Pastor Ryan Burge (pictured) knows closing churches is common these days. Many US churches close each year.

But, given that he has been documenting the dramatic decline in religious affiliation in recent decades, his own church's closure is paradoxical.

At present he says about 30 percent of American adults are "Nones" - they identify with no religious tradition.

Burge uses his research in part to help other pastors reach their communities. But churches all over the country are closing down anyway. He couldn't even save his own.

His own church fell victim

While Burge - who is also a political science professor - derives his research through academic study, he could see the reality of his findings in his own community.

His own parish was a living - declining - example of a diminishing congregation.

"It's this odd thing, where I've become somewhat of an expert on church growth, and yet my church is dying" Burge says.

"A lot of what I do is trying to figure out how much I am to blame for what's happened around me."

When Burge became the First Baptist pastor in 2006, he had about "50 people on a good Sunday".

Recently, he's had just eight regular attendees.

"I'm willing to admit that I'm not as good as I could be or should be as a pastor" Burge says.

"But I'm also not willing to admit that it's 100 percent my fault.

"You know, in the 1950s you could be a terrible pastor and probably grow a church ... Now it doesn't look like that anymore."

Dramatic decline

The American Baptist denomination that Burge's church was affiliated with is part of a cluster of so-called mainline denominations.

These include Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian and Lutheran. All are now experiencing dramatically shrinking numbers.

So is the Southern Baptist Convention - America's largest evangelical denomination.

There is no annual census of US church closures. However, Southern Baptist-affiliated Lifeway Research reports about 4,500 Protestant churches closed in 2019.

Why churches close

Reasons given for the decline of congregations include scandal, conflict, mobility, indifference, lower birth rates and members shifting to a church they like better.

Despite this, researchers say most Americans remain religious. Some larger churches thrive. Others diminish. Some suggest the long rise of the "nones" has slowed or paused.

Nonreligious are more common today than a generation ago. Scholars say this trend is evident internationally.

"If Billy Graham had been born in 1975 instead of 1918, I don't think he'd have been as successful because he hit his peak right as the baby boom was taking off and America was really hungry for religion" Burge says.

Now everyone, Burge included, will be looking for a new church. "I have been preaching every Sunday since August of 2005 and I need to be a member of a church for a while, not up front" he says.

Source

• AP News

That is, unless they radically reform to give equal standing to women.

Dr Middleton, author of Jesus and Women, tells The London Economic (TLE) digital newspaper why the Church's future is important, and why it must be in female hands.

Why the Church is important

TLE: In an increasingly secular society, why do you think the Church is still important?

Middleton: A strong argument can be made that the gaining of female rights and freedoms in the West has its roots in Christianity.

It is also generally accepted that democracy could only have emerged in a culture grounded in the Christian belief that we are all equal in the eyes of God.

It was successive movements engendered by Christianity - both lay and religious - that gradually transformed the West into the society and culture that it now is.

Interestingly, Martin Luther's emphasis in the Reformation - which was initiated by him - was on the importance of individual religious and moral autonomy.

That is considered to have been a significant factor in the emergence of liberal democracy along with the separation of Church and state and emphasis on individual rights and freedoms.

It's a mistake to perceive the Reformation and the Enlightenment as events that happened in opposition to the Church.

Rather, the Church, in its upholding of and teaching of Christianity, generated these events due to the supremely high ethical standards it has always preached and the calibre of the education it provided.

The internal dialectic within the Church reflects Jesus' battle with the religious establishment of the biblical era and his efforts to reform Jewish legalism.

In such a context we can postulate that the establishment of Christianity in the Empire was the second move in this battle.

It took 1,800 years to reach the Enlightenment and 2,000 years to the first gaining of female rights.

The current falloff in church attendance can be defined as an important initiation of the next move, which has the potential to so furtherly progress the Christian West and to resolve Church schisms.

By doing the latter it will finish or change the role of the Roman Empire in the Church.

Overall falloff in attendance

TLE: While the major Christian branches in the UK, the Church of England and Catholic Church, have seen big falloffs in their congregations, there are many other smaller Christian sects. Are they in the same precarious situation and facing extinction?

Middleton: Overall, due to the increasing proportion of the young who claim they have no religion, in the UK church membership is forecast to decline to just over four per cent of the population by 2025.

Interestingly, the smaller Christian sects are closely related to the reformed tradition because they don't have hierarchies, and in many the congregations are autonomous.

It's reported, however, that in most there is still a falloff in church attendance - though not as high as in the largest UK churches, Anglican and Catholic.

There is one new Christian denomination that is said to be increasing both in the UK and throughout the world: the Pentecostal Church, says Middleton.

This denomination focuses on individual spirituality thanks, it says, to the love and action of the Holy Spirit.

There are, however, large falloffs in Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist denominations.

The reasons for the decline of Methodism are considered by its leaders to include the increased secularisation in the West and the intellectual changes in British culture with the rise of science.

This is a serious concern as the renewal of Christianity is necessary for the full possible progress and survival of our world.

Hierarchical inequality

TLE: How did gender and social inequality manage to seep into the Church hierarchy?

Middleton: Evolutionary biologists have discovered and described how religion and politics evolved in tandem with one another as a means for creating male patriarchal power structures to support male domination of the world and of women.

As a result, religions are forces for social control, especially of women.

For this reason, the distinction between religion as a phenomenon and the forms individual religions take while under the control of their founders must be kept in mind.

In the early Church, women and men were equally involved in Church ministries.

With its change of status into the state religion of the Roman Empire, however, it became highly patriarchal.

It was shaped by Roman political structures for several centuries and still remains under the influence of its imperial past.

The Vatican is a political state and the papacy itself is an absolute monarchy. Popes are supported by a hierarchical power structure of its ordained males that equates to an aristocracy.

As I discuss in detail in Jesus and Women, the revolutionary attitude of Jesus towards women is in stark contrast to that of the institutional Church, transcending time and place to such a degree that it provides further evidence of his divinity.

Women are vital

TLE: Your latest book, Jesus and Women, argues that women are vital to the survival of the Church in the 21st. century. What led you to this conclusion?

Middleton: Women were always the main supporters of Church attendance and in the early Church - as well as in Jesus' ministry - overall, the most drawn to his preaching and teaching.

The beginning of a large falloff in Church attendance in the mid-20th century was partly due to male and female disillusionment with hierarchical political and religious institutions stemming from the Second World War.

However, second-wave feminism was the main cause of church attendance falloff for women - due to the sexism of institutional Christianity.

There are female campaigns now for the achievement of equal female ministries in the Church, and also great female theology to guide it.

Due to Jesus' lovingly egalitarian treatment of women, the Church must eliminate its sexism by granting women equal authority.

If it does, there will not only be a massive renewal of church attendance, but a modern version of the ideal Pauline church whose communities were totally equal, regardless of social class or gender.

Such a reform will pave the Church into a much more spiritual and loving version of Christianity.

A version that will also impact on the public sphere to gain social justice for all and will be as lovingly liberating for males as for females. Read more

• Timothy Arden is a writer for the London Economic

It's the question arousing interest within the U.K.'s Protestant community following the decision by a Welsh minister to offer 15-minute services on Monday evenings.

Micro services launched

The Rev. John Gillibrand (pictured), vicar of St. David's Church in Swansea, launched the micro services initiative as a way of helping busy people fit prayer into their daily lives.

By offering this type of micro service, he believes that it helps the community since individuals and families are increasingly pressed for time.

Having the opportunity to experience just a few minutes time for peace, quiet, reflection and prayer on the way home, they will be better placed to deal with whatever challenges they face in their daily lives, Gillibrand said.

"We're trying to offer something new, something different for people," he said.

"I believe in theological reflection, and in the period after COVID and what happened then, I've been thinking about the potential problems people face.

"This is an area that has a lot of commuters and is an old industrial community.

"People are under pressure, and one-hour services can be a long time to take out of their lives.

"We have been looking at timing, and the additional problem people face going home and then having to come out again.

"We're trying to make it easier for them."

Monday was chosen, he said, simply because the diocese tries to have something happening every day of the week and that was his allotted day.

Just 15 minutes

"I come from a liberal Catholic tradition," Gillibrand said.

"Prayer and reflection are central to my spirituality. The service is simple: a Bible reading, reflection on the reading and then prayer. Roughly five minutes each."

The micro services aim to put spiritual Christianity first and central to people's lives. There is no talking about church community affairs or needing to follow a liturgy.

As Gillibrand added, "It is just an approach to spirituality, a time to reflect. It is open to everyone — anyone is welcome."

Changing times

Sunday church attendance is 80 percent of what it was in 2019 before the pandemic, The Telegraph reported this past February, despite the Church of England claiming it had "bounced back."

The pandemic — coupled with growing secularism in the West and technology taking up more of people's time — are all factors as to why church attendance is in decline.

At the same time, there has been very little criticism of the shortness of micro services from those recognising that it seeks to fulfill a specific need.

Some people, however, have commented that it doesn't offer enough time to reflect and develop their faith.

Well-established option

The basic idea of providing a short service is not new. Cathedrals frequently hold short meditations and prayers during the day.

St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, for example, has a specific midweek 15-minute service at noon with prayers, reflection and a Bible reading open to anyone who happens to be in the building.

The Unitarian Church in Sheffield, meanwhile, also offers a midweek lunchtime service using "words and music to aid contemplation," according to its website.

Dating back to monastic times, compline — a service of quietness and reflection before rest at the end of the day — has always been around 15 to 20 minutes, offering a time of reflection.

Among U.K. churches known to offer this is St. Mary's Hadlow in Kent, where it was reintroduced during the pandemic.

Gillibrand said churches "need to be thinking about the context in which we are working.

"If we don't, that's when we start getting problems, because there's this disconnect that comes between church and wider society."

Favourable response

Since announcing the initiative, the response has been very favorable.

"People are very positive about it," Gillibrand said.

"There has been a very positive reaction in the parish.

I've had groups of people approach me and ask if there are any other time slots because they are on shifts, and the service is the wrong time for them.

"I am open to talk to them and see how the service goes, but I may well add in another session a little later for people coming out of work at 5:30.

"I have even had someone ring up and ask if I am going to do compline because he cannot make the time announced."

Other clergy from chuches across the country have also expressed interest.

"I've had other clergy ask me about this, saying it is a great idea and offers an opportunity for strong reflection," Gillbrand said.

"One vicar friend contacted me as soon as the news broke.

"She was very impressed by the idea and wanted the resources I am using as she is keen to do something similar in her parish. The diocese encourages us to take missional initiatives."

• First published in Religion Unplugged
• Angela Youngman is a freelance journalist who has written for a wide range of national and international publications.

Conference president Bishop Georg Bätzing says under half of Germany's citizens still belong to Christian denominations.

Evangelisation in Germany has been a central theme since the time of Pope St John Paul II he says.

"But the other half [who aren't Christian] are not simply faithless or don't ask any questions and, in this respect, I believe we need to do much more" Bätzing says.

"We should get in touch with these people, talk to them without being intrusive. The times of a mission with a negative tone are over, but speaking and answering questions about the hope that fills us, as the letter to the Hebrews says, is part of Christianity."

Losses by the number

Bätzing's own Diocese of Limburg exemplifies the reduction in the Catholic faithful of Germany.

In 2016, over 630,000 Catholics resided in Limburg. By 2022, there were fewer than 540,000.

The overall Catholic population in Germany has likewise significantly decreased.

In 2020, there were approximately 22.19 million Catholics among the country's 83 million population. By 2022, this number had fallen to 20.94 million.

Projecting the future

In 2019, scientists at the University of Freiburg predicted the number of Christians paying church tax (a requirement for practising Christians) in Germany would halve by 2060.

The Bishops' Conference says that within three years over 500,000 baptised Catholics had left the Church.

At that time, Bätzing wrote on his diocese's website that the "alarming" figures showed the necessity of continued "cultural change" and for the German Synodal Way resolutions to be implemented.

However the German Synodal Way, which has advocated for significant changes, has not changed the haemorrhaging Church numbers.

In 2021 CNA Deutsch reported that a third of Catholics in Germany were considering leaving the Church.

Older people cited the Church's handling of the abuse crisis. An earlier study had said that younger people didn't want to pay church tax.

Excommunication and evangelisation

The German Bishops' Conference says leaving the Church results in automatic excommunication.

Many theologians and canon lawyers disagree with this view.

Pope Francis prefers to focus on evangelisation.

He wrote to German Catholics in 2019, urging them to focus on evangelisation amid a "growing erosion and deterioration of faith".

Relying solely on internal strengths doesn't work, he wrote.

"Every time an ecclesial community has tried to get out of its problems alone, relying solely on its own strengths, methods and intelligence, it has ended up multiplying and nurturing the evils it wanted to overcome."

In September 2021, a motion to emphasise evangelisation was narrowly passed.

Exactly a year later, Bätzing said the shortest definition of religion was "interruption".

Some forms of continuity which people seek from religion are "frankly suspect" he said.

Source

• Catholic News Agency

The contrast between ageing congregations and young students is stark. Equally striking is the contrast between relatively youthful school staff and ageing church leaders.

Twelve months ago, with the Plenary Council final assembly still fresh in my mind, I reflected in Eureka Street that if church renewal is to take place, then Catholic schools must embrace and actively support church reform.

My own recent engagement with Victorian Catholic school principals convinced me then that their status, credentials, and ties to young people gave them a pre-eminent place in any such reform.

Twelve months later, in July 2023, as the Synod on Synodality first assembly came closer, another wider speaking engagement with almost 2,000 staff of a dozen Victorian Catholic secondary schools over three weeks, confirmed my belief.

These staff, including but not restricted to leaders and team members in Catholic identity and religious education, have crucial responsibilities and unparalleled opportunities in their daily contacts with teenagers, whether Catholic or from many other backgrounds.

My presentations covered topics like Pope Francis and the Universal Church and the Church in Australia.

If the outcomes of Pope Francis' 2023-2024 Synod on Synodality, based on the themes of its Working Document, are to penetrate more than skin deep into the Catholic community, schools must be at the forefront.

If not, the Synod will be a wasted effort and a missed opportunity. It will be wasted because it will not catch the attention, much less the enthusiasm, of the next generation.

The task is challenging. Students in Catholic schools represent the face of the present and the future. They are extraordinarily diverse in terms of ethnic and faith backgrounds.

The vast majority, reflecting official surveys of the wider Catholic community, are 'unchurched' in the sense of not being regular churchgoers outside of school.

Teachers are confronted, but not really surprised, by the dismal official figures (6 percent) of church attendance for their former students, Catholics aged 20-34.

They themselves represent the equally dismal official figures for church attendance of those aged 35-60. That applies to the Catholic teachers.

The anecdotal evidence offered to me by the school communities and by various priests was that 10 per cent church attendance may be generous.

The universal Church's 'experiment with synodality'

Yet the Catholic identity of the schools, often expressed though different charisms, remains profound, even if the challenges posed by student and staff diversity are enormous. These staff development days were couched in beautiful liturgies and inspiring messages from school leaders.

Notably our schools are more open and inclusive than our parish and diocesan churches are. They are a sign of where the church should be on matters like inclusion and there is no going back.

These schools occupy a world in which value statements such as 'all faiths, genders, sexualities and cultures are respected, accepted and welcome' are predominant.

Outdated church teaching about sexuality and gender is implicitly and explicitly rejected. Most students and staff would have it no other way.

The challenges that I threw out were often tossed back at me through tough but respectful table-talk and public questioning.

Occasionally my openly pro-renewal stance was thought disrespectful to church tradition and teaching.

For some panellists and respondents my message of dramatic church decline in Australia was too dark and hopeless; for others my own hope in what I called the universal church's 'experiment with synodality' was too optimistic because they thought change was impossible.

They could see little sign of reform happening around them; and made clear that even when there were signs of progress it was happening much too slowly.

Frequently I was asked when the church would accept equal rights for women. The general tone of voice was that the church should just get on with it because the status quo was indefensible.

Often, I was specifically asked when the church would allow women priests.

My response that the best we could hope for in the short to intermediate term was the introduction of the female diaconate was hardly satisfactory.

When I presented as a breakthrough by Pope Francis the fact that there would be 54 women among the 363 voting members of the Synod in Rome in October my audiences still wanted much quicker progress on gender equality.

Catholic secondary schools are a parallel universe as far as the diocesan and parish churches are concerned.

Their staff take no pleasure in the decline of the latter and recognise the implications for their schools; but, even in the middle of World Youth Day (which some current students were attending as had some staff on previous occasions) they could see no obvious ways of halting the decline.

Some staff could see a future in which the school rather than the parish was the heart of the church. But one teacher told me to my face that my suggestion that schools were the future of the church was not just unlikely but 'vacuous'.

Most staff, teaching and non-teaching, welcomed an opportunity to enhance their own learning by discussing present developments and future aspirations for the church.

They are at the coalface where church and society meet, and they taught me a great deal about the real world of schools and church.

• John Warhurst is an Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University and former member of the Plenary Council. His visits to Catholic secondary schools were hosted by the Principals Association of Victorian Catholic Secondary Schools.
• First published in La Croix. Republished with permission.

The move aims to preserve the potential for these churches to reopen in the future rather than be sold off after merging with larger parishes.

This proposal is set for discussion by the General Synod, the Church's legislative body.

The Telegraph reports that the plan suggests renting the underutilised buildings to local authorities, other Christian denominations, or different institutions through shared ownership agreements.

The Church Commissioners for England, the group in charge of managing the Church's $13 billion endowment fund and investment portfolio, proposed this plan.

The Archbishop of Canterbury leads this group.

Proponents of the plan will present it for debate at the Synod this week.

They believe in allowing these churches to hibernate rather than abandon them, providing an opportunity for the Church and community to stay open to new possibilities for service and witness as circumstances evolve.

Critic of the archbishops for overseeing the rapid decline of parishes, campaigners view this proposal as a significant victory.

The Rev. Marcus Walker, the chairman of the Save the Parish campaign group, applauded the plan as a win for local parishioners.

However, this proposal requires parishioners from churches that go into hibernation to seek alternative worship locations.

Drop in attendance a personal failure

Despite this positive reception, the plan faces the backdrop of a steep decline in church attendance over the past decade.

In June, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby acknowledged the drop in attendance during his tenure as a personal "failure."

The report on the rental plan includes a "theological introduction" by the Bishop of Ramsbury, Andrew Rumsey.

The bishop emphasises the significant burden of governance on small communities and the challenges local volunteers face to keep their churches open.

Rumsey highlights the premature closure of architectural legacies due to stress and lack of resources.

He proposes a fallow or "jubilee" period for church buildings, allowing them to rest and recover, mirroring the natural cycles of growth and abundance.

This approach aims to preserve the common ground between the church and the neighbourhood while waiting for future growth.

The statistics paint a stark picture of the decline in church attendance and closures.

Between 2010 and 2019, 423 churches closed and, from 1987 to 2019, nearly 1,000 churches shut down, according to CofE data analysed by The Telegraph.

The number of operational churches now stands at about 15,496. Furthermore, according to the Office for National Statistics, the share of Christians in England and Wales has also decreased, dropping from 59.3% in 2011 to 46.2% in 2021.

Sources

Christian Post

The Telegraph

Dwindling numbers of churchgoers, volunteers and income are being being blamed.

Bishop Jan Hendricks unveiled plans to around 90 parish administrators in the Haarlem-Amsterdam diocese last month.

The 450-year old diocese dates back to 1559. It covers North Holland, the southern part of Flevoland province and includes Amsterdam.

Hendricks, who has led the diocese since 2020, said the pandemic accelerated already shrinking numbers of faithful churchgoers, volunteers and choirs. Different Sunday worship formats have also developed.

Figures show Mass attendance has fallen from more than 25,000 people in 2013 to 12,000 in 2021.

Sixty percent of Catholic churches - 99 of the diocese's 164 - will have to close in five years, says Hendricks.

Of the remaining 65 churches, he says 37 could continue for five to 10 years as "support churches". That would leave just 28 "central churches" considered viable in the long term.

While the diocese doesn't have a list of churches that will be closed, local communities will be asked to designate "central churches".

"The idea is to create 28 active places of evangelisation. And we hope that the parish priests and parish boards can realise that," Hendricks says.

The diocese has been trying to reduce its church buildings since 2004.

Rural Catholics are likely to be worst affected, says one priest.

A letter from the diocese about church closures didn't come as much of a surprise, he says.

"We were in fact already in the planning phase of closing down one of our rural churches with a turn-up of maybe 15 every other week.

"We have been asked to close two churches in the next three years, and we will probably have to close one or two more in the two years following.

"This will be harder as there is no ‘natural process'.

"Communities that still feel some vigour in them will have to be asked to wind down, and this is a difficult thing."

Churchgoers might feel challenged by a "perceived volte-face" over church closures, he says.

"To those ‘more in the loop,' however, the change is less big.

"We did feel this coming, and these are necessary decisions to make. Church attendance consistently halves every 10 years and has done for decades on end.

"In 10 years, we're looking at 30 larger parishes with a hopefully diverse offering of liturgies and activities — small parishes simply can't offer this.

"A challenge in all of this will be that I fear all of the remaining parishes will be in urban areas. How will we service the countryside? I have no answer at this time."

However, Vicar general Msgr Bart Putter says younger people and families are "more than willing" to drive 45 minutes to church.

"People who really want to go to church now are more motivated than in the past. But it's a smaller number," he says.

Source

• The Pillar

"We have to construct a mature Church" to attract parishioners, he says.

The question is how: how will the Church choose to reach out to people and define itself?

In his opinion, the Church will need to be very different to how it has been in the past.

"People will come through conviction, rather than being born Catholic."

Martin acknowledges that one of the difficulties the Church is facing at the moment is that activities are suspended because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions.

Restoring activities is a must, he says - though this may require making changes - something Martin says he isn't "totally negative about."

"We have to move into a mode, we have to construct the church in a different way," he says.

He suggests efforts to attract parishioners means the question "Why do people leave the Church?" needs to be explored.

Martin says the fact that there are more civil marriage ceremonies than religious and that ‘no religion' was the second most ticked box on the Census, must lead the Church to some form of understanding about today's society.

"It indicates people's choice," he says.

"This [religion] isn't being forced on people - it's a choice. We have to give people a reason to believe, to attract people and construct a mature [church]."

Church property also needs to be considered.

Martin says it is "probably true," that some buildings, particularly larger ones could close.

In this respect he says the Church needs to "take a good long look" at exactly what it needs.

"Parish centres could be far too large for our needs," he suggests. In addition, some larger churches might close on the back of falling numbers, he says.

Source

• Independent.ie
• Image: Dublin Live

Part of its strategy is to attract young agnostics by "planting" churches, an American model where members of a healthy church set up new churches one elsewhere.

According to Ric Thorpe, the Bishop of Islington 2,400 church plants are planned by 2030. Continue reading

Tokoroa Christmas Parade coordinator Tony Williams said he's disappointed by the lack of Christians supporting the annual Carols in the Park event, which coincides with the parade as part of the Tokoroa Big Weekend in December.

"I confess to being an atheist, but I will defend and promote their right to do something with their Christian festival," he said.

"It is basically their celebration. If anyone ... can get the churches to get their A into G and support Christmas, I very much would welcome it."

The Anglican bishop of Taranaki and Waikato, Philip Richardson, commended Williams on his push to keep the Carols in the Park going and said it would be sad if it were cancelled.

Some believe the decrease in religious affiliation may be affecting support for celebrating Christmas in some communities.

Statistics New Zealand data from the 2001, 2006 and 2013 censuses shows a decline in people saying they are Christian and an increase in people saying they have no religion.

Richardson says there is a difference between cultural adherence - people who would call themselves Anglican due to their family history - and those who would say they attend church on a regular basis.

He says his church's own data contradicts the census figures. It shows actual church attendance has increased by 7 percent over the past 10 years.

"What we know is that on the whole, our church attendances were declining, then plateaued and have now started to increase."

He has seen a gradual increase in both regions in participation in traditional Christmas activities such as Christmas carols.

But he concedes it does vary from community to community.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• Image: violetology.com

The Church of the Ascension in Point Chevalier, which closed for worship in July, was put on the market earlier this month.

The 2004sqm Dignan St section has three buildings including the church, a vicarage and church hall. Continue reading

On average 36,700 people,adults and children, attended cathedral services each week in 2015.

Almost all of the increase in attendance over the past decade has been in increasing midweek attendance.

But in 2015 attendance at Sunday has also begun to increase.

In addition, the "fresh expressions" or new types of services and schools services, which are not counted in the main figures, attracted nearly half a million more people into the cathedrals.

More than 1.1 million people attended 5,310 public and civic events held in cathedrals in 2015 in total.

And the number of children and young people attending organised educational events in cathedrals has increased by 14 per cent from 280,900 in 2005 to 320,000 in 2015.

Data are collected from the 42 cathedrals in England in the
annual Cathedral Statistics survey.

However, in the Anglican Church in England over all attendance continues to decline decline.

It was revealed last January that the weekly attendance of church activities has fallen to 760,000 which is less than 2 percent of England's population.

At that time John Spence, the finance chief of the Church, say he expects the decline to go on for the next three decades.

At the same time in the Episcopalian Church in the United States average church attendance lowered by 12 percent in the past five years and 26 percent in the last 10 years.

Source

• churchofengland.org
• christiantoday.com
• theguardian.com
• theguardian.com
• christiantoday.com
• christiantimes.com
• Image: networknorwich.co.uk

Two more former churches have recently gone on the market.

In Wellington the former St James Presbyterian Church in Newtown's Adelaide Rd, has been completely rebuilt to accommodate five new apartments.

Architect Simon Novak of Novak + Middleton Architects, the firm commissioned to design the rebuild, says the project has been nothing short of "sensational".

Novak says right from the outset the team worked closely with Heritage New Zealand, which gave the church a Category 2 listing in 1982.

The building is also listed with the Wellington City Council.

In Auckland a former Congregational Church in Swanson has sold under the hammer for $1.17 million.

The sale price was $400,000 greater than the CV of $770,000 - nearly 52 per cent more.

Four bidders competed for the heritage-listed property, which has been in private hands since 1976 when it was sold by the Methodist congregation.

When did regular church attendance peak in New Zealand?

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• Image: realestate.co.nz

In the 2006 national census, 508,761 people identified themselves as Catholic. By the time of the 2013 census that had fallen to 492,111.

The census results show that the number of self-identified Catholics in every diocese except Auckland fell from 2006 to 2013.

Lineham thinks there are good reasons to expect that trend to not only continue, but perhaps extend to Auckland.

He says the increase in Auckland can be attributed to migration and once migrants have been here for 10 years or so, their pattern of loyalty or joining falls away.

Source

• NZ Catholic
• Image: interestingtimestours.co.uk

Harvey expressed his view in an article, Saving Grace that appeared in the Autumn 2012 edition of Heritage,

In the article Matt Philp described the fate of a number of churches, not only in the small country settlements but also in the bigger cities.

Philp began his article by saying that with "decaying fabric, dwindling congregations, lack of funds, a dearth of official help... without the concern of ardent supporters, our historic churches will simply disappear"

Harvey says, "Quite a lot of these little country churches that are part of our history are being lost forever. They are sold off as holiday homes and sometimes moved off site and the big tragedy of it is that everything inside the church goes - the pews, the plaques on the wall, the church furniture..."

He thinks that the onus is on local communities to save their churches. "If a community believes a church is a local icon - and most were in the early days - it has to raise the money and look after it and perhaps find another use for it."
Source

• Matt Philp - New Zealand Historic Places Trust
• Image: upload.wikimedia.org