The Church of England must repent. It’s the only way to stop the decline

As the church’s governing body prepares for another round of debates over same-sex relationships and the decision to host raves in cathedrals causes consternation, Tim Dieppe suggests that radical repentance is the only way to stop the rot

The Telegraph has recently reported that Church of England Sunday attendance is just 80 per cent of what it was in 2019.

The figures, which come from the Church of England’s Statistics for Mission report for 2022, published this month, state that all age average weekly attendance was 654,000 people in 2022. While this was an eight per cent increase on 2021, it was a drop of 23 per cent when compared to pre-Covid 2019 figures.

Some 641 parishes– or four per cent - have closed since 2000. Church of England attendance has more than halved since 1987.

It looks to all the world as if the CofE is in terminal decline. There are some signs of life -evangelical churches are growing and thriving in some areas - but, overall, the indications are not good.