Church attendance is rising in England and Wales

[Amity Island]

“There are now over 2 million more people attending church than there were six years ago.”

Rhiannon McAleer, who co-authored the report, said, “These are striking findings that completely reverse the widely held assumption that the Church in England and Wales is in terminal decline.

Mental health and well-being was generally found to be better among churchgoers, who were also found to be more likely than those from other religions or of no religion to work for the good of their communities via things like volunteering and charitable giving.

UK seeing 'quiet revival' as church attendance rises, especially among Gen Z

Church attendance in Britain is rising thanks to Gen Z, new research commissioned by the Bible Society has suggested

www.christianpost.com

 

[nonethewiser]

Our local church is well supported & does some good work in community, not a religious person but respect those that are.

 

[CliffH]

“There are now over 2 million more people attending church than there were six years ago.”

Rhiannon McAleer, who co-authored the report, said, “These are striking findings that completely reverse the widely held assumption that the Church in England and Wales is in terminal decline.

Mental health and well-being was generally found to be better among churchgoers, who were also found to be more likely than those from other religions or of no religion to work for the good of their communities via things like volunteering and charitable giving.

UK seeing 'quiet revival' as church attendance rises, especially among Gen Z

Church attendance in Britain is rising thanks to Gen Z, new research commissioned by the Bible Society has suggested

www.christianpost.com

I'm surprised by the assertion that "churchgoers" are "more likely than those from other religions ... to work for their good of their communities via things like volunteering and charitable giving" and I'd be interested in what evidence lies behind that assertion.

Having lived in the West Midlands for many years, I remember visiting several Gurdwaras in which Sikhs provided free food for the community (and not just fellow Sikhs). Also, Zakat (giving to charity) is obligatory in Islam.

 

[trophywench]

Having lived in the West Midlands for many years, I remember visiting several Gurdwaras in which Sikhs provided free food for the community (and not just fellow Sikhs). Also, Zakat (giving to charity) is obligatory in Islam.

I do believe certain mosques also feed all & sundry, as required, but just not at lunchtime during Ramadan!!

I'd be interested how on earth they've come to that conclusion too - we're both Trustees of a local Prostate Cancer charity and certainly some also belong to CAMRA though I wasn't aware they classed as a faith these days!

 

[CliffH]

I do believe certain mosques also feed all & sundry, as required, but just not at lunchtime during Ramadan!!

I'd be interested how on earth they've come to that conclusion too - we're both Trustees of a local Prostate Cancer charity and certainly some also belong to CAMRA though I wasn't aware they classed as a faith these days!

I think it's an example of racism that, whenever "religion" or "faith" are spoken of in positive terms in the UK, it always means Christianity specifically - and yet "extremism" is never referred to in the context of Christianity, as if the Crusades and the purges that Christians have carried out over the centuries never happened 🙄.

I used to work for a Jewish charity and one of the Trustees of that charity told me that Jews look after each other in the UK because they don't trust the (Christian) establishment to have any interest in non-Christians in general - and Jews in particular.

 

[Rob Oldfield]

Current lead story on the Christian Post site is below. I wonder if they've ever actually read the bible?

 

[Eddy Edson]

Not in the UK, but just up the street from me is one of those pentecostal churches where people pray to be rich & from time to time stretch limos like the one Jesus used to ride around in pull up outside. If they do any kind of community work they are good at hiding their lights under bushels, because I've never seen any mention of it in their messaging.

Really, I take it as proof of either God's infinite if sporadic mercy or non-existence that the place hasn't been zapped into a smoking hole in the ground by now.

Anyway, I had the impression from somewhere that these kinds of "churches" were the ones seeing the biggest growth around the world.

 

[harbottle]

Not in the UK, but just up the street from me is one of those pentecostal churches where people pray to be rich & from time to time stretch limos like the one Jesus used to ride around in pull up outside. If they do any kind of community work they are good at hiding their lights under bushels, because I've never seen any mention of it in their messaging.

Really, I take it as proof of either God's infinite if sporadic mercy or non-existence that the place hasn't been zapped into a smoking hole in the ground by now.

Anyway, I had the impression from somewhere that these kinds of "churches" were the ones seeing the biggest growth around the world.

I suspect if the data was examined more deeply, it would show the same. Near me a baptist church closed due to lack of congregation and it was taken over by one these weird 'mission' evangelical churches. Old cinemas/casinos have also been turned into the same sort of thing over the years.

These same churches are infesting the city centre at weekends with loudspeakers and full bands and are driving people away.

 

[CliffH]

Not in the UK, but just up the street from me is one of those pentecostal churches where people pray to be rich & from time to time stretch limos like the one Jesus used to ride around in pull up outside. If they do any kind of community work they are good at hiding their lights under bushels, because I've never seen any mention of it in their messaging.

Really, I take it as proof of either God's infinite if sporadic mercy or non-existence that the place hasn't been zapped into a smoking hole in the ground by now.

Anyway, I had the impression from somewhere that these kinds of "churches" were the ones seeing the biggest growth around the world.

Of course the established churches have also been good at 'storing up riches' for themselves over the centuries.

 

[trophywench]

Going to be er 'interesting' to see what occurs regarding the request from the Sikh community to run a testing event for them in one of their establishments - since we cannot and will not restrict participation to only their community. (especially bearing in mind that men of the Indian subcontinent heritage have less chance than northern Europeans of getting prostate cancer whereas those of Afro-Caribbean descent carry about twice the risk of us pale people)

 

[CliffH]

Going to be er 'interesting' to see what occurs regarding the request from the Sikh community to run a testing event for them in one of their establishments - since we cannot and will not restrict participation to only their community. (especially bearing in mind that men of the Indian subcontinent heritage have less chance than northern Europeans of getting prostate cancer whereas those of Afro-Caribbean descent carry about twice the risk of us pale people)

My experience is that Sikhs tend to be very welcoming to people of other faiths - and to people of no faith.

 

[Eddy Edson]

Of course the established churches have also been good at 'storing up riches' for themselves over the centuries.

Sure, but most don't ditch the ideas of divine justice for the poor & weak and the duty of one to all, quite so blatantly.

JD Vance, one of these people, had an interesting twitter exchange recently in which he argued the position that Christianity requires the believer to care most about the people like him or her, and to ignore the concerns of "others".

IMO, "Christianity" is whatever people who call themselves Christian believe & do at any time in any place, so I'm not arguing that these people are not "Christian", for what it's worth. But I do believe that they should be zapped with celestial lightning bolts, more so than the people at the church I used to be dragged to by my parents 50+ years ago.