New report says 'resource church' models demonstrably flawed as Cornwall's Bishop steams on
A report published last month by the Diocese of Oxford reveals that Cornwall's Deanery On The Way plans based on a 'resource church model' are based on incorrect assumptions - and therefore heading 180 degrees in the wrong direction. The Bishop of Truro, however, the Rt Rev Philip Mounstephen, continues to refuse to meet congregations anxious and concerned about the course he is steering. The most shocking example of a planned 'mega benefice' is in Kerrier - where the On The Way plan envisages 23 churches overseen by one rural dean (recently appointed, who will live in Helston). This plan - which threatens to change the nature of church life in the area forever - was only narrowly passed in a secret ballot on 23rd September 2022 - with 14 for the plan, 11 against and three abstentions.
The following three extracts of the recent report – commissioned to examine post Covid recovery - show that the resource church model is deeply flawed. If numbers are low, it is because there are not enough services – and not enough priests in parishes.
“We have concluded that numbers are lower than in 2019 not because the demand for church is in inevitable decline but because of difficulties with the supply of both onsite and online church services,” the report says. “Churches that stayed online and have not reduced their service numbers have fully regained 2019 attendance levels. It is only where churches have retrenched that their attendance is reduced.’
It also says that priests in parishes – now known as ‘Focal Ministers’ - bring people into the church.
‘The evidence collected so far suggests that most churches grow numerically when a Focal Minister takes over from a multi-church incumbency model. These are usually local people, many of whom may already be Readers or ordained but others are simply suitable. […] Each [Focal Minister] focuses on just one church and is the focal point of that community, leading it from the inside.’
It adds that attendance recovery is much stronger in churches with the same or more services than in 2019: in other words, congregations want services. If there are services, people will attend.
“The 58% of churches with fewer services had regained only 71% of their 2019 attendance; the 25% of churches with the same number of services regained 81%, and the 17% with more services regained exactly 100%. ‘
Other key points:
Physical attendance at the churches surveyed has recovered to 78% of pre pandemic levels.
- If online services provided by the same churches are added in, the percentage rises to 89%.
- Recovery in attendance in 2022 at ‘Fresh Expressions’ services was comparatively weak, reaching 67% of 2019’s level compared with 79% for traditional church.
- Attendance at services organised through schools was 103% of pre pandemic levels.
- The church, like many other organisations, benefits where it offers a hybrid virtual and in person model.
- Average weekly attendance in 2022 at churches that had cut at least one Sunday out was about 60% of 2019. The largest cuts in Sunday numbers (e.g., weekly to monthly) had the largest falls in average attendance.
- Small congregations, where everybody knows everybody else in a single community, have been more resilient to the pandemic shock than the large churches with eclectic congregations.
- Average attendance at the 30% of churches sampled with
congregations of under 25 people a week in 2019 fully recovered by 2022
despite some of them reducing the number of Sundays on which services are
offered
.[1] Post-Covid-19 Trends, Patterns and Possibilities”
The report authors – Dr Bev Botting (Data Analyst, Diocese of Oxford, and freelance statistician), Dr Ken Eames (Senior Statistical Researcher, Church of England), and the Venerable Bob Jackson (Church Growth consultant)
Comments