Lichfield Diocese gets Behind Back to Church Sunday

Lapsed church-goers in Staffordshire, the northern half of Shropshire and most of the Black Country are being invited to come 'back to church' in a major evangelistic campaign.

Around 1700 churches across the UK have signed up to take part in Back to Church Sunday on 30 September.

The Bishop of Lichfield, the Rt Rev Jonathan Gledhill, said the initiative would be the biggest evangelism initiative undertaken by the Diocese of Lichfield since the Billy Graham rallies at Villa Park in 1984.

"Back to Church Sunday is a wonderfully simple idea which began three years ago in the Diocese of Manchester and has since spread to many more dioceses. This year more than 350 churches in this diocese will be joining with more than 1,500 other churches across the Church of England to invite people back to church," he said.

According to Bishop Gledhill, churches participating in the initiative over the past three years have each welcomed back on average 10 worshippers.

He said he was also encouraged by the findings of research from Tearfund which found that three million adults in the UK would come back to church if they were invited.

"Of course, we need to do more than simply ask people to come back to church," he said. "We need to ensure that we provide a good welcome as well - the length of services, the hymns and songs we sing, the way we use hymn and service books and even the way we give out notices all have an impact on the welcome people feel."

The diocese has already distributed 35,000 prayer and invitation cards and congregation members will be praying about who they should invite back on the 30 September.

"It's vitally important we get this right because it isn't about filling pews, it's about helping people to rediscover their relationship with God," said Bishop Gledhill.

To support the personal invitations, the Diocese of Lichfield will launch a radio and poster advertising campaign in the week leading up to Back to Church Sunday.