Churches in England have lost about 50,000 women every year from their congregations since 1989, according to a Derby-based sociologist.
Dr Kristin Aune, from the University of Derby, said many young women were put off by the traditional values.
She said television programmes promoting female empowerment also discouraged women from going to church.
What “female empowerment’ are they missing by going to church? Especially now that they can be bishops? Or is it that they don’t like not being more powerful than God? This just sounds like another plea for the church to become the culture. Thanks, we’ve been trying that. It’s not working well.
This all sounds rather alarming, but the information provided is so vague and devoid of context that it is practically useless. Is the rate of decline steady, or is it decreasing or increasing? What percentage of women and men are leaving the C of E each year (every report I’ve heard comparing the loss of men and women indicates that it is the men who are leaving, resulting in a church with a higher and higher percentage of women each year). And if people [i]are[/i] leaving the C of E, are they quitting church altogether or are they going elsewhere? And are these reason this sociologists gives for women leaving the church based on hunches, speculation, or some survey that has been conducted?
Traditional values? Like what? How could anyone thing the C of E is some bluenosed organization?
Wait… I thought [b]men[/b] were leaving the church because it was being feminized and liberal. Now I hear that [b]women[/b] are leaving the church because it’s not feminized and liberal enough.
Oh bother.
The Church of England: Not winning for trying since 1549.
An article by the same left leaning BBC who made ‘vicar of Dibley’ in order to help change people’s attitudes. The same BBC whose major correspondent is (I am led to believe) rather close to a female priest at present. The same BBC who managed to report from Synod that tradionalists had been fairly dealt with.
This article is deeply flawed. Besides which one should never come to church for ’empowerment’ but to learn how to serve and submit.
Like Mary- the greatest woman ever whom I adore and love.
From what I have observed here, the fastest growing churches are the ones with the more traditional values. Two of the largest Churches in the area are Southern Baptist, with very strong traditional values. They do NOT ordain women, they do NOT bless gay unions, they do NOT ordain GAYS etc. All female staff are REQUIRED to wear skirts or dresses. And they are GROWING. If you look at the TEC parishes here, they are shrinking like everywhere else. I know how the rules are at the two Baptist Churches, my wife atends one and teaches at the school at the other. Boy do we get some looks occaisionally, me in clericals and stop by her work to talk with her.
In all seriousness, it seems that people want and need the Truth, and if they do not hear that, they will leave. If salvation is not preached from the Bible, they will leave. What does that say about C of E?
Women make up 60% of church membership (approximately). Church membership has dropped 83,000 per year. Thus, female membership has dropped by 60% of 83,000 = 50,000 per year. This is simply embarrassing.
The question is whether women are leaving in a statistically significant higher percentage than all congregants. Then, one needs to assess the political leanings of those who have left.
As Drummie points out – most likely the majority of women that are leaving are going to the conservative evangelical churches of England that are prospering.
Randy Travis had a great song called [i]Forever And Ever Amen[/i] with these lyrics in it…
“As long as old men sit & talk about the weather
As long as old women sit & talk about old men”
If there aren’t any [real] men there, the women will leave. Along with Paula Cole, they want to know “[i]Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?[/i]
According to a Barna survey, when I child accepts Christ, 3.5% of the time the rest of the family will follow. When a mother accepts Christ, 17% of the time the rest of the family will. Here is the biggy…, when a dad leads the way in commitment to Christ, 93% of the time the families follow! [Note: Barna usually does a large enough sample that the “maximum margin of sampling error associated with the aggregate sample is ±3.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.”]
Way back in the book of Genesis, chapter 3 verse 16 it talks about this sort of thing. Not that anyone really pays attention to that old book anymore…
Interesting how none of the commenters seek to deal with the probme. Perhaps they have suggestions for how to encourage women to go to church?
#9 +John –
Save your breath. This has already scrolled off page 1 anyway. I was frankly surprised by the stat that showed more teenage boys in Church (I did not notice the article specifying CofE) than teenage girls. Are we talking AC Acolytes? At any rate, the fastest growing religious affiliation in the UK, the US and Canada is None. *This is our collective failure.
Somehow, I don’t think being either self-congratulatingly “progressive” or pigheadedly retrograde is any kind of an answer. The overwhelming answer has been, as long as I have lived, “a plague on both your houses.”
Nobody will give up being right long enough to be Christ.
Miserere nobis.