Church in England ‘will be dead in 40 years time
By Hazel Southam, The Independent, London, 16 April 2000
“With attendances falling faster than ever, a new report sees the future for Christianity in Britain as bleak,
“Holy Week has begun with an expert prediction that the Christian church in this country will be dead and buried within 40 years. It will vanish from the mainstream of British life, with only 0.5 per cent of the population attending the Sunday services of any denomination, according to the country’s leading church analyst. Historic buildings will be left to crumble in neglect, as congregations vanish and the church infrastructures collapse without money from the parishes. All claims that Britain is a Christian nation will finally have to be given up, says the church attendance specialist. Peter Brierley.
“The basic doctrines of Christianity will be believed much less and there will be many who actively do not believe them/ he says in a new book to be published this week.
“The dwindling band of worshippers has grown used to gloomy predictions, but these are the worst yet. Church attendance will be “at an all-time low’ in 40 years’ time, says Steps to the Future, published by the Scripture Union. Around 40 per cent of the population will have some kind of belief, though a third of them will practice non-Christian religions. Inner-city churches will face the worst decline, closing or running midweek services to keep anyone coming in at all, ‘This is very sober stuff/ says Dr Brierley, best known for compiling the annual Church Attendance Survey. ‘Numbers of Christians will decrease, and the ones who remain won’t express their Christianity by going to church/
“The statistics could speil disaster for England’s 10,000 listed Anglican churches. The last thing we want to see is listed buildings being knocked down, but at some stage, because of dwindling congregations, the Church of England won’t be able to maintain them.’ To date, cathedrals have shown more ability to survive, drawing bigger congregations in recent years thanks to prestigious one-off services and commemorations. Often, however, this is at the expense of parish churches nearby.”
As the fallen denominations become more and more Catholic, they lose any power that they had originally, as they lose the truths that gave them a right to exist. And so, naturally the Catholic Church, always given to political power, rather than godly power, just gets that much more influence over an increasingly apostate and dead Protestantism. Clearly, the world is now wondering after the beast, because there is nothing else to provide spiritual direction, if they reject the truth. Rev. 13 ” ….I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” Revelation 3:1