Leadership Latest - Jan 2007

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Weddings and vicars

A survey carried out at the National Wedding Show in 2006 showed that couples who plan to get married in church are interested in meeting the vicar. Of those who said they wanted a “proper wedding”:

• 69% rated the location as important
• 60% said that the Church had a particular meaning for them 5
• 6% said their partner’s religion was also important to them
• the spiritual or sacred ambience was important to 55%
• 53% said what the vicar was like was important
• The choir, music and bell-ringing was important to 49% of respondents
• the interior and decoration to 47%
• and marriage preparation was important only to 36%.

The latest church statistics (2003) showed that 31% of first marriages took place in church, and 4 out of 10 weddings being planned by people attending the Wedding Show were to be church weddings.

Reported in the Church Times, 19 January 2007.
 

Grandparents and church

According to Christian Research, grandparents are often key for their grandchildren’s faith.

• For 12% of Protestant churchgoers, the grandparents were the most significant people in showing them what faith is about.
• Some 3% of children attending Sunday school are brought by their grandparents.
• If grandparents go to church, 60% of their grandchildren will go to church when they visit.

In the UK there are 13 million grandparents, each with an average of 4.4 grandchildren. A third of grandparents spend 3 days a week caring for their grandchildren, and 82% of children are cared for sometimes by their grandparents.

Reported in the Christian Marketplace, July 2006.
 

Child protection issues in church

According to a survey published by the Churches’ Child Protection Advisory Service in April 2006:

• An average church of 84 in its congregation has 12 children’s workers.
• Three quarters of churches interview all volunteer applicants and ask them to complete an application form – up from only two fifths in 2003.
• Virtually all church leaders showed an awareness of their denomination’s policy on child protection.
• The number of churches with no child protection policy had gone down from 9% in 2003 to 4% in 2005.
• Smaller churches were less likely to have a policy than larger churches, and evangelicals less than non-evangelical.
• Over 90% of churches take the precaution of asking other people in the church about a person who has volunteered – up from half in 2003.
• One in 7 workers had reason to be concerned about possible abuse; of these, all had shared those concerns with the child protection officer or minister.
• Some 12% of leaders were aware of individuals in the congregation who could present a risk to children, and in 88% of these cases were adopting special measures to support the individual and at the same time ensure the safety of children.
• Virtually all (97%) of church leaders and 98% if children’s workers consider child protection issues to be important.

Reported in Caring Magazine, Spring 2006.
 

N.B. The Alliance is committed to encouraging all member churches to comply with all best practice principles regarding child protection and would urge any members who do not currently have a policy in place to contact the Churches’ Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS).
Visit www.ccpas.co.uk, email info@ccpas.co.uk or phone 0845 120 4549.
 

Personal Bible reading

Figures from Christian Research’s 2005 English Church Census on how often churchgoers read the Bible outside of church activities found that:

• 27% of English churchgoers across all denominations read the Bible at least once a week.
• Those attending New and Pentecostal churches were the most avid readers, with 66% and 64% respectively reading the Bible at least once a week.
• Of those who said they were mainstream evangelicals just 26% said they read the Bible personally at least once a week.
• Those aged under 20 read the Bible least of all age-groups, while those aged 20 to 29 read it most, followed by those aged 85 and over.
• Those who attend church at least once a week read the Bible most, 30%, but those who attend fortnightly or monthly read it less, 20%.

Reported in Sword (formerly Prophecy Today), November/December 2006.
 

Superstition among churchgoers

According to research by Leslie Francis, Professor of Practical Theology at the University of Wales (Bangor), churchgoers in Britain are highly superstitious. Of the 150 worshippers interviewed as part of a wider survey of 40,000 people’s non-traditional beliefs:

• 1 in 4 believed that it was lucky to find a four-leaf clover, to have a black cat cross their path and to see a money spider.
• 1 in 4 also believed it was unlucky to open an umbrella indoors.
• 1 in 6 believed it was unlucky to pass someone on the stairs or walk under a ladder.
• 8 in 10 admitted to crossing their fingers for luck, and nearly as many had touched wood for protection.
• More than 7 in 10 had thrown salt over their shoulder.

Dr Francis said more research was needed into what churchgoers believed and how this compares to what non-churchgoers believe.

Reported in the Christian Marketplace, July 2006.
 

Getting to church

A survey carried out by Evangelicals Now in June 2006 which polled 400 of its readers found that attending a local church is still the norm among their readership.

• 3 in 4 respondents (excluding pastors and vicars) said they lived within 3 miles of their place of worship, and 2 in 5 said they lived within one mile.
• Only 4.7% travelled more than 10 miles to church.
• 4 in 5 said the journey to church took less than 15 minutes, and 1 in 4 took less than 5 minutes.
• Disappointingly, 4 in 5 respondents said they generally travelled to church by car.
• Even 1 in 4 of those living within half a mile of the church, and 3 in 4 of those living between 1 mile and half a mile from it, used their car to get there.
• Only 3 respondents of the total aged below retirement age came to church by bike.

The survey showed no relationship between how far away people live and how often they make the journey to church.

• Excluding pastors or elders, over half of respondents (55%) visited church 3 or more times during a typical week.
• 1 in 6 came to church just once a week.

Other factors commonly thought to be associated with lack of involvement (such as marriage or having children) had no significant relationship with the number of times people came to church.

Reported in Evangelicals Now, November 2006.
 

Many Pentecostals don’t speak in tongues

A 10-nation survey of the Pentecostal-charismatic movement carried out by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (Washington D.C.) found that:

• In 6 of the countries studied at least 40% of Pentecostals said they never speak in tongues.
• In the US, 49% of Pentecostals and 32% of charismatics reported that they do not speak in tongues.

According to Pentecostal historian Vinson Synan:

• The percentage of Pentecostals who pray in tongues has been declining for the last 30 years.
• Churches that embrace tongues have grown larger than those that rejected it: The Assemblies of God church has 10 times more members than the Christian and Missionary Alliance, which in the 1900s took a “seek not, forbid not” position on tongues.

Reported in Charisma (US), December 2006.
 

House churches more satisfying

Research by The Barna Group of US independent and non-denominational churches found that, overall, people attending a house church were significantly more likely to be “completely satisfied”.

• 68% of house church attenders were “completely satisfied” with the leadership of their church, compared with only 49% of those attending a conventional church.
• 66% of house church adherents were “completely satisfied” with the faith commitment of the people involved in their gathering, in contrast with 40% of those attending a conventional church.
• 61% of house church adults were “completely satisfied” with the level of community and personal connectedness they experience, compared with 41% in conventional churches.
• 59% of house church attendees said they were “completely satisfied” with the spiritual depth they experience in their church, in contrast with 46% in conventional churches.

The survey, which interviewed a total of 2008 adults over August and October 2006, also found that just 42% of regular house church attenders rely exclusively upon a house church as their primary “church” experience. 

The Barna Update, 8 January 2007.