock’s back: Church attendances up… but it’s only at Christmas
Archbishop Cranmer comments in his blog: CofE annual statistics 2011 - good news and bad
Several local papers and websites report on their local figures, for example:
The Northern Echo Church attendance down by 8 per cent in Durham diocese but up by 7.4 per cent in Ripon and Leeds
Network Norwich and Norfolk Norwich fights back on ‘Most Godless City’ tag
Portsmouth News Church figures show decline in Portsmouth attendance
Statistics for earlier years can be found here.
Update
Clive Field of British Religion in Numbers has a more balanced analysis: 2011 Anglican Statistics and Other News.
Andrew Brown looks at the figures for The Guardian: Anglican faith in church attendance is not enough.
Church annual statistics for 2011
07 May 2013
The Church of England today released its annual statistics for 2011 revealing a strong growing trend for Christmas attendance, an increase in child and adult baptisms and a growing stability in weekly service attendance.
Christmas 2011 drew 14.5% more worshippers to Church of England services than attended in 2010, reaching a total of 2,618,030. Whilst one of the factors for such a high annual increase include the poor weather on Christmas Day in the previous year 2010, initial returns from 2012 suggest a further increase in Christmas attendance on these high 2011 figures revealing a growing trend for church going at Christmas.
The number of christenings increased by 4.3% and was accompanied by a rise of just over 5% in adult baptisms with a combined total of 139,751 baptisms - meaning that the Church of England conducted an average of over 2,600 baptisms each week during 2011. Thanksgivings for the birth of a child also rose; an 11.9% increase taking numbers to 6,582.
Average Weekly Attendance nationally fell by less than half of one per cent (0.3%) to 1,091,484 a stabilising of average weekly attendance figures. Almost half of the Church of England’s regional areas saw growth in Church attendance, with 20 out of 44 dioceses showing increases. Nationally there was a 1.2% increase in children and young people attending to 216,928.
Weddings saw a slight decrease of 3.6% in 2011, to 51,880, whilst the number of wedding blessings (Services of Prayer and Thanksgiving following a civil ceremony) was up by 4.5%. The wedding figures confirm the trend of the past decade where the Church of England married an average of 1,000 couples every week.
Church of England Clergy and lay ministers conducted 162,526 funerals in 2011, a fall of 2.8% on the previous year, reflecting figures from the Office for National Statistics which showed a fall of 1.8% in deaths in England and Wales in 2011. On these figures the Church of England conducted an average of over 3,000 funerals every week in 2011 - over 400 every day.
Welcoming the publication of the statistics, the Rt. Revd. Graham James, Bishop of Norwich, said:
“These figures are a welcome reminder of the work and service undertaken by the Church of England annually. 1,000 couples married, 2,600 baptisms celebrated and over 3,000 funerals conducted every week of the year.
“The attendance figures are heartening, especially the very strong growth in Christmas day attendance. The encouraging news of further growth to come even on these high figures is very welcome and points to a growing trends. Also welcome is the stabilising of the numbers of those who attend church services on a weekly basis. With almost half of our dioceses showing growth, there is a quiet confidence underlying these figures.
“The growth of the numbers of children and young people attending is an encouragement and reflects the investment made by churches across in the country on youth and children’s workers to serve not only the church but the whole parish.”
“The increase in the number of adults being baptised and those families bringing their children to be Christened is also good news showing growth in the numbers of those both coming to faith and reflects the wide nature of the ministry offered by the Church - for all of life from the cradle to the grave.”
Updated Saturday evening
Yesterday’s Church Times has an article by Linda Woodhead about a survey that “suggests that non-churchgoing Anglicans may be much more important to the Church and its future than the dismissive word “nominals” implies.”
The article is only available to Church Times subscribers, but British Religion in Numbers (BRIN) has a summary in Profile of Anglicans and Other News. The survey shows that self-identifying Anglicans divide into four categories.
Godfearing Churchgoers (5% of Anglicans)
Mainstream Churchgoers (12% of Anglicans)
Non-Churchgoing Believers (50% of Anglicans)
Non-Churchgoing Doubters (33% of Anglicans)
The BRIN article also reports on surveys on St George’s Day and Student faith.
Update
Jonathan Clatworthy has written about the survey of Anglicans for Modern Church: On not going to church.
Today the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has published data from the 2011 census which includes results for England and Wales from the ‘What is your religion?’ question. David Pocklington for Law & Religion UK has this handy summary Religion in Great Britain, 2011 with links to the ONS data.
The Guardian publishes this data on its own website:
Census 2011 mapped and charted: England & Wales in religion, immigration and race
Census 2011: how many Jedi Knights are there in England & Wales?
The Church of England has issued a press release: Census 2011 - England remains a faithful nation.
For the Telegraph Damian Thompson writes that Christianity is fading away in Britain as Islam surges and agnosticism spreads whilst Cristina Odone says 2011 census shock revelation: Christianity is still the majority religion, and Britain is still a God-fearing country.
The BBC reports that Census shows rise in foreign-born, but the article also covers the figures for religion.
Robert Booth writes for The Guardian that Christians could be minority by 2018, census analysis reveals.
British Religion in Numbers (BRIN) has a round up of some recent news stories about British religious statistics with summaries and links to the full data: Respect for Clergy and Other News. Stories included are:
Evangelicals and Money
“Evangelical Christians are not immune from the economic downturn…”Respect for Clergy
“Ministers and priests enjoy a lower standing in Britain than in Canada or the United States…”Current Issues in the Church of England
“…Anglican churchgoers rate the performance of Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury more highly than practising Christians as a whole…”Pastoral Research Centre
“…an independent trust for applied socio-religious research, and focused primarily on the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales…”Joking Apart
“…significant numbers [of UK Christians] apparently hold ambivalent or contradictory positions…”Heritage at Risk
“A higher proportion of England’s religious heritage assets appear to be at risk than is the case with any other type…”
These round-ups are a regular feature of BRIN.
British Religion in Numbers has published statistics about Anglicans and Attitudes towards Gay Marriage.
The Church of England has today published (5.6 MB pdf file) its latest information both about parish income and expenditure and about trends in ministry numbers in Church Statistics 2010/11.
The press release states that:
The attendance statistics included were published in January 2012. This year’s financial statistics show that parish giving remained resilient in 2010 despite the general economic situation. With investment income still at the reduced level experienced in recent years overall parish income was marginally ahead of the previous year.
The rest of the press release is copied below the fold.
Earlier statistics are available here.
Parish income
Despite the difficult economic times, parishioners’ tax-efficient planned giving continued to increase in 2010, by 3.4% to an average of £10.41 a week. When higher inflation is taken into account this does, however, represent a fall compared with 2009 - the first fall in real terms since 2000.
The total income of parishes rose slightly to £897 million, although this is also a real terms decline compared with 2009. Because so much of this comes from the regular, planned giving which continues to be the core of church finances, this decrease was proportionally less than that experienced by many charities.
In 2010, parishes received £305 million from more than six hundred thousand regular givers. Many of these gifts and some one-off donations are given through Gift Aid, resulting in more than £84 million in tax being reclaimed by parishes from HMRC, up by more than £2 million from 2009.
Income from dividends, interest and property dropped by approximately 11 per cent between 2009 and 2010, and parishes received £30 million from this source. This drop reflects low interest rates and stock market returns.
At the same time, parishes made donations of £49 million to external charities and mission organisations.
Ministry and Ordination candidates
At the end of 2011, there were some 28,955 licensed and authorised ministers, ordained and lay, active across the 12,500 parishes and a growing variety of chaplaincies (in local communities, hospitals, education, prisons and the armed forces) in the Church of England.
The number of people ordained to stipendiary (paid) ministry - 264 in 2011 - has remained broadly stable over the past 16 years (see graph p52). This is compared with almost a three-fold increase in those ordained to self-supporting ministry (89 in 1994 to 240 in 2011). About half (52 per cent) of those ordained in 2011 entered stipendiary ministry compared with more than three quarters (78 per cent) in 1994. In total, 504 new clergy were ordained in 2011. 464 candidates were accepted to train as future clergy in 2011, a lower number than in previous years (but provisional figures for 2012 show that numbers accepted for ordination have returned to previous levels). The number of readers in training in 2011 was 349.
The number of women clergy, paid and unpaid, continues to rise. In 2011 there were 1,763 women in full-time paid parochial appointments compared with 1,140 in 2000, an increase of 50 per cent over the decade. Women make up over one in five (22 per cent) of paid parish clergy. Women in 2011 made up more than half of both those in self-supporting ministry (54 per cent) and of licensed readers (51 per cent).
Clergy information by ethnicity for each diocese is published for the first time, with percentage of white and black minority ethnic stipendiary priests.
Survey
The Research & Statistics team are undergoing a process of review and would like your feedback as part of their current “Data Users” survey. This will help them to prioritise what they will publish in the future and hopefully make Church Statistics much more relevant to you.
The Church of England has published the latest cathedral attendance statistics and this press release.
Cathedral attendance statistics enjoy over a decade of growth
03 April 2012
Attendance levels at regular weekly services in Church of England cathedrals have steadily increased by 30% since the turn of millennium, a growth of approximately 3% on average each year, according to the latest statistics, published today. In 2011, figures for ‘average normal midweek attendance’ were at their highest levels since records began in 2000 for both adults and children; the figure for Sunday attendance was up slightly, too, for adults.
There is more good news in the figures for Christmas and Easter attendance, both showing stability across the decade, with Christmas attendance up 17% in 2011 compared with 2010.
The statistics are published online here.
Dr Bev Botting, Head of Research and Statistics, said: “These figures demonstrate how cathedrals are very much a vibrant centre of spiritual life in our cathedral cities.”
The Very Revd Vivienne Faull, Dean of Leicester and chair of the Association of English Cathedrals, said: “Cathedrals are wonderful places in which to worship and fascinating places to visit - and all are invited to join us as we mark Holy Week and Easter with special services.”
The remainder of the press release, summarising the statistics, is below the fold.
Sunday and total weekly attendance
Sunday services in Cathedrals are usually attended by 15,900 adults and 2,200 children and young people. Including those who only attend midweek services, the total attendance figures rise to 28,000 and 6,800 respectively. Westminster Abbey adds, on average, 2,000 people each week to these numbers.
Cathedrals are key places of daily Christian worship outside Sundays, and Midweek attendance continues to be very significant, the statistics reveal. In 2011, those attending just midweek services increased total attendance levels by 92%, adding an additional 76% to the number of adult attenders and more than doubling the number of children over the whole week.
Easter and Christmas 2011
In 2011, approximately 129,100 people attended services in cathedrals on either or both Christmas Day and Christmas Eve while services over Advent, the period leading up to Christmas, attracted attendances of 776,400. This is an increase of over 17% compared to 2010 and is probably due, at least in part, to good weather and Christmas day falling on a Sunday. Attendance at Easter 2011 was 47,900, slightly higher than the previous year. Many cathedrals have been offering additional services to respond to the space restrictions that continue to limit attendance levels. Westminster Abbey adds over 8,000 adults, children and young people to Christmas Day/Eve attendance and more than 29,000 over the Advent season.
Comparable figures from parish churches are currently being collected and collated.
Baptisms
In 2011, approximately 740 baptisms (and thanksgivings for the birth of a child), 330 marriages (and blessings of marriage), 340 funerals and 90 memorial services were conducted by cathedral clergy. The number of baptisms of young people and adults (over 13 years of age) and of child baptisms (aged 1 to 12 years) have increased by about one third over the decade, whilst the number of baptisms of babies under one year of age remained broadly stable. As a result, overall, the number of baptisms in cathedrals has increased by 9% over the decade.
Educational events
In 2011, 286,450 children attended educational events at cathedral, a reduction of 1% compared to 2010, with Westminster Abbey adding a further 11,770. In addition, a further 9,720 children are being educated at schools associated with cathedrals. Over 2,000 of these children and adults are involved week by week in providing cathedral music. In addition, 850 children (under 16 years of age) are involved in singing in other Cathedral choirs and 1,360 are voluntary choir members.
Volunteers and visitors
Over the last 10 years the number of volunteers involved in the mission and ministry of cathedrals on a regular basis has increased by 24% to 14,500, an average of 345 volunteers for every cathedral (down slightly on the high point in 2009 when there were 15,040 volunteers). In contrast, over the last 10 years, the number of visitors reported has gradually reduced by approximately 1.9 million to 9,520,980, that is, around 44,900 for every cathedral. With the addition of Westminster Abbey and other Royal Peculiars and, given the imprecise nature of visitor counting, the estimated total number of visitors to cathedrals remains at the 2010 level of 12 million.
The statistics and associated graphs are available in full here.
The Church of England has released its provisional attendance figures for 2010. The press release (copied below) gives a summary of the figures, and links to the full figures.
Provisional attendance figures for 2010 released – marriages up four per cent, national ‘mapping’ identifies at least 1,000 fresh expressions of church
19 January 2012
The latest local church attendance figures from the Church of England for 2010 show that approaching 1.7 million people continue to attend Church of England services each month, and around 1.1 million attend one of the Church of England’s 16,000 churches as part of a typical week.
The figures additionally highlight for the first time the results of innovative Church initiatives, such as the ecumenical Fresh Expressions movement and the Archbishops’ Council’s Weddings Project.
Following extensive work by the Weddings Project and the introduction of the 2008 Marriage Measure, marriages in the Church of England increased by four per cent in 2010.
Across all dioceses the statistics reveal at least 1,000 fresh expressions and new forms of church, linked to the Church of England, reaching into communities. There are an estimated 1,000 fresh expressions within the Methodist Church.
The full statistics are available online, in the Resources sidebar.
continued below the fold
Total attendance
Average Sunday attendance dropped two per cent to 923,700 (2009: 944,400). Average weekly attendance at 1,116,100 (2009: 1,130,600) was down by somewhat less, indicating a continuing shift in patterns of church attendance. Average monthly attendance was 1,645,500 (2009: 1,650,600). The average number of children and young people at services each week was down two per cent at 218,600 (2009: 223,000); while the number of children and young people attending on a monthly basis was fractionally up at 437,700 (2009: 436,200).
Marking life events
Marriages in the Church of England increased by four per cent in 2010 to 54,700 compared to 52,730 in 2009, the biggest increase in any one year over the last 10 years; services of prayer and dedication also rose by two per cent to 4,020, up from 3,940.
Child baptisms increased one per cent to 43,850 in 2010, up from 43,480 in 2009; adult baptisms rose one per cent to 11,160 in 2010, up from 11,010; while infant baptisms decreased by one per cent to 83,260, down from 83,820 in 2009.
Funerals in church and crematorium were down two per cent and four per cent respectively.
Fresh Expressions
The first ever statistical analysis of the Fresh Expressions movement has concluded that there are at least 1,000 CofE fresh expressions of church or new congregations across the country. These aim to provide new forms of church which are different in ethos and style from the church which planted them because they are designed to reach a different group of people than those already attending the original church. The emphasis is on planting something which is appropriate to its context rather than cloning something which works elsewhere.
Around 30,000 people attend fresh expressions each month who don’t attend traditional regular services, equating to an average of around 40 people per participating parish exploring new forms of church - the statistical equivalent of an additional diocese. These 30,000 are included in the average weekly and monthly statistics. Almost all dioceses have reported fresh expressions or new congregations with over half of these initiatives aimed at families with young children. More information on fresh expressions of church is available on the Church of England website as a Powerpoint presentation.
Celebrating festivals
As a result of poor weather conditions and many cancelled services, all-age attendance at Christmas Eve/Day services in 2010 dropped by five per cent to 2,298,400; all-age attendance on Easter Day dropped by one per cent to 1,394,700.
Nine in 10 Church of England parish churches completed attendance counts, which have been verified across all 16,000 Church of England churches by the Research and Statistics Department of the Archbishops’ Council.
Tables including the above figures and a breakdown by diocese, along with the Powerpoint on Fresh Expressions, are available online.
Notes
Fresh Expressions is an ecumenical movement to nurture contemporary forms of church life alongside traditional ones. Fresh expressions of church are being formed in a variety of ways, with new communities reaching people such as clubbers, artists and students.
Definition of terms
Average Sunday attendance: the average number of attendees at Sunday church services, typically over a four-week period in October.
Average weekly attendance: the average number of attendees at church services throughout the week, typically over a four-week period in October.
Each of the above measures is provided separately for adults and children/young people aged under 16 years. The highest and lowest counts over the four-week period are calculated as follows:
Highest Sunday/weekly attendance: the sum of the highest Sunday (weekly) attendances over the four-week period. The ‘highest’ figures on the accompanying tables are proxies (in fact under-estimates) for monthly attendance levels.
Lowest Sunday/weekly attendance: the sum of the lowest Sunday (weekly) attendances over the four-week period.
Attendance figures are only included where local churches held at least one church-based service (which included adult presence) during the week under examination.
The traditional usual Sunday attendance (uSa) measure is interpreted differently across the dioceses and is therefore not regarded as statistically accurate as a comparison.
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has this week published a major report on the size and distribution of the world’s Christian population: Global Christianity.
A comprehensive demographic study of more than 200 countries finds that there are 2.18 billion Christians of all ages around the world, representing nearly a third of the estimated 2010 global population of 6.9 billion. Christians are also geographically widespread – so far-flung, in fact, that no single continent or region can indisputably claim to be the center of global Christianity.
A century ago, this was not the case…
John L Allen Jr has written about this for the National Catholic Reporter with The Laws of Christian Thermodynamics and concludes
Based on the study, here are three rules of thumb about Christian growth and decline — extrapolations which go well beyond the contents of the Pew report, but which can be supported by the data it contains:
- If you want Christianity to shrink, give it wealth and privilege and back it up with the power of the state.
- If you want Christianity to show surprising resilience, suppress its structures and persecute its people.
- If you want Christianity to thrive, drop it into a free market environment and force it to hustle.
The Washington Post carries this Associated Press summary of the report: Study: Christian population shifting away from Europe, still largest faith group worldwide and this article by G Jeffrey Macdonald: Report shows Christianity shifting to Africa.
Myles Collier in Christian Today Australia writes New study: Christianity is the largest religion in the world, decentralized.
The Church of England has announced the publication of its latest finance and ministry statistics with the following press release.
Church of England publishes latest statistics on web
29 September 2011- parish giving holds up; younger vocations increase
The Church of England has today published its latest information about parish income and expenditure and trends in ministry numbers in Church Statistics 2009/10. The attendance statistics included were published in February 2011.
This year’s financial statistics show that the 2008 credit crunch began to affect church income in 2009, though not in terms of parish giving nor as hard as many charities.
Parish income
Despite the difficult economic times, parishioners’ tax-efficient planned giving continued to increase in 2009, topping an average of £10 a week (£10.06p) for the first time. The total income of parishes dropped to £889 million, mainly due to a fall in restricted income from £204 million to £176 million and a fall in one-off donations. Restricted income is monies given for specific purposes designated by the donor. Unrestricted voluntary income, mainly the regular and plate giving in churches plus the tax recovered through Gift Aid, rose from almost £505 million to more than £511 million. At the same time, total parish expenditure rose to £886 million, with nearly £49 million of this being donations made by parishes to external charities.
Dr John Preston, the Church’s National Stewardship and Resources Officer, said:
“Whilst figures for giving to the wider charity section showed a dip following the credit crunch, giving to parishes in 2009 saw a further increase, albeit a small one; a sign of the high level of commitment that so many have to supporting the mission and ministry of their local parish church. Gift Aid reclaimed on donations also reached a new high.”
Ordination candidates
Another 515 candidates were accepted to train as future clergy in 2010, with those aged 20-29 showing a 45 per cent increase from 74 to 108. In total, 563 new clergy were ordained in 2010. Of those, 284 were entering full-time paid ministry.
Revd Preb Lynda Barley, Head of Research & Statistics for the Archbishops’ Council, comments: “It is encouraging that the Church is responding confidently to the challenge that the changing age profile of our nation brings, with one in five future clergy entering training being under 30 years of age.”
While the numbers of people being training for ordination remained buoyant across 2009, the number of retirements also remained high. Taking retirements and other losses into account, there was a net loss of 129 full-time paid clergy. The total number of licensed clergy (including part-time and self supporting ministers whose numbers increased) was down by 72.
At the end of 2010, there were some 29,000 licensed and authorised ministers, ordained and lay, active across the 13,000 parishes and a growing variety of chaplaincies (in local communities, hospitals, education, prisons and the armed forces) in the Church of England.
The latest statistics have been added to the Church of England website, alongside attendance statistics published in February, at http://www.churchofengland.org/media/1333106/2009churchstatistics.pdf .
It should be noted that many of the statistics are for 2009. These seem to be the ones that require data from parishes.
Earlier this year YouGov@Cambridge did a census of British life and attitudes, using a representative sample of adult Britons. Some of the questions were on religion, and British Religion in Numbers (BRIN) has published this summary of the results: YouGov@Cambridge on Religion. It starts:
40% of adults professed no religion, 55% were Christian and 5% of other faiths – age made a major difference, with only 38% of the 18-34s being Christian and 53% having no religion, whereas for the over-55s the figures were 70% and 26% respectively.
BRIN’s conclusion is:
All in all, these data point to a society in which religion is increasingly in retreat and nominal. With the principal exception of the older age groups, many of those who claim some religious allegiance fail to underpin it by a belief in God or to translate it into regular prayer or attendance at a place of worship. People in general are more inclined to see the negative than the positive aspects of religion, and they certainly want to keep it well out of the political arena.
The full data set is available here.
The Church of England has released statistics of attendances at cathedral services for 2010, with corresponding figures for each year back to 2000. The statistics include both Sunday and midweek services.
There is also a press release.
Attendance levels at regular weekly services in Church of England cathedrals have increased significantly again this year, by 7%, say the latest statistics from the Archbishops’ Council’s Research and Statistics Unit.
The rest of the press release is copied below the fold.
Since the turn of the millennium, they have steadily grown by a total of 37%, which is about 4% on average each year. At Sunday services alone, 15,800 adults and 3,100 children and young people are usually present while over the whole week the figures rise (by 73%) to 27,400 and 7,600 respectively. Westminster Abbey adds, on average, 1,800 people each week to these numbers.
The Revd Lynda Barley, Head of Research and Statistics, said: “The ministry of cathedrals is valued by many people. They have a treasured place in the heart of the nation and are actively used at key moments in individual lives and on public occasions.”
Midweek attendance has more than doubled since the turn of the millennium and is approaching the same level as Sunday attendance. In 2010, for example, it added 85% to Sunday congregations (slightly higher than previous years). Cathedrals are key places of daily Christian worship outside Sundays adding an additional 73% to the number of adult attenders and more than doubling the number of children over the whole week.
The Revd Lynda Barley added: “Cathedrals are proof of the benefit of being open and available throughout the week. Attendance at services outside Sundays has grown more significantly by 10% over the past year and will soon double Sunday congregations. Steady growth since the beginning of the millennium is encouraging cathedrals to explore the unique position they hold in the life of the nation and is restoring confidence in mission.”
Other newly published statistics include:
More than 3,150 specially arranged services were conducted by cathedrals in 2010 which attracted almost one million people.
Regular services attracted nearly two million people while 1.63 million people attended about 5,150 public/civic events arranged in cathedrals.
Over the last ten years both the numbers of public/civic events and specially arranged services have considerably increased. In particular, the number of public/civic events has almost doubled.
In 2010 approximately 760 baptisms (and thanksgivings for the birth of a child), 330 marriages (and blessings of marriage), 410 funerals and 130 memorial services were conducted by cathedral clergy. Baptisms of young people and adults (over 13 years of age) and number of child baptisms (aged one to 12 years) have almost doubled since the turn of the millennium. Overall, these figures reflect a fairly static picture over recent years but in common with the national trend the number of baptisms of older children, young people and adults is growing.
Siobhan McAndrew at BRIN (British Religion in Numbers) has just published some interesting statistics.
Church Attendance in England, 1980-2005
Christian and Secular Youth Organisation Membership, 1951-2006
Places of Worship in England and Wales, 1999-2009
From BRIN (British Religion in Numbers)
Anybody feeling a little at sea in the plethora of religious data may find a new briefing paper from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) a great boon. Written by EHRC’s research manager, David Perfect, and simply entitled Religion or Belief, it is available to download from:
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/publications/religion_or_belief_briefing_paper.pdf
The 25-page paper brings together a selection of key national statistics on religion in Great Britain, sometimes as time series. The document is short enough for BRIN readers to consult directly, so no summary of findings will be attempted here. However, an annotated listing of the 19 tables may be found useful.
Follow the link to A Perfect Companion for the annotated listing.
Thanks to The Church Mouse for drawing my attention to this.
The Church of England has released its provisional attendance figures for 2009 today. Details are in the press release, which is copied below.
The full figures are in this pdf file.
Provisional attendance figures for 2009 released: attending a local CofE church continues to be part of a typical week for 1.1 million people
The latest local church attendance figures from the Church of England show that approaching 1.7 million people continue to attend Church of England services each month, and around 1.1 million attend church as part of a typical week - and not just on a Sunday.
Total attendance
The total number of adults, children and young people attending local churches has dropped two per cent overall in the seven years since 2002, with the 2009 figures showing a drop of one per cent against the number attending on an average week in 2008. The total number of under 16s was virtually unchanged compared to 2008 and remained more than two percent higher than 2002.
People continue to attend church on other days than Sunday. For every 50 people attending church or cathedrals on a typical Sunday, another 10 attend during the week and an extra 37 in total over a month.
The Revd Lynda Barley, the Church of England’s Head of Research and Statistics, comments: “The figures released today, covering regular local church attendees, give an important but inevitably partial snapshot of today’s Church. They paint a mixed picture for 2009. Alongside some encouraging signs, such as the number of under 16s in church holding steady and growth in church attendance in 16 out of 44 dioceses, there are continued challenges, with further small declines in traditional attendance measures. Churches continue to be central to community life and are responding positively to changes in modern day lifestyles with a growing range of opportunities to participate in church life. Excluded from these figures are Fresh Expressions, chapel services in hospitals, education and other establishments, some international congregations and the projects funded by the Youth Evangelism Fund.
“It remains important to see these trends in the context of wider changes in a society where fewer people join and take part in membership organizations. Even in a General Election year, almost double the number of members of the three main political parties taken together will attend a Church of England parish church on a Sunday. Nevertheless, the figures are a further reminder of the importance, highlighted in the report - Challenges for the Quinquennium - which Synod will be debating next week, of achieving sustained numerical and spiritual growth over the coming years.”
continued below the fold
In summary: Average weekly attendance was down slightly at 1,131,000 (2008: 1,145,000; 2007: 1,160,000), as was average monthly attendance at 1,651,000 (2008: 1,667,000; 2007: 1,690,000). while average Sunday attendance dropped two per cent to 944,000 (2008: 960,000; 2007: 978,000) The average number of children and young people at services each week was slightly down at 223,000 (2008: 225,000; 2007: 219,000). The number of children and young people attending on a monthly basis was virtually unchanged at 436,000 (2008: 438,000; 2007: 424,000), while other research reveals that a further 375,000 attend other church based activities.
Marking life events
The total number of baptisms dropped one per cent, with increases in the number of ‘child’ and ‘adult’ baptisms (those aged one year and older) of three per cent and six per cent, respectively. The number of ‘infant’ baptisms (under one year old) fell by three per cent. The number of Thanksgivings for the birth of a child fell by two per cent.
The number of marriages taking place in parish churches was down one per cent at 52,700. Blessings of marriages following a civil ceremony fell (by nine per cent, to 3,900). The total number of weddings in the UK in 2009 has not yet been published, although numbers have been falling gradually in recent years.
The total number of funerals conducted by the Church of England also dropped (by six per cent, to 176,700), particularly those taking place in crematoria (by nine per cent, to 85,600); this is against a backdrop of a falling UK mortality rate (the number of deaths fell by 3.5 per cent between 2008 and 2009).
Nine in ten Church of England parish churches completed attendance counts. These have been verified across all 16,000 Church of England churches by the Research and Statistics Department of the Archbishops’ Council. The provisional figures can be seen on the web.
Celebrating festivals
Widespread snow and ice badly effected Christmas Day attendances in 2009, with some churches forced to cancel services. Attendances and those receiving Communion on Easter Sunday were little changed from 2008.
In summary: Attendance at Church of England local church services on Christmas Eve/Day 2009 was down nine per cent at 2,420,600 (2008: 2,647,200; 2007: 2,656,800). These figures do not include the large number attending at other services related to Christmas, for example, Christingle and carol services during Advent. Easter observance was little changed at 1,411,200 (2008: 1,415,800; 2007: 1,469,000).
The number of adults on the electoral roll of local parish churches rose one per cent from 1,179,000 to 1,197,000. The historic ‘usual Sunday attendance’ measure (see note below for definition) fell two per cent to 826,000 (2008: 845,000; 2007: 868,000).
Notes
Fresh Expressions is a movement led by the Church of England and the Methodist Church to nurture contemporary forms of church life alongside traditional ones (www.freshexpressions.org.uk). Fresh Expressions are being formed in a variety of ways, from new congregations targeting particular groups such as Goths, to café churches and skateboard parks.
The Youth Evangelism Fund is supported by the Archbishops’ Council (50 per cent), the Henry Smith Charity, the Laing Family Trusts, and the Jerusalem Trust. It aims to enable more young people to connect with the Gospel and develop faith within the life of the Church by allowing young people to share faith with their peers in ways that make sense to them. Each year for five years, eight to 10 dioceses are receiving YEF support to resource new ideas for mission.
Membership of the three main political parties fell from a total of c.781,000 in 2000, to c.476,000 in 2008. Taken from House of Commons Library research paper, August 2009.
According to the Office of National Statistics, 72 per cent affiliate themselves with Christianity and of those who affiliate with Christianity, 32 per cent are practising. The data comes from the Citizenship Survey 2008/9 and Social Trends.
Definition of terms
Average Sunday attendance: the average number of attendees at Sunday church services, typically over a four-week period in October.
Average weekly attendance: the average number of attendees at church services throughout the week, typically over a four-week period in October.
Each of the above measures is provided separately for adults and children/young people aged under 16 years. The highest and lowest counts over the four-week period are calculated as follows:
Highest Sunday/weekly attendance: the sum of the highest Sunday (weekly) attendances over the four-week period. The ‘highest’ figures on the accompanying tables are proxies (in fact under-estimates) for monthly attendance levels.
Lowest Sunday/weekly attendance: the sum of the lowest Sunday (weekly) attendances over the four-week period.
Attendance figures are only included where local churches held at least one church-based service (which included adult presence) during the week under examination.
The traditional (em>usual Sunday attendance (uSa) measure is interpreted differently across the dioceses and is therefore not regarded as statistically accurate as a comparison.
Updated Sunday
We noted yesterday’s publication of the latest Church of England statistics. These included statistics on ordination of women resolutions and petitions at 1 January 2010, which for the convenience of readers I have extracted and published here.
Two papers have picked up these particular figures.
Tim Ross in the Telegraph: More parishes reject Church of England bishops who ordain women priests.
Ed Beavan in the Church Times: Statistics show parishes opposed to women priests.
Despite what is stated in these articles, these statistics have occasionally been published before, but not as part of the annual statistical round-up. For example, the February 2006 General Synod paper GS 1605 (House Of Bishops’ Women Bishops Group: Report To The General Synod From A Working Group Chaired By The Bishop Of Guildford) contained the figures for 31 March 2004 in an appendix.
Update
The Church Mouse has a rather more considered look at these statistics: Latest Church statistics - good news!
The Church of England has announced the publication of Bishops’ office and working costs for 2009.
Bishops’ office and working costs published
28 October 2010The 2009 office and working costs of bishops in the Church of England are published today. Figures for individual bishops were first published, for the year 2000, in December 2001. Bishops’ office and working costs were previously published as a total figure.
Bishops’ office and working costs for the year ended 31 December 2009 are published on the Church of England website.
Note
The report includes a full description of the important role played by bishops locally, regionally and nationally.
The 113 diocesan and suffragan bishops of the Church of England institute and support the ministry of all clergy and lay ministers in their dioceses, as well as providing pastoral support to them. Each diocesan bishop has ultimate oversight of several hundred clergy, Readers and lay workers and of a diocesan budget and portfolio of assets. In addition to diocesan responsibilities, such as ordinations and diocesan festivals, and engaging with the communities which they serve, bishops often chair or serve on national and international Church boards and councils, as well as large charities, special commissions or public inquiries. They are involved in the growing work towards visible unity with other denominations both nationally and internationally and in work with other faiths.
Twenty-six diocesan bishops sit in the House of Lords: at least one is present every day and others will attend according to the subjects under debate that day. The Bishop of Sodor & Man sits in the Tynwald.
The webpage also includes links to costs for previous years back to 2000.
The Church of England has announced the publication of its latest finance and ministry statistics with the following press release.
Church of England publishes latest statistics on web
28 October 2010The Church of England has today published its latest information about parish income and expenditure and trends in ministry numbers in Church Statistics 2008/9. The attendance statistics included were published in February 2010.
This year’s statistics include additional information on current areas of interest reflecting the contemporary life of the Church. Information on children and young people’s involvement with the church outside worship has been collected for the second time, so that trends can be identified in future years as more data is collected. Data on numbers of parishes theologically opposed to the ordination of women provide factual information for future debates.
Parish income
Despite the difficult economic times, parishioners’ tax-efficient planned giving continued to increase in 2008, reaching an average of £9.77 a week, while the total income of parishes exceeded £900 million for the first time at £925 million. Total voluntary income rose to £505 million or £8.31 per electoral roll member per week. At the same time, total parish expenditure rose to £874 million, with nearly £52 million of this being donations made by parishes to external charities.
Dr John Preston, the Church’s National Stewardship and Resources Officer, said:
“Whilst recent figures for giving to the wider charity sector have shown a dip, giving to parishes in 2008 saw a further increase to record levels, a sign of the high level of commitment that so many have to supporting the mission and ministry of their local parish church. Legacy giving has also bucked the national trend - reaching the highest ever level of £48.1 million.”
Ordination candidates
Another 491 candidates were accepted to train as future clergy in 2009, making a total of 1338 in training. In total, 564 new clergy were ordained in 2009, 10 less than in 2008 and 77 more than in 2006 (the lowest in recent years). Of those, 309 were entering full-time paid ministry, compared with 321 in 2008 and 226 in 2006.
While the numbers of people being training for ordination remained buoyant across 2009, number of retirements also remained high. Revd Preb Lynda Barley, Head of Research & Statistics for the Archbishops’ Council, comments: “It is encouraging that the Church is responding confidently to the challenge that the changing age profile of our nation brings, with one in six of those in training being under 30 years of age.” Taking retirements and other losses into account, there was a net loss of 128 full-time paid clergy, compared with 182 in 2006.
At the end of 2009, there were some 28,000 licensed and authorised ministers, ordained and lay, active in the Church of England.
The three new tables in this year’s Church of England statistics are: Ordination of Women Resolutions and Petitions; Children at Church-Related Activities 2008; and Young People at Church-Related Activities 2007.
The latest statistics have been added to the Church of England website, alongside attendance statistics published in February.
There are links to statistics for earlier years here.
Updated Wednesday
There is a new online religious data resource: British Religion in Numbers [BRIN]. This is how BRIN introduces itself.
British Religion in Numbers is an online religious data resource.
Numbers aren’t just for statisticians. People want to visualise and understand data for work, for study, for general interest, or to settle a debate. Many debates over religion rest on questions of how large? how many? how typical?
Religious data sources tend to be difficult to find, or need a good deal of interpretation. For example, is Britain 72% Christian, as the 2001 Census reported, or 50% Christian, as found by the 2008 British Social Attitudes survey?
We want to draw religious data sources together, explain how data can be used, and present some examples intuitively to a wide audience.
BRIN is based at the University of Manchester and supported by the Religion and Society research programme.
This is how the Religion and Society research programme describes BRIN.
A great leap forward in accessing facts and figures on religion in Britain has been made possible by a project funded by the Religion and Society Programme. Leading scholars David Voas and Clive Field with a team based at the University of Manchester this month [April 2010] launched a new free-to-use website which will be of immense value to academic researchers as well as to government, private enterprises, journalists, and anyone wanting authoritative and up-to-date data on British religion. British Religion in Numbers [BRIN] catalogues published data on religion in Britain covering a period of 4 centuries, and draws already from over 1700 sources. It breaks new ground in including opinion poll data and is comprehensively searchable.
Ruth Gledhill has written about BRIN in the Times: Faith by numbers: Fantastic new religious research tool launched.
Update
Siobhan McAndrew, project officer for British Religion in Numbers, has written this for The Guardian: Making religion count. Is religion too complex to quantify? Aspects of it may be, but there are mountains of data out there which we shouldn’t ignore.
We reported yesterday on the release of the latest Church of England finance and ministry statistics.
Riazat Butt writes about the statistics in the Guardian as Church of England issues cash call to the faithful. Her report highlights “that churchgoers were still giving 3% of their disposable income, compared with the 5% recommended and requested by the General Synod”.
David Keen writes about the statistics in his St. Aidan to Abbey Manor blog Latest CofE stats on giving and ordinations: More is Less, Less is More.
The Church Mouse writes in his blog Church statistics - can someone create a database please. He draws attention to how long it has taken to publish these data (the finance figures are for 2007) and their “almost unusable format”. He offers suggestions for improvement and ends with this offer:
So here’s Mouse’s offer to the good old CofE. Mouse will gladly build a website for them to do these tasks, on the condition that they promise to use it.
The Church of England has announced the publication of its latest finance and ministry statistics with the following press release.
Latest finance and ministry statistics published on web
11 December 2009Parishioners’ tax-efficient planned giving averaged more than £9 a week for the first time in 2007, while the total income of parishes increased by £70 million to £898 million, well above inflation, according to the latest statistics from the Church of England. Total voluntary income rose to £485 million or £8.02 per electoral roll member per week. At the same time, total parish expenditure rose to £838 million, with £50 million of this donated by parishes to external charities.
“Data for 2007 shows that giving to parishes by individuals continues to increase year on year, with the landmark figure of £500 million being reached for the first time. We have more than 630,000 people giving in a regular way, with nearly 90 per cent given through Gift Aid enabling parishes to reclaim £78 million from HMRC,” said Dr John Preston, the Church’s National Stewardship and Resources Officer.
“In a time of significant economic pressure, the Church is grateful for the committed support given by so many to their local church. Our givers on average donate more than three per cent of their incomes to the Church, and we estimate that a similar proportion is given away to other causes and charities. However, this remains short of the five per cent of disposable income recommended again by the General Synod in the summer of this year.”
Another 490 candidates were accepted to train as future clergy in 2008, bringing the total in training at the end of the year to 1411. In total, 574 new clergy were ordained in 2008, 19 more than in 2007 and 87 more than in 2006. Of those, 321 were entering full-time paid ministry, compared with 267 in 2007 and 226 in 2006.
While clergy numbers across 2008 remained buoyant, the number of retirements remained high. Revd Preb Lynda Barley, Head of Research & Statistics for the Archbishops’ Council comments: “The large number of clergy retirements reflects the changing age profile of our nation. Parishes continue financially to support clergy in active ministry and in retirement.” Taking retirements and other losses into account, there was a net loss of 112 full-time paid clergy, compared with 192 in 2007 and 182 in 2006.
At the end of 2008, there were some 28,000 licensed and authorised ministers, ordained and lay, active in the Church of England.
Since 2000, the proportion of those under 30 years of age recommended for training has increased slightly to 17 per cent. Further to encourage young vocations to the priesthood, the Ministry Division of the Archbishops’ Council has developed the Call Waiting campaign including the website, a glossy magazine with essential information for prospective clergy, and a series of eye-catching posters. Audio interviews with young trainee priests, curates and vicars on the Call Waiting website chronicle the journey from initial sense of calling through discernment to training and ministry.
The latest statistics have been added to the Church of England website, alongside attendance statistics published in February.
There are links to statistics for earlier years here.
updated Friday afternoon
The latest Church of England statistics, for 2006/2007, have been released. These are now only published online, although some are usually published later in the Church of England Year Book.
The official press release states Statistics show increased ordinations, vocations and giving.
Bill Bowder in the Church Times reports Clergy numbers up, but laity down.
The statistics cover a lot more than is picked up in the press release and the Church Times article, and a full list is below the fold.
Statistics for earlier years are also available.
Update
David Walker has covered this story in his Church Times blog where he draws our attention to an analysis by David Keen: Fewer and Older: New Church of England stats on clergy, ordinations, schools and finance.