Church attendance is increasing, or at least that is what the figures say. Attendance at Christmas services leapt by 20% last year and the number of worshippers at Easter was up almost 9%, as the Church of England experiences a third year of growth, according to the latest annual statistics.
Overall attendance is still below 2019 levels, though numbers appear to be recovering to pre-pandemic levels. In 2023, the number of regular worshippers topped a million for the first time since the pandemic, while weekly attendance rose to 693,000 in 2023, an increase of 4.5% on 2022.
But it is the major festivals that are showing the greatest uptake. In 2023 almost two million people (1,961,000) attended services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, up from 1,636,000 in 2022, and nearly a million (938,000) attended an Easter service.
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NB The link includes a further link to the full report by the Church of England Data Services team.