The news, with the qualifications attached

On 13 May 2026, the Church of England reported preliminary figures for attendance during 2025. Estimated weekly attendance was 707,000, up 0.7% on 2024; Sunday attendance was 590,000, up 1.6%. It described a fifth consecutive annual increase, while stating that participation remained below pre-pandemic levels.

The release was based on returns from around 80% of churches and said the figures could change after further returns and checks. These are preliminary figures, rather than a final national report. The Data Services publication schedule is the place to check for the full Statistics for Mission report. The qualifications belong alongside the headline: they are part of what the evidence means.

Attendance is not the same as affiliation

For comparison, the ONS Census 2021 bulletin, published in 2022, recorded Christian affiliation in England and Wales at 46.2%, compared with 59.3% in 2011. ONS explains that its voluntary religion question concerns identification, rather than directly measuring belief or religious practice.

These sources answer different questions over different periods. One concerns recent attendance within a denomination; the other concerns population-wide identification a decade apart. It is possible for an active community to grow while fewer people identify with its wider tradition. A news headline does not resolve that relationship. Begin an essay by defining whether secularisation means declining participation, weaker institutional power, reduced affiliation or less religious belief. Otherwise, evidence can appear to prove one proposition while actually measuring another.

A recovery is not automatically a reversal

Consider a hypothetical organisation whose membership falls sharply and then grows for several years. The direction of the recent change and its position relative to the earlier level are separate facts. Both are needed before describing a recovery or a sustained reversal. Likewise, a percentage increase is relative to a starting value; it does not tell us the proportion of the whole population participating.

This supplies a useful test for competing interpretations of secularisation. A thesis that predicts an uninterrupted decline every year is vulnerable to any well-established increase. A more qualified thesis about changes over decades can accommodate short recoveries. To evaluate it fairly, identify its timescale and proposed mechanism. Then ask what evidence would count against it. A theory that explains every conceivable outcome after the event risks becoming impossible to test.

What would explain the change?

Growth does not identify its own cause. Possible explanations to investigate include changes in existing members' attendance, new participants, movement between congregations and local initiatives. These are research questions, not findings established by the headline. Distinguishing them would require comparable returns and additional evidence about participants' experiences and identities.

The same care applies to Christian responses. Practical service may make faith visible; doctrinal clarity may give a community a distinctive identity; adaptation may improve communication. None of those possibilities can be declared the successful cause simply because an attendance total rose. Separate a theological account of mission from an empirical claim about which activity caused growth. This makes evaluation more exact and avoids treating social popularity as a direct test of religious truth.

An evidence-led revision task

Practice task: write one paragraph evaluating “Recent church growth shows that secularisation has ended.” Use the dated attendance example, specify its denomination and preliminary status, and explain why its measure differs from census affiliation. Then give a judgement with a clear timescale. A strong answer could reject the sweeping conclusion while accepting that the reported increase challenges an overly simple decline narrative.

Before using any religious statistic, record its source, geography, population, measure, reference year and limitations. Those details give a short example analytical value. The worthwhile course connection is how evidence supports a defined argument, rather than how many statistics can be fitted into an essay.

Primary sources and reporting dates

The source reports establish the dated events. The course applications and practice tasks are independent editorial analysis.