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Footfall

Last month we found that when Christmas Eve falls on a Saturday or Sunday, there is a considerable increase in attendance at church services. We found that attendance peaked in 2006 at 119,000, when Christmas Eve was on a Sunday, and that, with all-age attendance on a Sunday averaging 37,000, three times as many people attend at Christmas as on a normal Sunday.

Footfall is a term that we are coming across more often as the media reports on our consumer society and looks to see if there is any evidence of the impact of the credit crunch. Well, if the footfall in our churches at Christmas is three times what it is on an ordinary Sunday, what is it like at other times during the year?

The Church of England commissioned a survey by Opinion Research Business (ORB) in September 2007 and published the results in November last year. There was a huge amount of data, some of which helps us to answer our questions.

One survey question was: “Thinking about the last year, have you attended a church / place of worship on any of these occasions?” The tables below show the results.

We should remember that when a survey of this sort is carried out, as well as including people who regard themselves as Christians (about 70%), the respondents will also include people of other faiths and of no faith. The tables therefore include the results for the whole population and then only for those who regard themselves as Christian. We should also remember that the results are for attendance at churches or worship centres of all denominations and faiths, not just the Anglican churches, and that these are for attendance at least once in the year. So, although 36% of the people who regard themselves as Christians have attended an ordinary Sunday service during the year, many fewer will worship regularly.

Canon Don Cardy
31st March 2009

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