A SENIOR Church of England official is urging clergy to “think outside the box” of Sunday mornings and opt for midweek services.

Traditional Sunday mornings and evenings in church are in danger of extinction because most people are now just too busy to go to church, according to a report. Clergy must accept that Sundays have become a day to visit relatives, play sport or go shopping. Even church buildings are no longer the draw they once were, with many people finding them restrictive or even a deterrent.

In Churchgoing Today the Rev Lynda Barley, head of research at the Church’s headquarters, advocates a Darwin- ian approach. The Church must adapt or die, she says. It needs to work with the “modern consumer approach” while not being dominated by it. Midweek services in church halls, the local school or even pubs could be one answer to help it to become relevant and be taken seriously once more by spiritual searchers.

“For too long it has been one-sided, the Church imagining people as it would like them to be, rather than listening to where they are,” she says.

“Are we prepared to be flexible and responsive in our approach to church buildings and church services as we seek ways to respond to the widening gap between the inherited faith of the nation and its current practice, understanding and nurture of that faith?”

She cites research showing that Sunday has become a day for quality “family time”, when people of all ages have the chance to travel some distance to meet family, and when non-custodial parents tend to be granted access to children.

About one million people attend Church of England services each Sunday. In a typical month, 1.7 million attend church. The extra 700,000 may go once a month and many go midweek. Midweek attendees will soon outnumber Sunday churchgoers. Mrs Barley says: “We need to give permission to put energy into providing opportunities for worship that accommodate the different lifestyles in our neighbourhoods.”

Research into those who have stopped going to church indicated that 11 per cent cited time and work pressures, only slightly fewer than the 13 per cent who had lost their faith. A further 8 per cent cited other interests. Yet, if a church puts on a midweek service, attendance goes up by nearly 10 per cent, and attendance by young people and children increases by more than half.

Churchgoing remains strong compared with other institutions — 300,000 people belong to the Conservative Party, 200,000 to the Labour Party and 70,000 to the Lib Dems.

Examples of churches operating a successful midweek mission include a barge that is moored in London’s Docklands, a pub in Brighton and a church in a Devon fish and chip shop.

Mrs Barley gives the example of St Peter’s Church in Morden, South London, where two Church Army workers started a midweek after-school “Kidzone” service. This is now the largest service in the parish, with more than 100 regular attenders.

The Right Rev Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Reading, said: “Are we stubbornly going to fight a corner for a certain way of being church, or go with the flow of the Spirit and develop ways of worshipping that chime with our culture, and times and locations for services that fit better with the demands of contemporary living?”

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