A recent survey suggests the Church of England is moving away from the word “church” in order to attract more followers.
The study, titled “Something New: A Theological Investigation of New Church Planting Activity Across Eleven Dioceses of the Church of England,” was carried out by the Centre for Church Planting Theological Research in Durham.
This qualitative study explored the language used by eleven dioceses of the Church of England to describe their new churches.
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Traditionally, a new church is called a “church planting.” In this study, the Church Planting Theology Center found that although more than 900 new churches have been planted in 11 dioceses in the past decade, none of them use the words “church planting” or “church.”
“None of the parishes used the word ‘church’ in their primary description. The term ‘church planting’ was not used in any of the 11 parishes. Only one parish used the ‘new term’ ‘pioneer’ in its description,” the study concluded.
A sign welcomes visitors and members of the congregation to St. Mary’s Church in the South Downs village of Slindon, West Sussex, England, on August 9, 2024. (Richard Baker / Photo via Getty Images)
The study calls these organizations, which are quite different from churches, “new things,” but does not specify what these “things” are.
“The absence of the term ‘church’ and the use of other terms instead (community, congregation, etc.) merits theological reflection. We consider whether the question ‘What is a church?’ is even worth asking.”
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Six of the 11 parishes preferred the term “worship” as the primary description for their new church projects, according to the Rev. Will Foulger, while seven used “community” and only two used “congregation.”
Faulgar is the report’s lead author and the rector of St. Nicholas Church in Durham, England.
A general view of St. Cuthbert’s Church in Billingham, County Durham. It is believed that a church has been built on this site in Billingham since 845 AD during Saxon times. The church is known as the “mother church” of the town and is located on Billingham Green. However, a lack of funding and a declining congregation has put the church’s future in jeopardy. Photographed on July 8, 2024 in Billingham, County Durham. (MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Dr Giles Fraser, rector of St Anne’s Church, Kew, told the Telegraph that the sudden disappearance of the word “church” indicated a “misguided desire to sound modern and contemporary”.
Dr Foulger acknowledges in his study that these new language changes are “forcing us to redefine our idea of what the Church is in the Church of England”.
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The Church of England did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
