Mosque Attenders to outnumber Church Attenders in Britain in a generation

According to the Times on May 8th (the date I got saved hallelujah!) in an article given to me by my CSM Colin, Church attendance in Britain is declining so fast that the number of regular churchgoers will be fewer than those attending mosques within a generation.

The fall - from the four million people who attend church at least once a month today - means that the Church of England, Catholicism and other denominations will become financially unviable. A lack of funds from the collection plate to support the Christian infrastructure, including church upkeep and ministers’ pay and pensions, will force church closures as ageing congregations die.

In contrast, the number of actively religious Muslims will have increased from about one million today to 1.96 million in 2035? No doubt some of them worshipping at the London Central Mosque pictured on the right above.

Now what can we learn from Islam?

They never push their religion, they don’t wear old fashioned clothes that make them stand out, you never hear them berating moral decline in the west, they are generally moderate and nominal hardly ever extreme, they take a gentle line on contemporary sins like abortion on demand and homosexuality and they are hardly ever in the papers. In addition they are passionate about making sure their religion and the way they present is culturally relevant.

In truth Contemporary Islam seems to contain many of the traits that post modernists within the church declare are holding us back and creating barriers to recruitment. Of course there is much, much more to Christianity than these outward characteristics but there is a point to be made none the less.

I think the truth is that people today are looking for something that seems to be authentic and most Moslems appear more authentic than most Christians.

God bless the children of Abraham whether they are Christian, Moslems or Jews and may our passion for the God of Abraham lead us all to the feet of Christ and the kind of uncompromising faith that will win the world for him.

Love and prayers

A