By Michael Gryboski, Editor Wednesday, November 05, 2025

Attendance at worship services in the Church of England has increased for the fourth consecutive year, according to a recent report from the denomination.

In a statement issued last week, the Church of England reported that the “overall number of regular worshippers” in member congregations was approximately 1.009 million last year, or a slight increase of 0.6%.

This marks the second year since the COVID-19 lockdowns that the denomination's “combined number of regular members of local congregations” has been more than 1 million.

Additionally, average Sunday attendance increased 1.5% last year to approximately 581,000, which the denomination described as “extending rises over recent years.”

Overall worship attendance, including services not held on Sundays, increased by 1.6%, totaling a little over 702,000. 

The 2024 figures also showed that adult baptisms increased from around 7,800 in 2023 to around 8,700 in 2024, while confirmations increased from approximately 10,700 in 2023 to approximately 11,300 last year.

One area of decline was overall baptisms, as the number of infant baptisms decreased compared to the previous year. The CofE attributed the higher number of baptisms to families that had delayed baptizing their babies due to the pandemic lockdowns, stating that “the post-Covid lockdown ‘catch up’ slowed.”

“Our church communities have continued to work imaginatively and enthusiastically in order to recover after the pandemic,” said Colchester Bishop Roger Morris, as quoted in the press release.

“Although not everywhere, nor to the same degree in each place, we are seeing more and more people engaging with their local church, attending enquirers’ courses, seeking baptism and confirmation and playing an active role in the church community.”

The CofE, the official established religion of England, has experienced a considerable decline in recent years, while other belief systems like Islam, atheism and Evangelical Christianity are on the rise.

Nevertheless, the CofE has made efforts to reverse the trend of decline, seeing modest increases in attendance over the past few years, as well as a growth in interest online.

In April, the Church of England reported that its church finder website, AChurchNearYou.com, saw a sharp increase in page views last year.

According to the latest figures released, page views on the website went from 128.1 million in 2023 to 198.6 million in 2024.

Regarding the April report, the CofE Head of Digital, Amaris Cole, said it showed that "the public are more interested than ever in connecting with one of our communities, whether for a service, an event, a family activity or one of the amazing projects our churches run."

“Our churches regularly report newcomers who have found them through the site, so the rise in page hits is giving our editors confidence in inviting the public into one of our 16,000 spaces,” Cole added.