Geoffrey Arrand, our resident archdeacon says…
Count me in?
The BCC commissioned a poll a few weeks ago and the results were very interesting. Of those polled, 67% claimed to be Christian. One in five said they went to church once a month and 72% of those polled thought society should be based on Christian values. 1.7 million people go to church month by month.
Those figures are worth contrasting with the membership of the British Secular Society which has 3,000 members, roughly the same number as those who go to church on the Isle of Man! The British Humanist Society has 5,000 members. That’s a total of 8,000 without guessing how many people are actually members of both. It is less than the total number of those who went to the 3 major events, which the Diocese organised at Portman Road last June.
It’s very easy to go along with the idea that the Church is in some kind of terminal decline, but I think the issue is far more complex than that. It is beyond dispute that numbers of people going to church regularly have decreased over the past few decades. It is equally true that numbers of people offering for Ordination have decreased through the last few decades. There is no point in pretending otherwise. What is of more interest to me is why it is that with decline in church membership (and I am not just talking about the Church of England) the total percentage of those who claim to be Christian and who believe that Christian values should be the basis of our society is still so very high. Clearly, people want something that they are not finding in church. That, I think, is the issue with which we have to grapple. On the other hand, all those who would like to see society based on Christian values, and I guess that that would include the majority of people who live in these three villages, need to ask themselves how that is going to be done unless there is a strong and vibrant Church to provide the teaching and leadership.
Hundreds of thousands of people will flock to church this Christmas. The numbers of those attending worship in the three churches in this benefice will be far higher than on any other Sunday in the year. I ask myself why? Is it just nostalgia, the ghost of Christmas past and all that, or is there a deep yearning for something that people desperately need.
If you are one of those who claim to be Christian and who think that society should be based on Christian values, then come and join us in the search for truth and meaning in life, and not just at Christmas but throughout the year.
Geoffrey Arrand