Diocese testifies 'Back to Church Sunday' a great success

Early responses from churches that took part in Back to Church Sunday in the Diocese of Lichfield last weekend suggest that the event has been a "huge success".

Around 35,000 personal invitations were sent out to neighbours and former churchgoers and this was backed up with a radio and road-side poster advertising campaign.

St Mary's Church in Kinnerley, near Oswestry, held their Back to Church Sunday a week early and 45 out of the 80 people present had responded to the invitation to return to church.

Similar results were found across the diocesan area, which takes in Staffordshire, the northern half of Shropshire, Walsall, Wolverhampton and half of Sandwell.

The six parishes of Badger, Beckbury, Kemberton, Ryton, Stockton and Sutton Maddock in Shropshire held a Back to Church Harvest Festival which attracted 90 - more than double the attendance at the same service in 2006. Some 35 of those present were invited guests.

In addition to personal invitations, All Saints Church in Wellington undertook a leaflet drop to all 6,000 homes in the parish. They welcomed 45 guests to the service - up 23 per cent on their usual number of adults in church.

However, the most dramatic results for Back to Church Sunday in Lichfield Diocese came at Christ Church, Little Drayton, where the average Sunday congregation of 40 had increased to 237.

This figure included children from two schools taking part in the thanksgiving Eucharist which, in addition to marking Back to Church Sunday, also marked the 160th birthday of the church, the total redecoration of the church and the Mayor of Market Drayton's Civic Sunday.

The Director of Communications for the Diocese of Lichfield, Gavin Drake, said: "These limited early results can't tell the full story but they do prove the claim that people will come back to church if invited to do so. As a church we have tried very hard to improve our welcome over the years. This initiative has shown that we also need to improve our invitation so that every Sunday is a Back to Church Sunday.

"The challenge for the churches now - from the vicar to congregation - is to ensure that we continue our contact with those people who came back this weekend so they feel welcome to come back next week and the week after that and the month after that."