Congregations report increase in attendance on Back to Church Sunday

Attendance increased by nearly a quarter for more than 4,200 churches on Back to Church Sunday 2011.

According to statistics from organisers, an extra 77,000 attended church on Back to Church Sunday on 25 September.

The additional attendance works out at an average of 19 extra people in the congregation of each participating church.

The Bishop of Hertford, the Rt Rev Paul Bayes, said: “Back to Church Sunday is a fantastic opportunity for growth. I encourage even more churches to register in 2012. It's a simple initiative that really does work.”

St Mary the Virgin, in Yaxley, is an example of a church that has incorporated Back to Church Sunday into a successful mission strategy.

Since church members started handing out personal invitations, regular Sunday attendance has nearly quadrupled from nine to a viable 35.

The Rev Tiffer Robinson led by example, knocking on every door in the village of 400 people to personally invite everyone back to church.

He said: “We very successfully incorporated Back to Church Sunday, using the suggested ‘template service’ and three well-known hymns, creating a 45-minute traditional but informal service full of community spirit and joy that was accessible to regular worshippers and visitors.

"I would fully recommend Back to Church Sunday as a mission initiative.”

Back to Church Sunday first launched in the Church of England Diocese of Manchester in 2004 but has proved so successful that it has been adopted by other denominations and traditions.

At its heart is the simple idea of getting existing church members to invite someone they know to a special church service.

Special resources are produced each year to provide churches with special invitation cards, posters and goodies like Fairtrade chocolate to make the welcome extra special.

Since it started, nearly 230,000 people have come back to church.

This year, the Archbishop of York launched Back to Church Sunday by ‘tweeting’ an invitation to 10,000 people, that was re-tweeted by 95 Twitter accounts to thousands more people.

The invitations were backed up for the first time by 30-second radio adverts in certain areas and local launches across the dioceses.

More churches were encouraged to get involved after research by Tearfund in 2007 found that around 3 million people in England said they would attend church if they were invited.

Back to Church Sunday 2012 will take place on 30 September.

Find out more at www.backtochurch.co.uk