Categories: uncategorized
Date: 03 October 2012 10:31:40
There has been a new website launched over the last week by the Church Growth Research Project which appears to have accompanying Twitter account (@ChurchGrowthRD).
This is a CofE sponsored project which is focusing on church growth within the Church of England. The research team includes practical theologians and sociologists from Essex, Durham and Oxford. The Essex team has amongst their number Prof David Voas who is Professor of Population Growth in the ISER and who is somebody who is known for the research related to religiosity and its transmission he has done in the past for example he has done work comparing the UK and Australia in the past. The Durham team is headed by Rev Dr David Goodhew who is one of the leading practical theologians in the area of church growth. I haven't heard of either of the members of the Oxford part of the team but from the website biography Dr. Cathy Ross appears to be an accomplished academic in this area.
According to the website the research has three strands to it. Firstly they are using the quantitative approach of Data Analysis, using the existing figures that the Church of England statistics department hold through their parish returns. These returns do give some useful data but should always be viewed with caution as secularisation theorists who have focused on church decline rather than church growth make clear. Whilst I am always wary of the writings of Steve Bruce on the subject of secularisation he does make some fair points which cannot be dismissed (see Religion in Modern Britain pp38-39 for an example where he has argued estimates submitted by clergy have tended to be exaggerated).
The second strand of research being engaged in is Church Profiling. This is involving a survey of 4000 churches and follow up interviews. I suspect that the figure of 4000 relates to the size of the sample approached to complete the survey rather than the actual number of churches who will be completing the survey. The actual size will depend upon the response rate. The website indicates that there will be four key areas focused upon within this aspect of the research:
The third strand is focused around looking at cathedrals, greater and other city centre churches. The website indicates "This strand will clarify attendance trends between different acts of cathedral worship, between different types of cathedral and between different parts of England. Such general statistical analysis will be a foundation for qualitative work on the profile of those attending cathedral congregations and explaining why this growth is happening. The research team will then compare these findings with a selection of greater and other large city centre churches. The research will also consider the roles of civic profiles, historic resources and outstanding historic buildings as well as the impact of cathedrals and large churches on surrounding parish churches."
This strand will go on to look at team ministries. Whilst this is a church growth survey it appears from the website that there will be somewhat of a focus on decline within this section of the research. Another aspect they are looking at is the amalgamation of benefices and how the change involved may make churches more vulnerable to loss. In light of the ongoing structural reorganisation going on at various levels within the Church of England and other denominations (see the reorganisation of dioceses in Yorkshire as an example) this is going to be a useful, if not some what belated, set of findings to analyse.
The final aspect of the study which again comes under the third strand is an investigation into Fresh Expressions and Church Planting. This part of the research is being undertaken in conjunction with the Church Army's Sheffield Research Centre and will be led by Rev'd Dr. George Lings (who is another one of this country's leading practical theologians).
In terms of the quantitative side of this research I am not hopeful that it will help tell us more about single parents participation or lack of it. However, the qualitative data may be able to give some information on this.
Academically I am interested particularly in what the findings of strand two say. I will be very interested to see if they back up the conclusions of my own congregational studies for the M Litt research. My research suggested that the the attendance of single parents and growth of their participation within churches is more likely where churches are involved in community engagement rather than evangelistic courses where attendance is more likely to be based upon congregation members inviting people on the basis of their existing social networks.
A final note about this website is the section it has on existing literature. At the moment this contains a selection of texts which are relevant to Definition and Measurement of Growth. As this site grows I hope it becomes a good resource for looking at the whole range of issues being referred to, maybe going beyond what is included in the literature review of the study itself. This central collection of information which is going to be accessible to those of us working outside the academy as well as researchers currently within it is going to be invaluable.
All in all my initial impressions are this is not only shaping up to be a piece of interesting and valuable research the development of its engagement with the public square through this website is something very encouraging too.