Norfolk church leaders respond to Census gloom
Church leaders across Norfolk have been responding to the news that an increasing number of people in England say they are not religious and less than 50% now profess to be Christians, with Norwich the second least religious city in the country. Keith Morris reports.
The results of the 2021 Census from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), just published, reveal that across the whole country only 46.2% of people say that they are Christians (down from 59.3% in 2011). In contrast 37.2% now say they have no religion as opposed to 25.2% a decade earlier.
Norwich has been revealed as the second least religious city in the country (just behind Brighton and Hove which replaced it in the bottom slot from 2011) with 53.5% having no religion (42.5% in 2011) and 33.6%, ie 48,399, saying they are Christian (44.9% in 2011).
King's Lynn was the part of Norfolk where Christianity and religion overall remained strongest. There were 52.4% of people who stated they were Christian, while 39.5% people said they had no religion. North Norfolk was not far behind, with 52.3% saying they were Christian and 39.5% saying they had no religion.
Norwich church leaders have responded to the news with the Bishop of Norwich, Rt Rev Graham Usher, saying: “God is present everywhere; nowhere is absent from God’s love, so there is no such thing as a Godless city. The census figures are always complex, nuanced by the questions asked and the number of responses. While the statistics show that more people in Norwich identify as not religious than Christian, this isn’t the case in the rest of Norfolk.
“What the census did not explore was the range of belief and unbelief amongst the ‘not religious’. They are not Godless – many will pray or be spiritual in another way, but do not describe themselves as Christian. It is the Church of England’s privilege to serve everyone in our communities including those who share our Christian faith, those belonging to other faiths and those who say they have no religion.”
Tom Rawls, Lead Pastor, Proclaimers, said: "These census results are always challenging, not just for Norwich but for the UK. Over the last census period, we as a church, have been challenged to prayerful to see this label as "the UK's most godless city" change. These last 10 years, our church has intentionally committed itself to be outwardly focused seeking to grow through new convert growth.
“Since the end of the lockdown, we've seen over 350 first-time visitors and over 60 first-time decisions for Christ with our online community continuing to grow. The diversity of our church is also encouraging with many new Black, South Asian, and Asian families becoming part of Proclaimers. We're excited and quietly optimistic for the prospects of 2024."
Andy Rees, Senior Pastor of CityGates Church Norwich, said: “Someone once said hard times make for soft soil, and we have found the pandemic has made a lot more people open to talking about where concrete hope can be found. The pandemic has forced many churches on-line leading to easy access for people who are asking questions. We are finding three or four new people turning up each week, having first watched some services on-line before they actually come to church. The on-line presence has meant people who want to be an anonymous observer don’t have the pressure of walking across the threshold which is a big thing for most people.
“We’ve also grown by over a third after the pandemic, including people who’s faith had lapsed, or who been left bewildered because so many certainties in life have been shaken. The number of “professing” Christians may have shrunk, but the human appetite for purpose and meaning has never been higher and there is a genuine openness to talk about what Jesus has to say into that.”
Senior pastor Jon Norman from Soul Church in Norwich, which is currently building a new 1,200 seat capacity church at Heartsease, said: “The message is solid, the reader, hearer and the messenger have changed, we desperately need to find each other again for the sake of the Gospel. Much to do and excited to do it.”
Pioneer missioner, Rev Tim Yau, from Cringleford, said: “At the heart of these statistics is the dying of nominal Christianity and the mission methodology challenge of institutionalised church-going. Previously, we have relied on the gravity of society's culture to bring people to the doors of the Church for the rites of passage around birth, marriage and death. Now, we are just an option.
“With the mistrust of many of those in authority, be they politicians, the police, or local government, the Church's civic and formal role in our communities now is not a right, but has to be earned.
“If we want to grow as church in this nation we need to be attractive, not in in what we do, but in the people that we are. That's what draws people to faith, that's what gives us a voice: holy lives, kingdom values, loving people. What if every Christian shared their life of faith with a non-religious friend and they then decided to follow Christ? That's how we change the next census!”
Nick Blanch, director of Norwich Youth for Christ, said: "These figures mostly reflect our identification with the Christian faith rather than the number actively following Jesus. The Talking Jesus research shows that the number of practicing Christians remains unchanged.
"As younger generations come through they are less likely to automatically ascribe to a particular faith but this doesn't mean they are unspiritual. The Gen Z Rethinking Culture research by Youth for Christ and our own experiences in Norwich show that young people still believe and think about a higher power and are happy to discuss faith but they lack spiritual experiences. The challenge for the church is therefore to offer meaningful spiritual experiences to the many who are open."
The Census data also revealed that only 10,000 people in the whole of England and Wales self-identified as Humanist and 14,000 as an Atheist when given the opportunity to do so in the survey.
Click here to read the full Census data
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