A new report, compiled by Dr Bev Botting and The Ven Bob Jackson, explores Easter day church-going attendance in 2022 with 2019 figures, and analyses what we can learn from the shift that has occurred.
Churches in four dioceses (Canterbury, Lichfield, Oxford and Rochester) were invited to register their Easter Day attendance figures online immediately after Easter to give an early indication of attendance patterns and trends compared with 2019. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many churches found themselves closed for long periods of time – and when they were able to reopen, they needed to observe Covid-19 guidelines up until February 2022.
The world of church attendance changed considerably over this period, with churches finding new and creative ways to facilitate ‘Church at Home’. Although some churches used printed materials, emails and phones, most offered some form of online service. Many of these began with clergy simply using mobile phones and laptops in their vicarages and live-streaming worship and prayers to Facebook. By Easter 2022, however, the dominant format was livestreaming of onsite services via YouTube.
There is a helpful single-page summary at the start and the chance to delve deeper into the bulk of the report, including six priorities for churches and three priorities for dioceses.
