Congregations fall but Church keeps faith (From The Oxford Times)

Congregations fall but Church keeps faith

2:00pm Monday 30th January 2012 in Bicester By Laura Jones

The Rev Maggie Thorne is hoping to build up her congregation in Barton

Parishes across Oxfordshire have seen a drop in congregations, according to latest Church of England figures.

The Diocese of Oxford saw its average weekly congregation of 59,200 in 2009 fall to 55,700 in 2010.

Numbers attending traditional Sunday services dropped by four per cent.

But church marriages in the diocese were up four per cent. And on Christmas Day 2010, 140,000 people attended a service across the three counties of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire – more than any other diocese in the country including London.

Declining attendance is one of the biggest challenges for Barton’s new vicar the Rev Maggie Thorne who took up her post at St Mary’s Church, in Bayswater Road, on January 16.

She said: “Over the last 30 years services have dropped off, and that’s a concern.

“My challenge is to build up the number of faithful and encourage them to be bold with the gospel message in the community.”

Mrs Thorne added that the Church had to address the big questions facing society, saying people needed to ask about consumerism, debt and world poverty.

One flock bucking the trend is that of St Michael and All Angels in Summertown where the Rev Gavin Knight took up post last September.

He said: “We are up 15 per cent on a Sunday morning – a congregation of more than 100.”

Mr Knight added that by diversifying, the church had been able to reach out to different groups, including families and children.

But he acknowledged that it was difficult to attract new worshippers as people struggle to juggle longer working hours, childcare and leisure activities.

“There are so many competing pressures,” he said. “Overall I think people are losing faith in institutions, be it religious, political or social. People do feel disenfranchised.”

The Rev Adam Romanis, of SS Mary and John Church, in Cowley Road, said the statistics could mislead, with more people going to church in Oxford but less regularly.

“In this parish numbers are stable.But within that there are some trends, the main one is that a lot less people are coming every single week, people are coming every other week or once in a while.”

The Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard, echoed this view. He said: “I’m not disheartened at all by the figures. Our membership figures have gone up six per cent in three years. But Sunday has become a multi-purpose day – people have breaks, families see granny and split families go and see the other half.”