Church closure and membership statistics: trends in four rural dioceses

Abstract

The closure of church buildings is a controversial issue. Between 1970 and 2000 the Church of England saw a loss of 1,414 churches, that is a reduction of 8%. This study presents the arguments for and against the closure of church buildings, and maps the way in which four rural dioceses of the Church of England have experienced church closures over the last thirty years. The data demonstrate that church closure varies from one rural diocese to another, and this seems to be more than merely random chance. The data also suggest that church closure may impact negatively on the performance of the rural church, as assessed by selected indicators of core membership and of outreach at the times of major Christian festivals. While a range of theological, economic, pastoral, social and strategic issues need to be given their due weight when formulating decisions on church closures, it is argued that it may be unwise to discount entirely the value of empirical evidence in generating a fully-informed strategy.

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