The Church of England has been buoyed by latest figures showing a leap in visits to its church finder website.
More people than ever before are looking for a local church on the Church of England's dedicated search page, AChurchNearYou.Com.
Page views on the page rose significantly from 128.1 million in 2023 to 198.6 million in 2024.
The website also recorded growth in shares to social media pages and devices. Over 11,000 church services and events were shared on social media - a massive increase of 268 per cent on the previous year.
Similarly, over 18,000 services and events were saved on people's digital and mobile phone calendars - up 200 per cent in the same period.
The figures have been released at the start of one of the busiest periods for parish churches as Holy Week gets underway, starting with special Palm Sunday services and leading up to Easter weekend. Some 20,000 services and events are planned for this week in the Church of England alone.
The Church of England’s Head of Digital, Amaris Cole, said she was "delighted" with the level of engagement.
“The staggering increase shows the public are more interested than ever in connecting with one of our communities, whether for a service, an event, a family activity or one of the amazing projects our churches run," she said.
“Our churches regularly report newcomers who have found them through the site, so the rise in page hits is giving our editors confidence in inviting the public in to one of our 16,000 spaces.
“This month alone, churches have added around 20,000 calendar events that the public are invited to attended as we look to celebrate Easter.
“Because everyone is welcome, we’ve prioritised accessibility by adding tags to help visitors find the service for them – whether there is wheelchair access, gluten-free refreshments, British Sign Language translation or dementia friendly. These can be found by using the tags when searching for churches in your area.”
The figures have been released just days after new research by the Bible Society suggested a 'quiet revival' is underway in the UK thanks to increased interest in Christianity among young people.
The research, conducted on behalf of the Bible Society by YouGov, found that last year around 12% of adults attended church at least once a month, up from just 8% in 2018.
This included over a fifth of 18 to 24 year old men, up from just 4% in 2018. Among women of the same age, figures increased in the same period from 4% to 12%.
Young people were also more likely to be interested in going to church or learning more about the Bible.
Around a third of 18 to 24 year olds said they would go to church if invited by a friend, while a quarter said they are interested in learning more about the Bible.
