Executive summary
For several years, Archdeacons in the diocese have collected information from parishes using Articles of Enquiry (AoE), part of the Parish Return System. 78% of our churches completed their Articles of Enquiry return this year. Given this high response rate, the findings in this report can be used with confidence as representative of parishes across the diocese. It was agreed that the themes for the 2025 AoE would be:
Overall, 58% of churches said they offered things to help their congregation grow in their faith - this was greatest in larger churches and in urban areas.
A further 44% of churches offered something else to improve their welcome to under-represented members of their community, with 5% of churches having made changes in how they presented service sheets and other printed materials, and 8% of churches offering a welcome to asylum seekers, travelling communities or Ukraine, Serbia, Iran, Hong Kong and deaf communities.
When asked what guidance the diocese could offer to help their parish activities enable under-represented members of their parish to be involved with and belong to their church community, one fifth of responses wanted help with conducting church activities, ensuring liturgy accessibility, and/or improving access to buildings, and many of the other comments given mentioned specific areas within these categories. Many churches mentioned needing help in more than one of these areas.
70% of churches offered all-age worship or activities at least once a month, and children were three times as likely to be involved in various church activities than young adults. The most common activities involving children were for them to lead prayers and Bible readings, and to be involved in choirs and worship bands. Young adults aged 18-30 were most likely to be involved reading Bible passages, being in choirs and worship bands, and supporting church activities such as Eco Church, Foodbanks, or other outreach ministries.
During 2024 over one third of churches took part in No Mow May and over one quarter held outdoor church services. 40% of churches also offered comments about other environmental activities they had participated in. Overall, three quarters of churches had at least some LED lighting.
Over 70% of churches had at least one digital card payment device. In 2024 70% of our churches had a toilet – 53% in the church building and a further 17% in the church yard or a separate building. 65% had a kitchen, 53% in the church building and a further 12% in the churchyard or other building.
Discipleship
Parishes were asked If outside their regular worshipping life of prayer, Bible study, and sermons, their church had offered anything else to help their congregation grow in their faith and gain more confidence to share their faith with others.
Overall, 58% of churches said they offered things to help their congregation grow in their faith. Urban churches were higher at 81% than rural churches at 49%. 88% of the largest churches said they had offered things to help their congregation grow in faith, compared with 31% of the smallest churches. As a result, Oxford, which comprises mainly urban and larger churches saw the biggest proportion of churches that said they offered things, 77%, compared with Dorchester at 50% which comprises mainly rural and smaller churches.
Many mentioned Lent and Advent courses, Alpha and other Christian discovery courses, baptism and confirmation classes and Bible study groups.
A coffee morning began which is very popular in the village and gives the congregation confidence to share their faith with their neighbours.
Fewer churches said they had offered things to help their congregations gain more confidence to share their faith. Overall, this was 29% of churches, but as above, this varied being higher for urban and for larger churches. As a result, this varied by archdeaconry from 43% for churches in Oxford archdeaconry to 25% for churches in Dorchester.
Church welcome
A church community is only complete when all are welcomed and able to belong. Parishes were asked whether their parish had any of the following initiatives in place to intentionally improve the welcome and participation of under-represented members of the community
- Sermon/Homily being preached in British Sign Language - 1.5%
- Use of neurodiverse friendly fonts in printed materials or provision of coloured overlays - 10.8%
- Translation of the ordinary service sheet into other languages - 5.6%
- Prayer groups in languages other than English - 3%
- Sunday service in languages other than English - 2.5%
- Working alongside Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities - 2.7%
- (Other - 44%)
- (Blank - 42%)
Nevertheless, a further 44% of churches offered something else to improve their welcome to under-represented members of their community. 5% of churches had made changes in how they presented service sheets and other printed materials, by offering larger of different fonts and different colour paper.
8% of churches mentioned offering a welcome to asylum seekers, travelling communities or Ukraine, Serbia, Iran, Hong Kong and deaf communities.
We did a wedding in 2022 for a member of the travelling community; they came back in 2024 for a baptism for the child as felt welcome and not judged in our church.
Other churches mentioned other ways they have worked to become more inclusive. However, a small minority of churches commented that they were a small rural church and had no need of the initiatives mentioned
Churches were also asked what guidance the diocese could offer to help their parish activities enable under-represented members of their parish to be involved with and belong to your church community:
- Attract diverse candidates - 17.1%
- Conduct church activities - 21.0%
- Ensure liturgy accessibility - 20.6%
- Improve access to buildings - 19.4%
- Training in equality - 14.8%
Other specific requests
- Help with accessibility issues - 4.3%
- Help with reordering or improving the building (or having the finance to do so) - 3.5%
- Help with mission and evangelism - 3.5%
- Help with children's ministry - 1.3%
- Help with translation of Common Worship - 0.6%
There were also several comments that explained the pressures of some small rural churches:
We are a rural parish and we are struggling to survive. Our congregation is mainly elderly retired, and a number are quite vulnerable...
We have to prioritise what is important and that mainly consists of supporting our elderly congregation and raising funds to pay our parish share and maintain the church.
Children and young people
Parishes were asked whether their church offered church worship and/or activities suitable for all ages at least monthly. They were also asked how many children, young people and young adults aged 18-30 participated in worship, in planning ministries and services in their church.
70% of churches offered all-age worship or activities at least once a month. This was higher, 83%, in urban churches compared to rural churches, 64%. It was also higher in the larger churches and lower in the smaller churches. As a result, Oxford archdeaconry, which is comprised mainly of urban and larger churches had 87% of their churches offering monthly all-age worship or activities, compared with Dorchester at 66%, comprising mainly rural and smaller churches.
Churches were also asked how many children and young people were involved in or led different church activities:
- Prayers led by children - 2.4
- Bible readings led by children - 2.3
- Sunday church choirs or Sunday/midweek worship bands involving Children - 1.6
- Children involved in/supporting church activities such as Eco Church, Foodbanks, or other outreach ministries - 1.4
- Children involved in social action (e.g. with community projects or fundraising etc) - 1.1
- Bible readings by Young adults aged 18-30 - 0.9
- Children taking on a role in the sacraments e.g. carrying the candle - 0.7
- Young adults aged 18-30 involved in Sunday church choirs or Sunday/midweek worship bands - 0.7
- Young adults aged 18-30 involved in/supporting church activities such as Eco Church, Foodbanks, or other outreach ministries - 0.5
- Children involved in planning services, events, or outreach ministries - 0.4
- Young adults aged 18-30 involved in social action (e.g. with community projects or fundraising etc) - 0.4
- Children leading services - 0.4
- Young adults aged 18-30 involved in planning services, events, or outreach ministries - 0.3
- Prayers led by young adults aged 18-30 - 0.3
- Children involved in social justice (e.g. with campaigns or community organising etc) - 0.2
- Young adults aged 18-30 taking on a role in the sacraments e.g. carrying the candle - 0.2
- Young adults aged 18-30 leading services - 0.1
- Young adults aged 18-30 involved in social justice (e.g. with campaigns or community organising etc) - 0.04
Children were three times as likely to be involved in these selected activities than young adults. However, in part this will be due to the numbers of children and young people in our congregations. The most common activities involving children were for them to lead prayers and Bible readings, and to be involved in choirs and worship bands.
Young adults aged 18-30 were most likely to be involved reading Bible passages, being on choirs and worship bands, and supporting church activities such as Eco Church, Foodbanks, or other outreach ministries.
Environment
One target in the context of the national route map to net zero carbon is that by 2025 we required all churches to have installed led lighting throughout. Overall, three quarters of churches had at least some LED lighting. The larger the church the higher proportion of churches having at least some LED lighting – varying from 88% of the largest churches to 52% of the smallest churches.
16% of responses said that they did not have a churchyard. Those churches that said they had a churchyard were also asked whether their church participated in any of a range of biodiversity initiatives, and whether they had a written plan for managing the churchyard that sought to improve biodiversity:
- Yes - 17.7%
- We have a churchyard management plan, but it does not currently include improvements in biodiversity - 12.5%
- No - 67.9%
- Blank - 1.8%
We have a couple of youngsters (and other children in the previous two years) working in the church garden for the "Service" element of their D of E Bronze Award. When working with them, we explain what we do is to encourage biodiversity and tell them the benefits of the different plants they may be pruning.
During 2024 over one third of churches took part in No Mow May and over one quarter held outdoor church services. 40% of churches also offered comments about other environmental activities they had participated in. 84% of these ‘other’ respondents commented on their churchyards.
2% of comments mentioned working towards or gaining eco awards. Some churches mentioned bats, bees and birds: 2% of churches had conducted bat surveys or had bat boxes, 2% mentioned bees; either being bee friendly or having hives in the church yard. 2% of churches mentioned having hedgehog boxes, and 8% mentioned bird boxes, including 2% that mentioned having swift boxes, and two comments mentioned owl boxes.
Finance
Over 70% of churches had at least one digital card payment device as shown in Figure 3. This varied, being higher in urban churches (90%) and lower (64%) in rural churches. 80% of churches in Oxford and Berkshire archdeaconries had at least one digital payment device, compared with 75% of Buckingham churches and 62% of Dorchester devices.
In addition, parishes often ask about software to help with accounts. Over 40% of churches said they used excel, with or without other packages. Most other packages were only used by 5-7% of churches:
- Aplos - 0.2%
- Excel alone - 36.5%
- Excel with another - 7.4%
- Finance coordinator - 5.2%
- Intuit QuickBooks - 6.6%
- Myfundaccounting - 5.4%
- Powerchurch - 0.2%
- Xero - 5.9%
Buildings
Churches were asked whether in the church building, the churchyard or in another building their church had a kitchen and/ or toilet facilities. A kitchen was defined as having as a minimum, a tap with drinking water, a sink, and a means of making hot drinks and heating food.
In 2024 70% of our churches had a toilet – 53% in the church building and a further 17% in the church yard or a separate building. 65% had a kitchen; 53% in the church building and a further 12% in the churchyard or other building. 63% had both a toilet and a kitchen, and 26% had neither.
This proportion differed by archdeaconry, with Oxford having the highest proportions (93% with a toilet and 90% with a kitchen), compared with Dorchester that had the lowest proportions (57% with a toilet and 52% with a kitchen. Much of this can be explained by the rurality of the churches. Oxford has mostly urban churches; 96% of urban churches had a toilet, 93% of urban churches had a kitchen and 92% had both. Dorchester has mostly rural churches; 60% of rural churches had a toilet, 54% had a kitchen and 52% had both.