Despite polling heralded as revealing a “quiet revival”, the Church of England is — by almost every measure and in almost every diocese — smaller than it was in 2018, this year’s Statistics for Mission show.

The data, published on Tuesday, record that in 2024 attendance rose for the fourth year, but that recovery since the Covid-19 pandemic has slowed. Increases in attendance since 2023 were smaller than in previous years. In 2019, a “middle-sized” church had an all-age average weekly attendance (AWA) of 34.5; in 2024, the equivalent figure was 26. The median church has just one child in attendance, compared with three in 2019.

Adult AWA (based on in-person attendance in October) was 18 per cent lower than in 2019, and 1.8 per cent higher than in 2023. This was five per cent below the projected pre-pandemic trend.

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I had a look at the 2024 Stats for Mission released today and contrast with Quiet Revival polling. Stark stat: the median church has just one child in attendance, compared with three in 2019.https://t.co/tupypmeQaC

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) October 28, 2025

When I decided to live without artificial intelligence for 48 hours, I figured it would affect some parts of my routine. I knew I wouldn’t be able to watch Netflix-recommended documentaries or read marketing emails written by bots, for instance. That I could deal with.

What I didn’t expect was that my attempt to avoid all interactions with A.I. and machine learning would affect nearly every part of my life — what I ate, what I wore, how I got around.

I undertook this experiment with the goal of seeing firsthand just how prevalent A.I. is in our everyday lives. Most people are aware that it peppers our social media feeds with targeted ads and powers the chatbots on airline reservation sites. I wanted to identify all the A.I. hiding in plain sight, and to find out what life would be like without it. I would spend two days as the No A.I. Guy.

“Good luck with that!” said Jeff Wilser, the host of the podcast “AI-Curious.” “I used to say that if you want to avoid A.I., you should go be a goat herder in the mountains. Now I can’t even say that, because goat herders probably use it, too, wittingly or not. For starters, they check the weather, and nowadays almost every weather prediction is made with A.I.

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48 Hours Without A.I. https://t.co/cgBiUKr75a via @NYTimes

— bill rice (@ricebilldc) October 28, 2025

The historian and broadcaster Alice Loxton called for an “urgent, national, seismic response” to the “cultural vandalism” of the “quiet decay of the parish church”. Stephen Cottrell, the Anglican Archbishop of York, said, “To lose them, to hamper our ability to renew and restore them, to diminish them, will cause irreparable damage not just to brick and stone, but to hearts and minds.”

The conference launched the results of the National Churches Survey, which found that 38 per cent of church roofs are in urgent need of repair, 22 per cent of parishes believe that their building has deteriorated in the last five years, and 27 per cent are not certain that their church will remain open as places of worship by 2030.

One in 20 churches said they will definitely or probably not be used as a place of worship in five years’ time, which amounts to around 2000 churches across the UK. Some 3500 churches have already closed in the past ten years. In Scotland, the situation is particularly extreme, with around one third of all churches either closing or expected to close in the next few years.

Sophie Andreae, vice chair of the patrimony committee of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, emphasised that Catholic churches are more likely than those of many other denominations to be located in deprived urban areas and serve diverse immigrant communities.

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The UK’s parish churches are facing insurmountable repair bills and are on the brink of a “cliff edge of closure”, a conference at the Victoria and Albert Museum was told. https://t.co/AOHnsms06K pic.twitter.com/ixrhXW0iiX

— The Tablet (@The_Tablet) October 27, 2025

Many church communities across the country fear for their future, but some in Berkshire are innovating to keep themselves vibrant.

“We recently had a talk about otters, which was incredible. We had a live band karaoke evening,” said the Reverend Mike Griffiths, the rector of the West Downham Benefice, which has six parishes.

“In one of the villages there’s a duck derby, where you buy a duck and they get released and the winning duck wins the prize.”

A survey by the National Churches Trust (NCT), which helps churches stay open, found 2,000 feared they would either be “definitely” or “probably” not used as places of worship by 2030.

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How churches are surviving challenging times https://t.co/tAcZRemF83 #bbcberkshire

— BBC Berkshire (@BBCBerkshire) October 27, 2025

O God, we thank thee for the glorious company of the apostles, and especially on this day for Simon and Jude; and we pray thee that, as they were faithful and zealous in their mission, so we may with ardent devotion make known the love and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

The Vigil of St. Simon and St. Jude.

"But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."
(St. Jude 1:20-21) pic.twitter.com/qtUxOOULln

— Ninefold Kyrie (@Gda1238) October 27, 2025

O God, renew our spirits by thy Holy Spirit, and draw our hearts this morning unto thyself, that our work may not be a burden, but a delight; and give us such a mighty love to thee as may sweeten all our obedience.  Let us not serve with the spirit of bondage as slaves, but with cheerfulness and gladness, as children, delighting ourselves in thee and rejoicing in thy wishes for the sake of Jesus Christ.

–Robert W. Rodenmayer, ed., The Pastor’s Prayerbook: Selected and arranged for various occasions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960)

offshore light show over the Irish Sea 😊 Anglesey#ThePhotoHour #StormHour #photography #walesartists @photography @visitwales @ItsYourWales pic.twitter.com/wIfQPtJPzI

— e. llew. morris – hwyl iawn i pawb 😊 (@edmorrisuk) October 28, 2025

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat there; and the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away. Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”

–Matthew 13:1-9

I've lived in the Holme Valley for 23 years & have only just found this gorgeous sycamore tree: Definitely worth the wait! #autumn #trees #Holmfirth #peakdistrict #BBCWeatherWatcher #loveukweather #nature #countryfile @StormHour @peakdistrict @ThePhotoHour #nature #Countryside pic.twitter.com/MCuocp0C8A

— Sandie Nicholson (@holmfirthphotos) October 28, 2025