EvangelismUK

Church Attendance article in The Times

The Times has ran a double page feature from Ruth Gledhill on declining church attendance, and compares it to the rising number of Muslims and Hindus attending worship. Benita Hewitt is the new director of Christian Research Association, whose Religious Trends have been quoted, describes the article as very misleading. Church attendance once a week is compared to mosque attendance once a year, and no allowance has been made for once a month, once a year, midweek and FX church attendance. Lynda Barley makes similar comment in her response:

http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr4408.html

'How people become Christians'

Dave Bennet is the National Director of Bridge Builders, the relatively new name for the Pocket Testament League which specialises in equipping Christians to distribute copies of the Gospel of John. For his MA dissertation he looked at how people become Christians and analysed the replies from 383 adults and interestingly, in view of what Bridge Builders aim to do, found that relationships and friendships are the key. This clearly afects the way in which he trains people for the distribution of Gospels. I thought it was interesting to see on:

http://www.bridge-builders.net/current/howadults.php#part2

'Believers are happier than athiests'

Thanks to David Coleman at Church Army for spotting the articles about the recent research presented at the Royal Economic Societies annual conference under the above title. It was in the Daily Mail as well as the Telegraph. If we can find reference to the whole report we'll post web link but for now see:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/18/nbelief118.xml

Gone for Good?

Leslie Francis and Philip Richter are an authority. As academic researchers their work is always significant. This book analyses 7000 telephone interviews and 900 questionnaires with people who have left church, and some who have returned to see what is going on. We are very keen to invite people through the front door: this book explores why people leave through the back door and will be standard reading for evangelists and pastors alike. From Epworth Press:

http://www.scm-canterburypress.co.uk/bookdetails.asp?ISBN=9780716206330

Research re belief in God

Anthropologists, neurologists, philosophers, psychologists, theologians and other specialists are to conduct a £2 million three-year study into the nature and formation of religious belief.

The work will be funded by the John Templeton Foundation and carried out at the highly-regarded Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion at the University of Oxford.

Among other issues, it will explore the question about whether receptivity towards a transcendent influence on life is an inherent part of humankind's constitution.

The news was posted on:

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/6800

ONS Focus on Religion

The latest newsletter from Benita Hewitt of Christian Research details her 'Web of the Month'. It is the Focus on Religion from The Office for National Statistics. It considers the trends and headline news of all the faith groups from material based on the 2001 Census, and looks seperately at Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is well worth a look around:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/focuson/religion/

Edinburgh 2010 Mission research re: motivation

Paul Bayes has posted a request on Start the Week from John Clark who is beginning to collate research information about what motivates churches and agencies for mission and evangelism. John wants to do the research in preparation for the Edinburgh 2010 conference. Can you help? See 04.02.08 post of:

http://starttheweek.typepad.com/stw/2008/02/edinburgh-2010.html

Latest 2006 CofE statistics

Paul Bayes has a summary of the latest statistics from the Church of England on the latest edition of Start the Week dated 04.02.08. Start the Week is distributed for the Anglican mission network and for others who would like to see it at:

http://starttheweek.typepad.com/stw/2008/02/latest-church-o.html

Mystery worshippers speak well of church

In preparation for the forthcoming Christian Resources Exhibiition in Telford, the Christian Research Association were asked to send in the equevalent of 'mystery shoppers' to local church services. They were not Christians and were asked to visit a wide range of different church styles. They came back very positive about what they found and even started talking about the sermons they had not been invited to comment on. The story was covered locally at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7151585.stm

Encounters on the Edge new bulletin

George Lings and Steve Hollinghurst front a lot more work done by The Sheffield Centre, the reseach centre for the Church Army in guess where? Sheffield. Encounters on the Edge is an A5 booklet publication which has analysed a particular Fresh Expression of church in some depth. The associated website is the place to find a host of resources, which now includes a new 'Research Bulletin' which will be produced twice a year.

www.encountersontheedge.org.uk