8 October 2014 A.D. Church of England on its “Last Chance”
8 October 2014 A.D. Church of England on its “Last Chance”
Gledhill, Ruth. “Linda Woodhead: The Church of England on
its last chance.” Christian Today. 8 Oct
2014. http://www.christiantoday.com/article/linda.woodhead.the.church.of.england.is.on.its.last.chance/41437.htm. Accessed 9 Oct 2014.
Linda Woodhead: The Church of England is on its last chance
Published
08 October 2014 | Ruth Gledhill
The Church of England is on its "last chance" and must make
some hard decisions about clergy and parishes if it is to have a future,
according to a leading academic.
Linda Woodhead, professor in sociology of religion at Lancaster
University, said: "What my and other people's research shows is that
people of my age are the last generation who in large numbers care about the
Church of England."
Prof Woodhead, aged 50, told Christian Today: "I am of the very
last generation that has any interest in investing in the Church and to think
about its future." She doubted that the Church would die out completely,
but warned it was in danger of shrinking into small enclaves dominated by the
white middle classes.
Some of her concerns will emerge in more detail, along with groundbreaking
new research, in an Enquiry on the Future of the Church of England launched
this week in Oxford. The series of five debates, beginning tomorrow night,
Thursday, will examine parishes, people, heritage, diversity and vision.
She said the Church is still one of Britain's great cultural
institutions, but recent research shows that it is at a crisis point. In the UK
as a whole, just one in ten of those aged under 20 now identify as
"CofE", compared with a majority of over-70s. More younger people now
identify as having "no religion".
She said the parish system, where every square foot of England falls
into a delineated parochial area, and the tradition of the Church paying for
clergy accommodation would all have to be reexamined if there was to be a sustainable
future.
Contributors at the five debates will include the social entrepreneur
Lord Mawson on the future of the parish system, Dame Fiona Reynolds of the
National Trust on the future of church buildings, Sir Tony Baldry MP, Second
Church Estates Commissioner, on how the church can re-engage people, Canon
David Porter of Lambeth Palace on dealing with splits within the church and
Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch, the historian, on what the Church can offer the
next generation.
A new YouGov survey of 1,500 Anglican clergy, to be published later this
month, is expected to add to concerns about the Church's present direction.
The opening debate on Thursday 9 October will challenge whether the
present parish system, designed for a rural society, is appropriate for an
urban, mobile population.
Prof Woodhead added: "The Church of England is one of five great
British cultural institutions, but it is in crisis. If it is to survive it
needs an urgent injection of fresh thinking and radical reform. These debates
are designed to offer just that. They grow out of research which shows how
rapid the Church's decline now is. In living memory it has gone from being the
church of the majority to that of a shrinking minority. The debates ask whether
the CofE has a future as a national church, and if so in what form."
The debates will be at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin,
Oxford.
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