With this issue of EN, we stand on the brink of the third Christian millennium. To state the obvious, the world is changing and the church will need to change and rise to new challenges as well.
According to Religious Trends No. 2, a new survey published by Christian Research Association (CRA), church attendance in Britain is decreasing and is likely to decrease faster in the next few years. On an average Sunday, 11% of the adult British population were in church in 1980, but now it has dropped to 8%.
Reasons given for this include, on any Sunday, 40% of those who sometimes attend decide not to. 750 leave each week because, they say, they no longer find church meaningful. Another 750 leave each week because they don't like the minister or the people. On top of this, 1,600 churchgoers die each week. On the plus side, it is also true that 1,500 new people come to church every week.
