And now for the Good News

Church dying.

No one goes to church these days.

This is one of the media's favourite church-related stories, but......

....here are the facts recently collated by the Archbishops' Council for General Synod members.

The Church of England

• Conducts a thousand weddings a week
• Provides activities outside of church worship for 470,000 children and young people
• provides primary schools for 25 per cent of England's children, and 1 in 16 secondary schools have a CofE affiliation, many in deprived areas, as here in Bermondsey
• Conducts two thousand baptisms every week

On top of that:

•  35 per cent of the population attend a CofE service at Christmas
• 1.6 million people per month attend a CofE service
• Congregations give £49m to charity each year
• Churchgoers contribute 23.2 million hours per month to voluntary organisations in the community (in addition to their service to the church)
• 85 per cent of the population visit a church each year
• And the Church in London is growing, including here in Bermondsey.