(Photo: Church of England/Jim Cox)
The Church of England has said that it is experiencing a surge in interest and that it has registered a record number of services this Christmas.
Earlier this year research from the Bible Society suggested that a “quiet revival” is taking place in Britain, with increasing numbers of people, particularly among the young, starting to attend church regularly.
The research was backed up by anecdotal evidence up and down the country that there was a significant rise in attendance at Easter services and events this year.
A further poll by Savanta, conducted on behalf of Tearfund found that this Christmas 45 per cent of adults in Britain are planning on attending a church event or service this Christmas, up 40 per cent from last year.
The Church of England is seeking to capitalise on this renewed interest with its Joy of Christmas campaign, which is aimed at engaging people with videos, reflections and devotional content over the festive season.
The Church has also released its first-ever Christmas picture book called, The Grumpy Owl and Joy of Christmas. An animated version of the book is also available on YouTube.
The Church of England believes its efforts may have already reached millions of people. Its church finding website achurchnearyou.com had 891,000 views on Sunday, up from 743,000 a week earlier.
Analysing data from its church finding website, 6,870 services have been tagged ‘Advent’ – already ahead of last year’s final 6,658 – while 23,147 services are tagged ‘Christmas’. The Church of England expects the final total of Christmas services this year to “comfortably surpass” last year’s total of 23,525.
In other encouraging signs, a special video called “Christmas isn’t cancelled” has already had over two million views online, with another 2.4 million impressions coming from related posts.
The Church of England is not alone in its outreach activities this Christmas. Across the United Kingdom around 2,000 churches from over 60 denominations have joined forces for the Shine Your Light campaign which is hoping to reach two million people with the gospel via services, and evangelistic events in shopping centres, markets and even prisons.
Pastor Jonathan Oloyede, Shine Your Light founder, said, “This Christmas, in a season of political and cultural tension, the Church is stepping out – into high streets, shopping centres, marketplaces and even sports grounds – to lift the name of Jesus.”
