We will never go back to the way we were – there has been irreversible change to both church and to society. Spiritual hunger and church attendance have grown under lock-down. We have a wonderful opportunity to re-think church life as we begin the slow process of re-opening our buildings. And most churches will rightly want to stay online as well as in-building. So how do we plan the future and what will it mean to be online and in-building at the same time?
Bob Jackson was an Economic Adviser to the UK Government. After twenty years in parish ministry he worked for the archbishops on church-growth then as an archdeacon before spending the last ten years doing freelance church growth research, teaching, consultancy and writing. His focus for the last twenty years has been on how churches grow and flourish. He retired last year, but came out of retirement in the present crisis as he has some fascinating new problems and statistics to play with. Plus he thinks the present opportunities are enormous.
