Displaying items by tag: doing church differently

A survey released by evangelical organisations has found that while around half of the country’s population identify as Christian, only 6% are 'practising' and active enough in their faith to attend church at least once a month. This is one reason why over 2,000 churches have closed during the last decade. Grants can help struggling churches make repairs, but not all are able to remain open. Meanwhile, churches themselves are meeting in new spaces according to community needs. 'I’ve never known such innovation in the UK, with church planting in different places in different communities,' says Gavin Calver, CEO of the Evangelical Alliance. 'People are planting churches in coffee shops or in homes, and a lot of this church planting wouldn’t be measured. I’m excited about a fresh move of God in the UK, and the measure for that will not be how many church buildings we have: it will be how many active disciples we have, and I’m not sure those two things give you the same answer.' This is also borne out by the fact that the fastest-growing churches in the UK are immigrant and black-majority churches, which typically meet in school halls or cinemas, focused on people and community rather than on a building.