Church attendance increasing in Leicester Diocese

It's encouraging to read the news issued by the Diocese of Leicester about church attendance:

Figures just released by the Church of England for 2005 show an increase in church attendance in Leicester and Leicestershire.

Regular weekly attendance rose in the Diocese of Leicester by 1.1%, reversing a decline of over 1% the previous year. This applies to the week overall, and not to Sundays in particular. Leicester was one of 15 dioceses that saw a rise in overall attendance in 2005.

The Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Tim Stevens, said: “These latest figures confirm that the Diocese of Leicester is managing the decline in church attendance. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, patterns of churchgoing and church affiliation in England are changing. Although weekly Sunday attendance has not risen, the numbers of those who church during an entire week is rising. For every 50 people attending church on a typical Sunday, another 8 attend during the week. Our churches are being challenged to open their doors and look beyond themselves in their mission and ministry, and these statistics help encourage us that when we look beyond ourselves people in our communities want to attend church and support us.”

I'm not sure that the the idea of "managing the decline" is all that positive but at least there are signs of encouragement. We're thankful that we've seen a steady increase in the attendance at worship at St Paul's both in the totals for all weekly services and on Sundays in the last few years. More people have joined St Paul's through 2006 and those coming to worship with us represent a wide age range. It's heartening that people discover God's call on their lives and respond with regular worship at all ages but we must also find ways of reaching the under 40s.