There are big changes going on with churches across the country and in Wokingham.

Everyone knows that in Britain today the total number of people attending churches on Sunday is less than it was even 10 years ago.

But that is not the whole story. There are some numbers about church activity that are large and increasing.

Community action by churches keeps on growing. More than 10 million people in England say they have accessed community-based services (not church services) provided by the church.

It is reckoned that churches are involved in around 35,000 community projects run by churches in England.

And 93% of Church of England churches are involved in some way in the provision of food banks, either through volunteers from their membership or through giving supplies and money.

A recent report said church buildings contribute to the social and mental well-being of the country equivalent to over £10 billion worth in economic terms.

It is a paradox. Church attendance on Sundays is decreasing but community activity by churches is growing. Is this a good thing?  Well, I guess I’d rather see both of these numbers going up.

But if it has to be one or the other, I prefer it is this way round than the other. What it tells me is that how to be a church is changing.

I think God’s Spirit must be working here somehow. Churches are different now than they used to be, but God is still very much alive and working in people.

The Revd Canon David Hodgson, Rector of All Saints Wokingham writing on behalf of Churches Together in Wokingham

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