Today’s Church Times reported a growth in Church of England attendance from 2023 to 2024. The Preliminary Snapshot Report for 2024, published last Friday, suggested that the overall number of worshipping communities grew from 1.01 million in 2023 to 1.02 million in 2024, a ‘worshipping community’ being defined here as “those people who attend worship regularly, once a month or more (whether in-person or ‘at home’)”.
Despite the growth, this number is apparently still some 8.5% lower than in 2019 pre-COVID, when there were 1.1 million regular worshippers, but 1.2% higher than in 2023.
Commenting on the increase, the Archbishop of York said: “The Church of England exists to share the good news of Jesus Christ and to love and serve our neighbours in every community in England. So it is encouraging to see further signs that more people are coming to faith in Jesus Christ and having their lives changed.”
Is this reflected in our congregations here in Malaga and Salinas? Both congregations have increased in size in the past 12 months, though whether this is driven by the same dynamic as in the UK is more of an open question. It will be interesting to see if both ours and the UK’s increase in numbers continue.
Read the Church Times article here.