Sir, While we would not want to dispute the findings of Christian Research (report, May 8), we would want to challenge the projections that are drawn from it. Our experience here in Norfolk suggests that these will be wide of the mark.

Here in the Norwich Diocese there are many indicators of new growth and fresh initiatives that are meeting with success. We can point to growing congregations. We can point to a greater confidence in our lay people, who are keen to learn about their faith and are anxious to serve; people whose Christian faith informs and shapes their involvement in society at large. And we can point to areas where our engagement as a church in many aspects of public and community life, not least in our schools, is valued and appreciated.

Perhaps your Religious Affairs Correspondent would like to visit Norfolk and encounter the greater confidence that is around and the growing engagement of Christian people, lay and ordained, in the life of the community.

The Right Rev James Langstaff, Bishop of Lynn
The Venerable Clifford Offer, Archdeacon of Norwich

Sir, Of course attendances at Christian Services are plummeting. What can be expected in a society where celebrity culture is pervasive, consumerism endemic, and materialism almost mandatory? Christianity is a hard act to sell in such an environment.

When Alastair Campbell claimed that Downing Street "Didn't do God" he was simply voicing the political reality of the times. To do otherwise would leave the administration open to ridicule and derision. I am not sure, either, if Jeremy Paxman would have adopted the same sarcastic tone with a leading non-Christian politician as he did with Tony Blair when he asked if he and George Bush prayed together.

Frank Greaney
Formby, Liverpool

Sir, The disparity between church attendance and the numbers of avowed Christians can, I think, be explained by my dear old Dad's frequent comment on the subject of faith. I quote, "You don't have to go to church to be a Christian."

He had a problem; fitting it into his priorities. As do most folk do these days, whatever their inclination. It is a generation thing perhaps and, after all, we don't have Sundays anymore do we?

Robert Clarke
Eastleigh, Hants

Sir, The report on church attendance from Christian Research seems to make for very gloomy reading. However, it is an oversimplification to say that church statistics only tell a story of decline – falling attendance figures may be part of the picture, but they are clearly not the full story.

The report cites figures from 2005, but the most recent statistics for the Methodist Church show that more than 1,200 congregations have seen an increase in membership from 2005 to 2007, and that there has been an increase in weekly adult attendance between 2006 and 2007.