Church of England attendance rises for fourth straight year

[Church of England] Attendance at Church of England churches grew for the fourth year in a row last year, preliminary figures show.

The overall number of regular worshippers across the Church of England’s congregations grew to 1.02 million in 2024, a rise of 1.2%, according to an early snapshot of the annual Statistics for Mission findings.

It was the second year in a row in which the Church of England’s “worshipping community” – the combined number of regular members of local congregations – has stood above a million since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The numbers in the pews on a typical Sunday was up by a further 1.5% to 582,000 in 2024, extending rises over recent years.

And overall in-person attendance across the week edged upwards by 1.2% in a year and stood at just over 701,000 last year, according to the early figures.

The increase was driven by a recovery in attendance by adults over 16, among whom average Sunday attendance was up by 1.8% and weekly attendance rose by 1.5%.

While the overall figures show that in-person attendance has not fully reached pre-pandemic levels, the figures suggest it is moving closer to the pre-pandemic trend.

The preliminary snapshot of Statistics for Mission returns follows separate figures showing a sharp increase in traffic on the Church of England’s church-finder website AChurchNearYou.com.

The number of page visits jumped by 55% last year to almost 200 million, as people searched for their local congregation.

Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, said, “The Church of England exists to share the good news of Jesus Christ and to love and serve our neighbors 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.”

He added, “Although this is just a snapshot and we don’t know the ages of those who have started attending church in the past year, other evidence suggests that many of these are young adults. This is also my experience of visiting churches Sunday by Sunday and baptizing and confirming new Christians. That is a testament to the faith and hope of all those in our churches who share the gospel with their communities every day. And my prayer is that, in these uncertain times, more people will come to know the message of love and grace of Jesus Christ.”

Debbie Clinton, the Church of England’s director for vision and strategy, said, “Our statistics are much more than numbers; each represents an individual who is part of a local church, serving their community across the country. In 2024 we have heard and seen exciting stories of growth in parishes in both urban and rural contexts, in our estates and in post-industrial and coastal towns.”

She added, “Nationally we aim to ensure that each young person has a flourishing children, youth and families’ ministry within reach of them, and we are seeing growth in the number of churches with more than 25 young people attending.”