Urban churches feel post-christendom fallout

-20/12/04

Local churches in England’s bigg


Urban churches feel post-christendom fallout

-20/12/04

Local churches in England’s biggest cities are experiencing the fallout of post-christendom with only a “meagre” rise in attendance at Christmas, while it leaps 200% in rural areas, according to a new study.

Manchester had fewest churchgoers, followed by Liverpool, London, Sheffield, Bradford and Birmingham, a survey of Anglican dioceses found.

Hereford diocese had the most, five times as many as Manchester. Yet although those living there are more likely than people elsewhere to go to an Anglican service on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, the proportion of those attending church is still only one in 10.

The survey was conducted by Dr David Voas from the University of Manchester.

Manchester’s Anglican churches attracted only an extra 19% of visitors over Christmas, it found.

Dr Voas said: “Barely 2% of people in Manchester make it to an Anglican church on Christmas Eve or Day, and practically all those who do go are regular worshippers.


Urban churches feel post-christendom fallout

-20/12/04

Local churches in England’s biggest cities are experiencing the fallout of post-christendom with only a “meagre” rise in attendance at Christmas, while it leaps 200% in rural areas, according to a new study.

Manchester had fewest churchgoers, followed by Liverpool, London, Sheffield, Bradford and Birmingham, a survey of Anglican dioceses found.

Hereford diocese had the most, five times as many as Manchester. Yet although those living there are more likely than people elsewhere to go to an Anglican service on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, the proportion of those attending church is still only one in 10.

The survey was conducted by Dr David Voas from the University of Manchester.

Manchester’s Anglican churches attracted only an extra 19% of visitors over Christmas, it found.

Dr Voas said: “Barely 2% of people in Manchester make it to an Anglican church on Christmas Eve or Day, and practically all those who do go are regular worshippers.