One of my jobs this week is to do the annual statistical return for St Mary’s. Lots of columns of figures have to be totted up – at the end of it all, a book it published for General Synod which tells us how many baptisms have been performed in each church, how many communions have been celebrated and so on. The attendance figure that is reported is the number of people who have been in church on the last Sunday before Advent.
In some ways, this is always a misleading figure as some clergy massage the numbers by arranging baptisms or orchestral masses or what have you on the day. [I didn’t do anything this year, gov, honest.]
The figures only tell part of the story though. This weekend, the building that I work in will have hosted events in which 1200 – 1500 people have passed through the doors. These have included the AIDS day service, a large twelve-step group, a service for those bereaved by the loss of a child and a big arts event. None of these get counted in the figures, which is a shame. Instead when it comes to the attendance figure all I get to report is that 181 people came to services last Sunday. It is a figure with large spiritual holes in it.
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