New research commissioned by the Kirk has revealed that Britain’s Christian community is considerably larger than expected.
According to a new book, which was described by the Moderator of the Church of Scotland as thought-provoking, the number of people who hold the Christian faith as central to their lives this Easter is much greater than church attendance figures suggest.
The new study investigating why people stop attending church has discovered two-thirds of church-leavers maintain a strong personal faith.
Falling church attendance has been described as "a haemorrhage akin to a burst artery" and this research is the first to make a thorough exploration of the world behind the statistics. Its findings challenge assumptions that declining numbers of people sitting in pews on Sunday mornings are synonymous with a decline in Christian faith and the Christian community.
It is claimed Church attendance is not an accurate indicator of Christian belief, that two-thirds of people who stop going to Church maintain their faith and, rather than shrinking, research uncovers a new phenomenon of "churchless faith".
Researcher Dr Steve Aisthorpe's findings are presented in a new book, The Invisible Church.
He said: "I discovered the number of people who attend church services are the tip of the iceberg of the total Christian community.
"I conducted extensive and rigorous research in Scotland and made a careful study of related research from other parts of the UK and across the Western world.
"I found that changes in wider society and in the practices of Christian people mean attendance at Sunday morning worship can no longer be seen as a reliable indicator of the health and scale of Christian faith.
"There is decline in Christian faith in Britain, but it is considerably smaller than previously assumed.”
The research commissioned by the Church of Scotland suggests Christianity in Great Britain is in transition, rather than decline.
This is an issue for wider society because faith-based organisations in the third sector are increasingly involved in public service provision and an accurate picture of faith-based communities is vital.
It was also said to be a vital issue for churches who want to maintain the relevance of their worship services to their members and the wider community.
Rt Rev Dr Angus Morrison, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, said The Invisible Church is both hopeful and challenging.
He said: “This is a major contribution to establishing the place of the church in contemporary society.
"As a Church we have to take heed of these findings, something we are already doing by investing money and resources in our pioneer ministry programme, which is bringing our Church into the wider community.”
Bishop David Walker, Bishop of Manchester has also welcomed the research, saying: “When a serious researcher writes about Churchless Christians instead of just writing them off, leaders need to be giving him their full attention”.
Professor Leslie Francis of the University of Warwick, who carried out the most extensive research into church-leaving in England and Wales has commented: “Dr Steve Aisthorpe offers an original, insightful and authoritative voice on making visible and audible the invisible church of churchless Christians.
"His insights need to be taken seriously to understand God’s presence and activity in today’s world.”
The Invisible Church is published by Saint Andrew Press on April 30.
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