Is the rural Church different? A comparison of historical membership statistics between an urban and a rural diocese in the Church of England

Abstract

The history of statistics gathering by the Church of England is presented, and the methods used for data collection are described. Methods varied from triennial full collections, to biennial full collections, full annual collections and annual sampling. The integrity and usefulness of the data in making urban/rural church comparisons are examined and inherent difficulties in making such comparisons are highlighted. Key indices of church membership are discussed; membership statistics of a rural and an urban diocese are examined in the light of the available statistics on full-time parochial clergy, populations, and numbers of live births. The data examined support the thesis that the rural church is different with regard to membership statistics. In the year 2000 the rural church remained stronger in this respect than the urban church. However, by the year 2000 the rural church demonstrated signs of considerable decline with regard to membership.