\u2018The decline is flattening,\u2019 he tells me. But to understand the modern Church of England, he says, you need to look at the far-larger \u2018worshipping community\u2019. \u2018Churches across England are now involved in more than 33,000 social projects. Food banks, night shelters, debt counselling, family ministry \u2014 all kinds of other things.\u2019 Since the crash, he says, the Church of England has launched into all kinds of social action helping those affected \u2013 food banks especially. He seems almost offended when I ask if it really counts as religious activity. \u2018Feeding the poor? I think Jesus would have thought of it as a form of religious activity.\u2019<\/p>\n
The bright spot, for him, is vocations \u2014 which he says will soon be at a 40-year high. That is striking, given that church numbers are at an all-time low. I ask why this might be. \u2018You will think me very naive and sort of naff about this, but I think it\u2019s probably got something to do with God. We\u2019ve made a real effort to pray for and encourage vocations and we\u2019ve seen a very significant rise, getting on for well over 20 per cent over the past three years.\u2019<\/p>\n
He accepts that, overall, the numbers are challenging: vocations are rising but weekday and Sunday services decreasing and the number of marriages and baptisms declining sharply. Perhaps the most startling statistic is that just 2 per cent of under-25s regard themselves as Anglican. \u2018If you\u2019re over 70, you\u2019re eight times more likely to go to church than if you\u2019re under 30,\u2019 he says. \u2018And I think that\u2019s a huge challenge.\u2019 I ask if he thinks rising secularism is also a challenge: that young people who go to church are seen not just as weird but as potential bigots and homophobes. It\u2019s not a story he recognises…<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n Archbishop Welby doing a great defence of his involvement in politics saying –<\/p>\n ‘\u2018So the Bible\u2019s only safe within church? That\u2019s a very striking idea. That\u2019s quite radical, I\u2019d have said. Shall we just lock Christianity away?\u2019’https:\/\/t.co\/M7qa1y9AV1<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Charles White (@charleswhite3) January 24, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n