Church decline

‘Church locked for coronavirus’ – but it was last year, too

This is the ninth contribution to His Grace’s emergency team ministry during the coronavirus pestilence. It comes from Mike Stallard, who has been in education all his life, and is now retired. Last Sunday morning I woke up angry.…

Why, when church attendance is falling, is cathedral attendance soaring?

October 25, 2018
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An email was delivered to Cranmer's Tower at 11.15am on Tuesday of this week. It was headed: 'Record numbers attend cathedrals at Christmas', followed by a very red, upper-case warning:…

Curate’s egg or Archbishop’s omelette? Welby tells TUC: gig economy is “reincarnation of an ancient evil”

September 13, 2018
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Justin Welby delivered a speech to the TUC, which went down well in one quarter, and not so well in five eighths, most of whom were irked that he delivered…

synod church of england evangelism kenneth williams

CofE General Synod couldn’t find time to discuss evangelism… “Oh, what’s the bloody point?”

July 11, 2018
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Kenneth Williams of ‘Carry On’ fame was not, alas and alack, a member of the Church of England’s General Synod. And yet his are the words for which I find…

How Bishop George Bell became a victim of Church of England ‘spin’ and a narrative of ‘decisive leadership’

November 17, 2017
153 Comments

This is a guest post by The Very Rev’d Professor Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford. _______ Some may begin to wonder how exactly the Church of England’s National…

Welby is right: the UK economy is “broken”, but England’s church is limping

September 6, 2017
142 Comments

It was an unfortunate coincidence that on the day the British Social Attitudes survey was released which announced that more than half (53%) of the British public now describe themselves…

Bishop Philip North is good news for the poor – what a shame he’s sidelined

August 4, 2017
331 Comments

It is #GoodNewsFriday – space and time to tell of God's love, miracles, joy, hope and peace – and Bishop Philip North provides today's subject matter. Here are a few…

Michael Gove sugar-coats Jesus and preaches fake good news

April 18, 2017
249 Comments

This is a guest post by the Rev’d Dr Gavin Ashenden, former Chaplain to the Queen, who is presently in the (complicated) process of leaving the Church of England. ___________________________…

Buried Archbishops “found by accident”? The CofE’s forgetfulness is galling

April 17, 2017
214 Comments

"It beggars belief that no-one thought what a terrible, terrible image of decline it is to deconsecrate the ABC's home church," tweeted the Rev'd Marcus Walker, slightly irritated by the…

Church of England funerals plummet 30% in a decade

November 2, 2016
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Are people living longer? Are fewer dying? In the decade 2005-2015, the general population increased from 60,210,000 to 64,716,000, so why has the number of Church of England funerals plummeted…

The great canon doctor Martyn Percy implicates Justin Welby in "secular sorcery"

August 17, 2016
172 Comments

"Everything you need to know about the Bible can be summed up by the great canon doctor Martyn Percy: 'The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven.'," writes…

Forget the Holy Spirit: the key to Church revival is Pokemon Go

August 2, 2016
230 Comments

According to the Daily Mail (please don't stop reading at that), something called Pokemon Go (or Pokémon GO for the accentually pedantic and orthographically precise) is set to bring…

Church of England continues its decline – but is revival stirring?

January 12, 2016
155 Comments

The Church of England has published its attendance stats ('Statistics for Mission') for 2014. Don't yawn. Yes, the interesting Anglican stuff is leavening this week in a Canterbury crypt,…

The Church of England is not dying – it is regenerating

October 16, 2015
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It’s been well publicised this week that there are one or two Church of England congregations that aren’t exactly bursting at the seams. If you go to a Church…

Chartres' Lambeth Lecture: the Church must be "vision-led and not problem-led"

October 5, 2015
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While the Archbishop of Canterbury pored over the Blogosphere on his iPad (to which he is apparently rather attached), the Bishop of London psyched himself up for the latest…

As 40% of adults think Jesus is a myth, has Religious Education failed?

September 25, 2015
284 Comments

Richard Dawkins and the other prophets of atheism love to tell us that in the fabricated battle between religious belief and rationalism, there can be only one winner, and…

Justin Welby's "spiritual magpie" plan to save the Church of England (DV)

July 17, 2015
121 Comments

There’s a fantastic article this weeks' Spectator entitled 'God’s management consultants: the Church of England turns to bankers for salvation'. It’s the sort of piece that is bound to…

Church of England mistakes mission for the management of decline

April 23, 2015
413 Comments

One of the best things Christians are doing all over the country at the moment is organising and hosting General Election hustings for their local communities. Last time round,…

Welby: "The best decision anyone can ever make is to be a follower of Jesus Christ"

March 6, 2015
391 Comments

Back in January, Tim Montgomerie, writing in the Times, vented his frustration with the Archbishop of Canterbury: I remain hopeful that Justin Welby, a "graduate" of HTB and its famous…

#PastoralLetter (2): Visions, dreams and nebulous notions of detachment

March 2, 2015
140 Comments

Having responded to the Preface of the Pastoral Letter from the House of Bishops "to the people and parishes of the Church of England for the General Election 2015",…