In 2023, the average weekly church attendance at Church of England services was 693,000. Between 2009 and 2019 the average weekly church attendance for the Church of England fell by approximately 218,000. Church attendance figures fell even more during 2020 and 2021, although this was due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2023, 36 percent of people that were regular attendees of Church of England services were aged 70 or over, with just under half being aged between 18 and 69, and 18 percent being 17 or younger.

In 2023, approximately 1.96 million people in England attended a Christmas Church of England service, compared with the average weekly attendance of 693,000 people.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. The aim of the study was to assess afresh the current number and frequency of people attending church of all denominations in England in 1998. A previous study had been undertaken in 1989 and it was felt important to see how trends had changed. The 1989 study is held at the UK Data Archive under SN:2842, and two similar Scottish studies (1984 and 1994) are held under SNs 2554 and 4395. Main Topics: In particular, the principal investigators wished to know how attendance had developed in terms of frequency, the change in nature of attendance from Sunday to mid-week, and especially the age of those going to church. The survey also sought to ascertain details of personnel operating within each church, and the number of people who attended church activities. Supplementary questions were also requested by sponsors on healing, facilities available in each church, whether the church building was listed, and whether or not the congregation was still likely to be in existence in 2010.

The second Scottish Church Census was carried out on May 11-12, 2002. Comparable studies have been conducted in Scotland in 1984 and 1994 and in England in 1979, 1989, 1998 and 2005. All were organized and led by Dr Peter Brierley, executive director of the organization Christian Research prior to his retirement in 2007.

The aim of the study was to ascertain the number and frequency of people attending church of all denominations in Scotland in 2002. Several denominational changes had taken place in Scotland since the last census in 1994 ("https://beta.ukdataservice.ac.uk/datacatalogue/studies/study?id=4395#!/details" Target="_blank">SN 4395) and 1984 ("https://beta.ukdataservice.ac.uk/datacatalogue/studies/study?id=2554" Target="_blank">SN 2554). Political changes, with the formation of the Scottish Parliament, had brought about boundary changes for many councils, by which church attendance was previously analyzed. A combination of denomination, political and population changes had necessitated a revision of church attendance. In particular the study was to evaluate if the age structure of churchgoers had altered over the past decade and to establish if the trend in decline in the number of young people attending Sunday worship in England was true of Scotland.

The aim of the project was to assess afresh the current number and frequency of people attending church of all denomonations in Scotland in 1994. A previous study had been undertaken in 1984 (held at the UKDA under SN 2554), and it was felt important to see how trends had changed. In particular, the principal investigators wanted to know how attendance had developed especially with regard to the age of those going to church. The survey also asked questions about the Bible version used in the church and whether churches had Bible study meetings.

Approximately 938,000 people attended an Easter church service in England in 2023. Easter church services have fallen since 2010, when there were 1.41 million people attending an Easter service.

This statistic presents the average weekly attendance figures for the Church of England in London from 2012 to 2017. During this period there has been a net decrease of 12 thousand people attending church in London, a trend which is also reflected in the weekly attendance figures for the whole of England.

(:unav)...........................................

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. The 1989 English Church Census (SN:2842) found there had been a drastic drop in those, aged 15-19, attending the English church in the 1980's. The aim was to discover why they had left and what, if anything, could be done about it. A key finding was the importance of having people in church who understood teenagers, their values and their language. In order to gauge the views of a wide range of teenage church attenders the sample of church teenagers was structured by denomination, churchmanship, environment and area. The denomination and churchmanship categories were based on an analysis of current teenage church attendance from the English Church Census. Churches were sampled in three areas (the North, South and London). Within these areas churches were sampled in four environments (city centre, suburb, council estate and rural). Teenagers who were not regular churchgoers were contacted through secondary schools. Schools which agreed to take part in the survey were clustered in geographical areas close to responding churches. Main Topics: This study includes young people who attend church and those who are not regular churchgoers. Topics covered include: religious denomination; activities in spare time; reasons for attendance and lack of attendance at church; opinion of service; belief in God; religious experiences; church activities; youth groups; young people's opinions and attitudes towards church. One-stage stratified or systematic random sample The sample of church teenagers was structured by denomination, churchmanship, environment and area. Postal survey Included in the documentation are the questionnaires used for interviewing the church, ex-church, non-church and youth leaders, the data for these are not held at the UK Data Archive.

In 2010 the Evangelical Alliance began a major research programme which would enable it to understand more fully the lives and concerns of its constituency of Evangelical Christians across the United Kingdom. In 2010 over 17,000 people, connected in some way with evangelical churches and networks, completed a questionnaire about their beliefs, religious practices, opinions on political and moral questions and on their involvement and activism in the community. Over 12,500 of them defined themselves as Evangelical Christians. Paper questionnaires were distributed at major Christian events and festivals, and through a sample of Evangelical Alliance member churches across the UK.

Subsequently a research panel, recruited in the first place from the 17,000 has been asked to take part in online surveys four times each year, with each wave of the survey concentrating on a specific theme or topic known to be of interest to the Alliance and/or its member organisations and churches. In the first online survey conducted around Easter 2011 over 1,150 people responded, in the Church Life survey carried out in November 2012 over 1,864 replies were analysed.

Further information is available on the Evangelical Alliance http://www.eauk.org/church/resources/snapshot/" title="21st Century Evangelicals">21st Century Evangelicals webpages.

End User Licence and Special Licence data:
Users should note that there are two versions of each Twenty-First Century Evangelicals study. One is available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement (SN 7787), and the other is a Special Licence (SL) version (SN 7786). The SL version contains the text responses to the open-ended questions. The EUL version excludes the text responses to the open-ended questions.

The SL data have more restrictive access conditions than those made available under the standard EUL. Prospective users of the SL version will need to complete an extra application form and demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the additional variables in order to get permission to use that version. Therefore, users are strongly advised to order the standard version of the data.

Latest edition information:
For the fourth edition (February 2017), data and documentation for a new survey have been added. The survey has the theme of 'Religions, Belief and Unbelief' and covers views of secularism, religious diversity and interfaith relations. Further information is available from an article published in the IDEA magazine.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. The aim of the study was to ascertain the number and frequency of people attending church of all denominations in Scotland in 2002. Several denominational changes had taken place in Scotland since the last census in 1994 (SN 4395) and 1984 (SN 2554). Political changes, with the formation of the Scottish Parliament, had brought about boundary changes for many councils, by which church attendance was previously analysed. A combination of denomination, political and population change had necessitated a revision of church attendance. In particular the study was to evaluate if the age structure of churchgoers had altered over the past decade and to establish if the trend in decline in the number of young people attending Sunday worship in England was true of Scotland. Main Topics: The data cover: church attendance; age, gender and size of congregation for both adults and children; congregational ethos; type of area church is in; frequency of services; mid-week services; youth activities; church-run activities; Alpha and Emmaus programme; lay ministries.

(:unav)...........................................

The aim of the study was to ascertain the number and frequency of people attending church of all denominations in Scotland in 2002. Several denominational changes had taken place in Scotland since the last census in 1994 (SN 4395) and 1984 (SN 2554). Political changes, with the formation of the Scottish Parliament, had brought about boundary changes for many councils, by which church attendance was previously analysed. A combination of denomination, political and population change had necessitated a revision of church attendance. In particular the study was to evaluate if the age structure of churchgoers had altered over the past decade and to establish if the trend in decline in the number of young people attending Sunday worship in England was true of Scotland.

In 2010 the Evangelical Alliance began a major research programme which would enable it to understand more fully the lives and concerns of its constituency of Evangelical Christians across the United Kingdom. In 2010 over 17,000 people, connected in some way with evangelical churches and networks, completed a questionnaire about their beliefs, religious practices, opinions on political and moral questions and on their involvement and activism in the community. Over 12,500 of them defined themselves as Evangelical Christians. Paper questionnaires were distributed at major Christian events and festivals, and through a sample of Evangelical Alliance member churches across the UK.

Subsequently a research panel, recruited in the first place from the 17,000 has been asked to take part in online surveys four times each year, with each wave of the survey concentrating on a specific theme or topic known to be of interest to the Alliance and/or its member organisations and churches. In the first online survey conducted around Easter 2011 over 1,150 people responded, in the Church Life survey carried out in November 2012 over 1,864 replies were analysed.

Further information is available on the Evangelical Alliance 21st Century Evangelicals webpages.

End User Licence and Special Licence data:
Users should note that there are two versions of each Twenty-First Century Evangelicals study. One is available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement (SN 7787), and the other is a Special Licence (SL) version (SN 7786). The SL version contains the text responses to the open-ended questions. The EUL version excludes the text responses to the open-ended questions.

The SL data have more restrictive access conditions than those made available under the standard EUL. Prospective users of the SL version will need to complete an extra application form and demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the additional variables in order to get permission to use that version. Therefore, users are strongly advised to order the standard version of the data.

Latest edition information:
For the fourth edition (February 2017), data and documentation for a new survey have been added. The survey has the theme of 'Religions, Belief and Unbelief' and covers views of secularism, religious diversity and interfaith relations. Further information is available from an article published in the IDEA magazine.

(:unav)...........................................

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. To ascertain the numbers, and trends in those numbers, attending church regularly throughout the whole of Wales and across all denominations and to give a comprehensive picture of membership and attendance by country. Main Topics: Variables Church attendance (adults and children), church membership (including children for Roman Catholic Churches), age and sex, country variation, denominational variations, those going to church more than once on a Sunday. Churches which were growing, static or declining, proportions of children attending Sunday School, proportions of churches with Welsh services, proportions of churches with just morning or evening services, or both, mid-week meetings held by churches, by type. The study sought data for May 1978 as well as May 1982

The dataset comprises a transcription of information relating to Parish Ministers of the Church of Scotland as at May 1843 (the month and year of the Disruption), from two sources: the Hew Scott volumes of Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae (1923), and James McCosh's 'The Wheat and the Chaff Gathered into Bundles.' Transcription from the former source covers both geographical and biographical information. Geographical information includes synod, presbytery and parish names. Biographical information includes ministerial names, dates of birth and ordination, and binary variables indicating marital status and whether they joined the Free Church. Transcription from the latter source identifies through binary variables ministers who adhered to the Church of Scotland (Class 1) and those who previously supported the non-intrusion party, but ultimately adhered to the established church (Class 2).

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. The 1998 English Church Attendance Survey (SN:4394) found there had been a drastic drop in those, aged under 15, attending the English church in the 1990's. The aim was to discover why they had left and what, if anything, could be done about it. A key finding was the lack of 'fun' in church, the influence of grandparents and the importance of having people in church who understood tweenagers, their values and their language. The sample of church tweenagers was structured by denomination, churchmanship, environment and area. Other tweenagers were contacted through schools, those which agreed to take part in the survey, clustered in geographical areas close to responding churches. In addition, forms were distributed to various Christian organisations working with young people in this age range. Main Topics: This study includes young people who attend church and those who are not regular churchgoers. Topics covered include: religious affiliation; activities in spare time; computer and internet access; television viewing; opinions about themselves; trust; reasons for attendance and lack of attendance at church; belief in God; religious experiences; church activities; youth groups; young peoples' opinions and attitudes towards church. One-stage stratified or systematic random sample The sample of church tweenagers was structured by denomination, churchmanship, environment and area. Postal survey The documentation mentions the qualitative research undertaken by the discussion or focus groups, this is not held at the UK Data Archive.

Interview questions and interview transcripts of interviews with the national leaders from different Christian denominations in the UK. The interviews address contemporary poverty in the UK - Its causes and the response of different UK Churches. The interviews reflect a range of different factors - the size of different denominations, the links of denominations to the state and different theological perspectives about Christian engagement with politics.Life on the Breadline was a three year qualitative research project that ran from 2018-2021. The project arose from a recognition that as the state withdrew during the Age of Austerity begun after the 2010 UK General Election, the Church was increasingly stepping in to fill the gap, as seen, for example, in relation to the siting of 75% of UK food banks in local church buildings. The Age of Austerity demonstrated the ongoing active role of the Church in civil society politics, due to its presence and influence in neighbourhoods across the UK [especially socially excluded neighbourhoods]. The research team hold the view that academic research should be a force for progressive social change and a resource for those struggling for social justice in the face of structural injustice. The aim of the project, which drew on theology and the social sciences, was to explore, describe and analyse the the nature, extent and impact of Christian responses to poverty in the UK since the 2008 global financial crash. We sought to develop resources and a variety of outputs that would enable Churches to become more effective and informed in their anti-poverty activism and help policymakers to develop a greater awareness of the role played by faith groups in responding to poverty. During the project we further sought to engage with the complexity of poverty [fuel poverty, low pay, housing justice and child poverty as well as food poverty]. During the project we conducted interviews with national church leaders from thirteen UK-based Christian denominations, ran a survey of regional Church leaders from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and developed six ethnographic case studies highlighting different aspects of poverty (e.g. food poverty, housing justice, low pay, fuel poverty or unemployment), different Christian traditions and theological perspectives and different geographical locations (2 case studies were in Birmingham, 2 were in London and 2 were in London). Interviewees and survey participants were selected because they held strategic leadership roles in their denomination and case studies were selected to to reflect geographical spread, a range of differing Christian traditions and different aspects of poverty. The project gave rise to a wide range of academic and social outputs, free to download resources, a photographic exhibition, church leader and policymaker reports, CPD and short courses and animated videos. Details about many of these can be found on the Life on the Breadline website - https://breadlineresearch.coventry.ac.uk/