Earlier this week we had a discussion of the latest Episcopal Church statistics. Now the Church of England is releasing her results from the past year. In a nutshell, attendance is down, money is up and there are an increasing number of woman in the priesthood.
From the article:
“THREE MILESTONES were recorded in Church of England statistics, released on Tuesday. Average weekly giving rose above £5 a week in 2005; average Sunday attendance fell below one million in the same year; and more women than men were ordained in 2006.
Direct giving to parish churches by electoral-roll members averaged £5.08 a week, while subscribers to tax-efficient schemes gave an average of £8.26 a week.
…Churchgoers continued to give generously to charitable causes compared with the population at large, said John Preston, the Church’s National Stewardship and Resources Officer. ‘Average giving to the Church is about three per cent of average incomes, still somewhere short of the five per cent of disposable income recommended by the General Synod since 1978.’
…Attendance figures for this period, included in this week’s package, were released earlier in the year (News, 26 January). They showed a fall of two per cent for Sunday worship — from 1,010,000 in 2004 to 988,000 in 2005. The picture was acknowledged to be mixed, since 15 dioceses saw annual increases in their attendance figures, as well as a dramatic increase in Christmas Eve and Christmas Day attendance.”
Read the rest here.