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- Migrants fill empty pews as Britons loose faith
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Migrants fill empty pews as Britons lose faith
“The rate of decline in church attendance has been slowed by an unexpected factor – the influx of Christians from Africa and Europe.
One of the biggest surveys among Britain’s 37,000 churches, published today, finds that the growth of immigrant-led churches has partly offset dwindling congregations elsewhere.
But the survey also shows that congregations are getting older as young people continue to abandon the pews, which could have a devastating impact in a decade.
The 2005 English Church Census, carried out by the independent Christian Research organization, finds that, between 1998 and 2005 half a million people stopped going to a Christian church on Sunday. The figure is lower than expected because a million left in the previous nine years.
The survey finds that black-led Pentecostal churches in immigrant communities gained about 100,000 worshippers since 1998. Although churches of all denominations and sizes have stemmed their losses, most growth has occurred in the larger charismatic and evangelical churches. The research shows that black people now make up 10 percent of all Sunday church-goers in England, while other non-white ethnic groups add a further seven per cent. In inner London, fewer than half the worshippers are white, with black Christians accounting for 44 per cent of church-goers.
Overall the church is losing far more than they are gaining. While 1,000 new people are joining a church each week, 2,500 are leaving. Currently, on an average Sunday only 6 per cent of the population goes to church.”
(The Daily Telegraph, Monday, September 18, 2006)