Church of England attendance rises for fourth year

16/05/2025

Attendance at Church of England churches grew for the fourth year in a row last year, preliminary figures show.

The overall number of regular worshippers across the Church of England’s congregations grew to 1.02 million in 2024, a rise of 1.2 per cent, according to an early snapshot of the annual Statistics for Mission findings.

It was the second year in a row in which the Church of England’s “worshipping community” – the combined number of regular members of local congregations – has stood above a million since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The numbers in the pews on a typical Sunday was up by a further 1.5 per cent to 582,000 in 2024, extending rises over recent years.

And overall in-person attendance across the week edged upwards by 1.2 per cent in a year, and stood at just over 701,000 last year, according to the early figures.

The increase was driven by a recovery in attendance by adults (over 16), among whom average Sunday attendance was up by 1.8 per cent and weekly attendance rose by 1.5 per cent.

While the overall figures show that in-person attendance has not fully reached pre-pandemic levels, the figures suggest it is moving closer to the pre-pandemic trend.

The preliminary snapshot of Statistics for Mission returns follows separate figures showing a sharp increase in traffic on the Church of England’s church-finder website AChurchNearYou.com.

The number of page visits to AChurchNearYou.com jumped by 55 per cent last year to almost 200 million as people searched for their local congregation.

The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, said: “The Church of England exists to share the good news of Jesus Christ and to love and serve our neighbours in every community in England.

“So it is encouraging to see further signs that more people are coming to faith in Jesus Christ and having their lives changed.

“Although this is just a snapshot and we don’t know the ages of those who have started attending church in the past year, other evidence suggests that many of these are young adults.

“This is also my experience of visiting churches Sunday by Sunday and baptising and confirming new Christians.

“That is a testament to the faith and hope of all those in our churches who share the gospel with their communities every day and my prayer is that, in these uncertain times, more people will come to know the message of love and grace of Jesus Christ.”

Debbie Clinton, the Church of England’s Director for Vision and Strategy, said: “Our statistics are much more than numbers, each represents an individual who is part of a local church, serving their community across the country.

“In 2024 we have heard and seen exciting stories of growth in parishes in both urban and rural contexts, in our estates and in post-industrial and coastal towns.

“Nationally we aim to ensure that each young person has a flourishing children, youth and families’ ministry within reach of them, we are seeing growth in the number of churches with more than 25 young people attending.”

‘We were a church in decline but we are not in decline any more’

On Easter Monday, St John’s Upper Norwood in south London hosted more than 2,000 for a barbecue in its church grounds to celebrate Easter and the Resurrection. Fr John Pritchard, Vicar, recalls the vast quantity of food that was cooked and consumed – 2,000 pieces of chicken, 1,000 sausages (with vegetarian options) and hundreds of burgers.

Those attending were responding to an invitation from St John’s ‘Messy Church’ – a non-traditional church gathering, where adults and young people meet once a month for activities and worship in the Catholic tradition of the Church of England.

The Messy Church attracts more than 400 people typically and has led to a growth in baptisms, confirmations and Sunday attendance. More than 300 people for example attended Mass at the church on Palm Sunday with a donkey in attendance.

The huge uptick in attendance at the church was sparked by outreach work to children and young families that was set up two years ago by Associate Vicar Mthr Rachael Gledhill.

A faith based toddler group (0-5) she runs, meeting every Friday, now has 400 regular attenders for faith based play and worship. The Messy church grew out of this and in turn has inspired ‘Messy meals’ where around 80 people meet weekly to eat and pray, and share in a deeper understanding of each others lives.

National Strategic Development Funding/Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment grants through the Diocese of Southwark have helped support a facilities manager for the church, a communications specialist and will pay for the appointment of a youth minister. Next on the list is to develop the music tradition amongst children, young people and their families in the familiar Anglican tradition over the coming years.

Fr John praises the work of more than 40 volunteers and churchwardens who work ‘flat out” to support the church, baking, setting up and welcoming everyone.

“We were a church in decline but we are not in decline any more,” he said.

“People are looking for a community and to feel valued, and the Gospel gives them this.

“At no point do we ever pretend we are not a church – we are always in our dog collars. We follow the liturgical calendar. There is a narrative that suggests the church community is not welcome or relevant in people’s lives but that is not true at all.

“People are looking for, and searching for a place where they can belong – we are all neighbours here.”

Preliminary Statistics for Mission figures 2024 (all rounded to the nearest 1,000):

	2023	2024	Change
Worshipping community	1,007,000	1,019,000	1.2%
All-age average weekly attendance (Oct)	693,000	701,000	1.2%
All-age average Sunday attendance (Oct)	574,000	582,000	1.5%