{"id":15649,"date":"2011-09-12T19:38:54","date_gmt":"2011-09-12T18:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adrianwarnock.com\/?p=15649"},"modified":"2020-06-13T06:54:30","modified_gmt":"2020-06-13T05:54:30","slug":"the-uk-a-nation-where-the-church-is-currently-in-decline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/09\/the-uk-a-nation-where-the-church-is-currently-in-decline\/","title":{"rendered":"The UK &#8211; a nation where the church is currently in decline"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>In\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.matthiasmedia.com\/briefing\/2011\/08\/does-the-future-have-a-church\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Does the future have a church? from The Briefing<\/a>\u00a0we read some pretty shocking statistics about my nation that I thought were worth summarizing here:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In 2010, 3.6 million attended church on an average Sunday (6% of the population).<\/li>\n<li>In the previous 10 years this represented a decline of 800,000 fewer attendees (-18%).<\/li>\n<li>39% of churches have no-one attending under 11 years of age<\/li>\n<li>49% of churches have no-one attending between the ages of 11 and 14<\/li>\n<li>59% of churches have no-one attending between the ages of 15 and 19.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The figures about youth are especially concerning. \u00a0Of course all such statistics come with the usual health warning, while the Briefing is a reputable magazine, I have not been able to check their sources. \u00a0If anyone has a link to other similar stats, it would be very helpful to hear about that. \u00a0The general picture of a shrinking church with reduced influence in society is definitely accurate, however. It is worth bearing in mind that Seattle is often described as the most unchurched city in America, but I have seen figures that claim the population is 4% evangelical there (much higher proportions would therefore presumably be churchgoers).<\/p>\n<p>I do not believe the church is finished in the UK just yet, however. The article goes on to point out that there are segments of the UK church that are growing. \u00a0Significantly the \u201cliberal church\u201d is declining the most rapidly. \u00a0This probably explains why when evangelical leaders begin to promote ideas which would have previously been called liberal, they seem reluctant to embrace that label. \u00a0The liberal church is in real danger of being eradicated here in the UK.<\/p>\n<p>What is very interesting is that the segments of the church that are growing all have one thing in common: they are passionate in their beliefs. \u00a0I will leave you to follow the link to find out more. \u00a0I do, however, struggle a lot with the definitions used in this article \u2013 \u00a0is there really such a divide between separatist and non-separatist conservatives? \u00a0In this day and age, there is also surely a massive overlap between conservatives and charismatics. \u00a0Also, the distinction between pentecostals and charismatics has always been hard to maintain with much cross-over.<\/p>\n<div>For some of you reading this, this article may even constitute something of a Macedonian call. \u00a0Come over and help us! \u00a0For us who are already here, there is a renewed challenge to faithfully follow Jesus and plant more churches.<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.matthiasmedia.com\/briefing\/2011\/08\/does-the-future-have-a-church\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/298\/2011\/09\/ukstats2.gif\" alt=\"\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In\u00a0Does the future have a church? from The Briefing\u00a0we read some pretty shocking statistics about my nation that I thought were worth summarizing here: In 2010, 3.6 million attended church on an average Sunday (6% of the population). In the previous 10 years this represented a decline of 800,000 fewer attendees (-18%). 39% of churches [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[475],"class_list":["post-15649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","tag-church-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The UK - a nation where the church is currently in decline<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In\u00a0Does the future have a church? from The Briefing\u00a0we read some pretty shocking statistics about my nation that I thought were worth summarizing here: In\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/09\/the-uk-a-nation-where-the-church-is-currently-in-decline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The UK - a nation where the church is currently in decline\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In\u00a0Does the future have a church? from The Briefing\u00a0we read some pretty shocking statistics about my nation that I thought were worth summarizing here: In\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/09\/the-uk-a-nation-where-the-church-is-currently-in-decline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Adrian Warnock\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-12T18:38:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-06-13T05:54:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/files\/2011\/09\/ukstats2.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adrian Warnock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@adrianwarnock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adrian Warnock\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/09\/the-uk-a-nation-where-the-church-is-currently-in-decline\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2011\/09\/the-uk-a-nation-where-the-church-is-currently-in-decline\/\",\"name\":\"The UK - a nation where the church is currently in decline\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-09-12T18:38:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-06-13T05:54:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/4dc7481b9baa3553d9a7698715084eaa\"},\"description\":\"In\u00a0Does the future have a church? 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Just not all at once. Healing takes time. Compassion and patience sustain us over a lifetime of change. These are the themes I explore in my books and in the articles I have written for Patheos since 2003. My writing draws on my scientific training as a doctor and psychiatrist, my work in the UK's National Health Service and the pharmaceutical industry, alongside more than twenty-five years as a member of a growing church where I served on the leadership team offering pastoral care. My perspective has also been shaped by chronic illness since 2017, when I developed life-threatening pneumonia that caused lasting damage to my body, triggered several further conditions, and uncovered a diagnosis of blood cancer. This was successfully treated, although doctors expect it to return in the future. Out of these experiences I founded Blood Cancer Uncensored, an online patient-led support community. 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My qualifications and training reflect this integrated background: \u2192 British MB BS medical degree (equivalent to an MD in the USA) \u2192 Postgraduate qualifications in Psychiatry (MRCPsych) and Pharmaceutical Medicine (MFFM, DipPharmMed) \u2192 Theological training courses run by Newfrontiers","sameAs":["http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/adrianwarnock"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/author\/awarnock\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15649\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}