Three million worshippers ‘wait to be asked

Worth pondering; the results of a recent survey on churchgoing or not in the UK today. Here's a salient quote.

The survey of 7000 adults questioned those who did and did not currently attend church. The research concluded that an estimated 7.6 million people (one in seven) attended church each month, and 12.6 million attended at least once a year. Although 53 per cent of respondents described themselves as Christian, nearly two-thirds had nothing to do with a church. Most of these — an estimated 29.3 million — were regarded as unreceptive and “closed to attending church”.

My questions are about identifying the minority waiting to be asked since there are clearly many more who will say 'no', and my experience is that your average outgoing church after a few years has pretty much exhausted its fringe contacts. I'm also concerned about what they find if they do go; my experience as a peripatetic service leader over the last few years makes me concerned in some cases. I don't think we realise how remote from contact with everyday life and concerns our churches have become. Even, and in some ways, especially those that are 'lively'. By God's grace, of course, some of this can be overcome. But let's not make God's grace an excuse for not taking the issue seriously: that is tantamount to putting God to the test.


Church Times - Three million worshippers ‘wait to be asked’



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