I don't know

Today's Independent sees  a long article headed Losing our religion: the Church of England in decline.

It trots out the usual set of statistics which now seem common to almost every mainstream British denomination, including we methodists:

....attendance figures amongst Anglicans have dropped by some 10 per cent over the last decade. Only 1.1m people, some 2 per cent of the population, attend church on a weekly basis, and only 1.7m, or 3 per cent, once a month. This in spite of the fact that around half the population still profess themselves Anglicans. 

The decline in paid clergy has been even more rapid. On the Church's own statistics, the beginning of the new millennium has already seen a fall in over 20 per cent to barely 8,000. On present trends clergy would disappear altogether within half a century. Yet the number of parishes remains set at 13,000 and the total of Anglican churches is little altered at around 16,000. The result is there for all to see: a vicious circle of declining congregations, higher pension and maintenance costs and fewer helpers all sustained on a diminishing revenue base.

Until a few years ago there was no shortage of people, including myself, who had the solution to declining attendances. If only the church Did This or Did That. The problem would be Solved. People would flood into our pews.

Now I admit, and I think others too can see, that there is no "magic bullet" for church growth in 21st century Britain. Those churches that are apparently "growing" often absorb the remnants from other denominations or are sustained by first generation immigration.

Mainstream congregations  look enviously down the road at the upstart car boot church with lots of young people in the school hall but the truth may be different. We don't hear much about the "church plants" that fail, the sectarian and personal bickering that leads to extinction, or the fast turnover as the "youngsters" move on into parenthood and  juggle the pressures of running a mortgage.  And when the car boot church has disillusioned yet another generation they are free to disappear into the night without the legacy of community expectations or a crumbling church building. An unused school hall is not so obvious as a closed church.

However the church is not alone in facing decline. That other great British community institution, the public house, is facing a similar situation, closing at the rate of 100 a month.

Driving along the main roads in Birmingham and the Black Country there seems to be little change, with building s that look like traditional pubs thriving. However these "pubs" are now run by corporate managers, are more like restaurants and have none of the community feel of the past. Go off the main road and here in Smethwick at least you find shut and closed pubs by the dozen - the New Talbot, the Barlaycorn, the Two Brewers, the Thimblemill, and the Londonderry to name just a few. Going into the remaining pubs with a clientele that no longer represents the wider community can, in itself, be a depressing experience.

Talking to people in the various friendly societies identifies a similar trend. Organisations like the Foresters, the Moose, and even the Masons have found it increasingly hard to continue in their previous forms. There is now a culture which militates against any involvement and engagement beyond the home and workplace. Fewer people are prepared to accept commitment which is what a healthy church needs.

So how do we arrest decline in church attendance in 21st century Britain?

I don't know.