Can the Methodist Church pull out of its nose dive?
This week's Methodist Conference was faced with figures showing a staggering decline in the numerical strength of the denomination. One of the Church's senior officials, connexional secretary Doug Swanney, described them to the Conference as 'heartbreaking' – not an expression that found its way into the official press release, which insisted that 'membership figures don't tell the whole story'.
But the truth is bad enough. Methodist membership now stands at 188,000, having declined by an average of 3.5 percent a year for the last 10 years. Actual attendance is slightly higher at around 202,000, but that's fallen by about the same amount. Worse, teenage attendance is less than half what it was in 2006 and pre-school attendance is down by three-quarters – an indication of the lack of young families. Of more than 4,500 churches, half – 2,203 – have fewer than one in 20 of the Sunday congregation aged...