Membership of worshipping communities across the Diocese of Liverpool has grown to greater than pre-pandemic levels figures released by the national church have revealed. The figures showed attendance has grown from 24,700 in 2019 to 25,500 in 2023. The figures, taken from the national data collection show that Liverpool is one of the few dioceses in the country to achieve this. We are the only diocese in the northwest to show this turnaround and it shows the efforts that parishes and deaneries have put into introducing people to Jesus.
You can see the attendance figures on the CofE website here .
Bishop John has responded to this news saying “I thank God for all the work being carried out across our diocese with so many gifted, talented, committed, faithful servants bringing people to Jesus through efforts week in and week out. So, I want to thank each and everyone of you for creating stronger worshipping communities in the place God has called you to be”.
The Diocese recognises that there is still plenty of work to and like so many aspects of church life this growth is small and fragile. However, it gives everyone much to be encouraged about showing that our work together, guided and equipped by the Holy Spirit, can bring about positive change.
We also believe that this starts to give evidence that the plans we put in place to invest in parish ministry through Church Wigan and Fit for Mission are bearing fruit. So, we can also reveal some encouraging figures for growth in Wigan
We believe that Wigan is currently showing the greatest and deepest growth in attendance across the diocese at the moment. The attendance data reveals that over 1700 people regularly attend the inherited church activities of Church Wigan with a further 1400 regularly attending the 48 new worshipping communities and mission initiatives. Also, we calculate that at least 2700 people as fringe members are connecting with new initiatives that have only been possible through the new spirit of working together. These include the pantry network, CAP debt centre and creative schools work. Wigan is clearly showing that through building a fringe we have people who we can engage with and deepen the discipleship of.
You can read a fuller evaluation of Church Wigan here. The collaborative nature of Church Wigan with its supportive accountability for clergy and laity has shown that this model, which we have learnt from and developed into Fit for Mission, supported by strong targeted investment into the ministry of parishes can result in the growth we are all praying for. Our figures for the first Cohort of Fit for Mission – St Helens and Christ our Hope Liverpool – is showing that they have achieved 15% growth compared to 4% growth across the rest of the diocese.
As we continue our conversations over the investment into our diocese that can come from the Strategy Mission and Ministry Investment Board (SMMIB) we can see growth in many places which is encouraging however we still believe that the larger single parish is the main way we will be able to grow at pace and scale.
Bishop John added “we have a challenging few years ahead as we seek to implement our ambitious plans with financial support from the Church of England and missional priority across our diocese. Today we can reflect with gratitude that the faithful work of our clergy and lay leaders have produced the reward we are looking for. We can see that, through God’s grace and in the strength of the Spirit we can introduce more people to Jesus and start to work to deepen disciples.
“we enter the season of Christmas where we celebrate the Good News of Jesus buoyed by the fact that we can see our mission, which is God’s mission, starting to bear fruit and bring true growth. I thank God for that and for all of you who have enabled these shoots of growth to appear”.
