The quiet revival passes the Church of England by

by John Sandeman

Thedothercheek.com

November 5, 2025

New attendance stats released by the Church of England are in marked contrast to the Bible Society’s report of a quiet revival in the UK.

The Bible Society “Quiet Revival” report claimed that “Church attendance has risen by 50 per cent over the last six years,” according to stats from a You Gov survey in England and Wales conducted for the Bible Society. “In 2018, just 4 per cent of 18–24-year-olds said that they attended church at least monthly. Today, says The Quiet Revival, this has risen to 16 per cent, with a notable rise in the proportion of young men attending.

“Attendance at Church of England churches rises for the fourth year in a row” is the headline on the offical Church website. “The overall number of regular worshippers across the Church of England’s congregations rose to 1.009 million in 2024, a rise of 0.6 per cent, according to the annual Statistics for Mission findings,” the Church of England “Statistics for Mission” report says.

But the eagle-eyed Madeleine Davies of the Church Times contradicts the official optimism. “The data, published on Tuesday, record that in 2024 attendance rose for the fourth year, but that recovery since the Covid-19 pandemic has slowed. Increases in attendance since 2023 were smaller than in previous years. In 2019, a “middle-sized” church had an all-age average weekly attendance (AWA) of 34.5; in 2024, the equivalent figure was 26. The median church has just one child in attendance, compared with three in 2019.

“Adult AWA (based on in-person attendance in October) was 18 per cent lower than in 2019, and 1.8 per cent higher than in 2023. This was five per cent below the projected pre-pandemic trend.”

Davies’ subhead in the Church Times reads “Figures appear to contradict claims of ‘quiet revival’”. A different reading could be that any revival in the UK is occuring outside the Church of England.

Ian Paul, a prominant Evangelical in the CofE, suggests a more realistic headline for the official news release. “This is the real headline: on nearly every measure, the figures are now back in line with the long term trend of general decline and ageing established before the COVID pandemic.” He points to two graphs from Statistics for Mission that paint a realistic picture of a church continuing to decline.Another graph in Statistics for Mission reveals the demographics of decline, examining the number of children in churches each October

The Statistics for Mission report gives a picture of the dynamics of some growth amid declines:”more Church of England churches became smaller from 2019 to 2024 than grew. As an illustration: in approximately 12% of churches the usual Sunday attendance, average Sunday attendance, and average weekly attendance were all higher in 2024 than in 2019; in approximately 48% of churches the usual Sunday attendance, average Sunday attendance, and average weekly attendance were all lower in 2024 than in 2019.”

Reply

05/11/2025

Dr Craig L Hall (Research Fellow)

The figures for attendance at C of E churches may need some nuancing. Statistics can be misleading unless carefully considered. Attendance at churches may vary for a number of reasons:

1) Covid is central to these reported figures especially often quoted as “pre-Covid” and “post-Covid”. The central issue of Covid was of course closure of churches. That is, closure of physical attendance, yet many continued with an online format. This inculturation of congregations to online church, meant many continued that form of attendance after Covid, replacing physical attendance in church. Therefore the definition of “attendance” is a factor.

2) Congregation transfer – if a church of 20 closes and four other churches increase by 5, the data will show most churches increasing and only one decreasing, but overall attendance is the same. If four churches of ten close and two churches increase by 20 each the data will show most churches declining and some increasing. In today’s market the target of stability is a congregation of 50, if a church can’t reach that, it is at risk of its people migrating to a bigger church.

3) Various socio-economic trends influence attendance. Individual mobility is a major one today. The average renter will need to move location due to rent hikes, job, or getting married. Some renters are forced to move once each year. Of the young people getting married a significant number move to another church, joining his, or hers. This can mean not only moving to a different church of the same denomination, but to a different denomination. It has been notable in my experience of church Executive, manifestly a flow of Catholics to Pentecostal, Pentecostal to Anglican, and Anglican to Baptist. Pentecostal growth was noted due not to new conversions, but congregation transfer from other denominations. With the collapse of mega-churches in Australia, there is a transfer of congregation between all denominations. People are looking for authenticity and are not finding it, therefore shopping around as is done on an internet dating site, is apparent.

4) Internet attendance- although a church can identify how many are watching online, this only shows the log-ins. A family of 5 could be watching at home. It won’t be evident as it would be if they all attended in person.

5) Double counting – churches with multiple services may have members attending two or more services in one day. The numbers attending for each service will therefore include double counting of the same person/s – but with the pressure for increasing results from KPIs no one will be too keen to deduct the duplicate attendance. This is just one of the major flaws and culture distortions KPIs produce.

The problem was experienced with College attendances. If one student enrols in one subject per year, and another in eight subjects per year, do you have 2 students or 1.125 students attending? The issue is resolved with Colleges counting students equal to FTE – full time equivalents. In the above example a full time load is 8 subjects, so you have 1.125 students.

Historically Anglicans would have been expected to attend three services per day. Attendance was the roll of church members, not each service.

Attendance is not a straight forward calculation and the number of full or empty seats is not an absolute indicator.