Decline in the number of UK Churches
Is the number of Churches in decline?
At first sight the number of churches in the UK seems quite large. It is a measure of the Christian origins of the UK. While at one time this was the country of the book where the authority of God's written word was used to determine laws, moral practice, and to teach children, we now live in a secular age. In this age the total number of churches in the UK fell from 50,231 in 1980 to 47,635 in 2005 a drop of 5.16%, when in the same period the UK population grew from 56.3 Million to 60.2 Million a rise of 6.7%.
Number of UK Churches
Source: Religious trends 5 Brieley 2005 Tables 12.11
The fall in the number of churched represents the number of congregations that fail or die. In some rural areas this may be caused by the drift of population away from agricultural areas into towns. The pattern of church failure in large cities is more likely to be caused by immigration, however this can work both ways with the success of many Black Majority Churches in London.
How are the denominations doing?
The decline in Church attendance does not translate directly into the number of Churches, and the situation in each denomination is different. For that reason we need to break down this decline to see the where the failure lies. This chart shows the trends for the Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and other churches.
Number of UK Churches by denomination
Source: Religious trends 5 Brieley 2005 Tables 12.11
While the trend for each denomination shows how well it is doing, it is not so easy to compare it with another denomination. Even so we can see that some are declining much faster than others and the "others" is actually increasing.
Relative decline in the number of churches
By calculating the change in the number of churches as a percentage based on the starting date of 1980, relative rates of decline have been produced. The chart of relative growth shows more clearly the relative performance of each denomination, with each one starting of at 0% growth in 1980. With a drop of 43% the Methodist Church is clearly the biggest loser with the Presbyterians (United Reformed Church, Church of Scotland) in a close second. Another significant loser is the Anglican Church, that has by far the largest number of church buildings, with a fall of 14%. Only other churches in the Others group have produced significant gains over the period as a whole.
UK relative Church growth
Source: Religious trends 5 Brieley 2005 Tables 12.11
While the chart does not breakdown the "other" churches by denomination the strong growth in the number of churches here shows that the Christian Church can thrive in the UK today. The strong decline in the number of Methodist and Presbyterian churches points to a theology and practice that is failing. Given that these denominations are those with the most liberal approach to both, many will conclude that this is in fact the cause of their decline. The results for the Anglican Church would seem to indicate that while they lag behind the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches they are on the same path.
Indications of their liberal stance came when for example the Methodists approved same sex marriage in 2006 and the URC proposed acceptance of practising homosexuals for ordination in 1997. They are also early adopters and leaders in the field of women's ministry. The Methodists ordained the first women ministers at the Bristol Conference in 1974, and the URC had women's ordination from 1972. While Anglicans adopted women priests in 1993 it was only in July of 2008 that the General Synod approved women Bishops. With the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan William's views on gay marriage made clear, it will not be long before CofE follows the Methodist Church and URC into approving gay marriage.
Problems of listed buildings
While we are blessed with a large number of beautiful historic church buildings, they do come at cost not just in maintenance but also in suitability for today's Church. For example the percentages of Church of England(CofE) buildings that are listed by English Heritage as Grade1,2,3 is 27%, 26% and 23% respectively. The maintenance costs and lack of flexibility for adaption to modern needs are a burden. This is reflected in two articles from the Telegraph on 28th Jul 2008 "Church of England church closures accelerate" and 21st Jul 2008 "Medieval churches face threat of closure" . In a way the Roman Catholic Church gained an advantage from the reformation, with about a quarter of the number of church buildings and higher attendance than the CofE it has much lower overheads. The crisis in funding church buildings is such that the Telegraph reported 22 Nov 2008 "Ministers to hold summit on church closure crisis".
Church of England buildings
Source: Religious trends 5 Brieley 2005 Tables 12.12
Decline in church planting
A wider view of the problem reveals that church planting still goes on but that more churches are being closed than planted. This is in part due to the steep decline in the number of churches being planted. In the period 1980-1989 2,863 (286 per year on average) new churches were opened but in the period 1995-2002 we only opened 897 ( 128 per year on average). This represents a substantial reduction in evangelistic activity.
Churches opened and closed
Source: Religious trends 5 Brieley 2005 Tables 12.12.1
Note when looking at the chart that, for some reason best known to Christian Research, the data is for periods that vary from 5 years(1990-1994) to 10 years (1980-1989). This means that if you do not allow for the date range any comparison is invalid.
Relevance to decline in church attendance
The chart shows the relative rates of decline in church buldings, ministers, church membership, and church attendance. It shows that the rate of decline in buildings is significantly less than that for membership or attendance. This suggests that congregations are on average getting much smaller with many more nearing the point when they will cease to be financially viable.
Number of UK Churches
Source: Religious trends 5 Brieley 2005 Tables 12.13
What does it all mean?
Like other statistical data on the decline of churchgoing this research is aimed at learning what the cause is behind it. Those denominations with a faster rate of decline may help others understand what not to do, and those churches with significant growth may point the way in what positively should be done.
It would be nice to think that such a rational approach would work, but those in leadership have their own reason to be on the path their church is following. Good people with good intentions to a man(or woman). Although it is not in the bible a wise man once remarked that "the road to hell was paved with good intentions" and this could just be such a road.
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