The Church of England collected figures on the extent of social action by its churches were collected as part of the annual Statistics for Mission 2017 survey, and these have been published today.
The findings can be downloaded here, and there’s a press release which starts:
Full extent of Church of England work to support local communities revealed
More than 33,000 social action projects – from food banks to debt counselling – are run or supported by churches, according to figures setting out for the first time the full scale of the Church of England’s service to communities.
The findings – which amount to the largest survey to date of the extent of the Church of England’s work with some of the most vulnerable in society – show that 80 per cent of congregations are involved in one or more forms of social action…
The full Statistics for Mission 2017 report will be available soon.
Press report
Christian Today Survey shows massive engagement in social outreach by CofE churches
I’m quite surprised at the lack of comment here…?
Personally, I’m torn between wanting to support the positive PR opportunity and ‘good news’ of what the church is doing. On the other hand, I’m asking whether more could be done to speak out and challenge – especially where churches are propping up an ideologically-driven retreat of the welfare, the safety net for the most vulnerable in society.
I think that’s right – but anglican dioceses are also at the forefront of groups like citizens uk, which hold the state\business to.account. At least one diocese plans to train all its new ministers in community organising.
well, it was positive news about the Church, and that never goes down well:-) In my neck of the woods we feel tortured by conscience, trying to meet an immediate and real need and cursing our inability to make any headway at all in the political arena. I feel – we feel – used, powerless and manipulated. The other day we sought a grant from the local council to help in our setting up of a project to help the homeless, Because of our strategic position as the logical corridor between East Yorkshire and the Midlands we get a fair… Read more »