Fresh Expressions

Smaller Denominations

New churches

Independent

Pentecostal

Orthodox

URC

Baptist

Methodist

Presbyterian

Anglican

Catholic

0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400thousand members

UK Membership or equivalent figures 2013. Methodist includes Methodist Church in Ireland (NI). UK Church Statistics 2 (2014), ed. Peter Brierley

Fourth Largest Mainstream De-nomination

Salt of the Earth...

Out of 1,000 people in Great Britain, 3 are Methodist members ; another 6

have a connection with a Methodist church ; another 72 are committed to

other Christian denominationsONS mid-2014 population estimates

City Centre (5 per cent)

Inner City (7 per cent)

Council Estate (5 per cent) Suburban (34 per cent)

Small Town (29 per cent)

Village/Rural (21 per cent)

...spread across town and country

Sunday AdultsWeekday Adults

Sunday Young PeopleWeekday Young People

Each week, on average219,700 Visits to Church...

Average weekly attendance October 2013. Each visit to a church service scores one. Each smiley represents 1,000 visits. Young people <20yo.

Large Churches: Average num-bers 200

Quite Large Churches: Average numbers 111

Medium-sized Churches: Average numbers 74

Quite small churches: Average numbers 47 Small churches:

Average num-bers 18

219 of these

396 of these

593 of these

945 of these

2,493 of these!

Churches Great and SmallNumbers refer to Average Weekly Attendance October 2014

Roughly a fifth of Methodists meet in each of these different size of church

Sunday Ser-vices

Weekday Ser-vicesFresh Expres-sions

Groups and Outreach

Reaching out...

In 2014, 66% of weekly visits to Methodist churches were to groups and outreach activities, with 25% to Sunday services, 4% to weekday ser-vices and 5% to Fresh Expressions.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

Prayer and Fel-

lowship

Paren

t and

Toddle

r

Cafe and

Lunch

Groups

Sunday Ser-vices

Support

Groups

Childre

n and

Youth

Uni

form

ed O

rgan

isa-

tion

sSh

ops

and

Stal

lsW

eekd

ay S

er-

vice

sArt

s an

d M

u-

sic

Dis

ciple

ship

and L

earn

ing

Wellbein

g a

nd

Sport

Lif

e S

kills

Sti

ll in

vest

igati

ng

!!th

ou

san

d v

isit

s e

ach

week

What's going on??...

"Purposeful meetings" at Methodist churches, measured by number of weekly visits October 2014. Each visit to a group or meeting scores one.

Series3

Children’s Activities

Measured by number of weekly visits October 2013. Each visit to a group or meeting scores one.

Small Groups (and not so small)

Methodists meet not just in church congregations, but in over thirty thousand regular groups, meetings and activities. The balloons show average weekly attendance in each sort of group.

Nightshelter, average 9 years

running*

Sports Club, typically 10 years running

Lunch Group, typically 12 years

running

Discipleship Group, typically 12 years running

Cafe,average 13 years

running

Craft Group, typically 13 years running

Parent & Toddler Group,

typically 15 years run-ning

Onwards and Upwards Parenting Course, typically 7

years running

Newest Church New Song Network,

2014

Youth Club, average 18 years running

Prayer Group,typically 19 years

running

Weekday Service, average 25 years running

Brownie Pack,average 33 years

running

Oldest Church,Heptonstall Chapel – 1764

Methodism’s mix of old and new*Foodbanks are typically newer: ongoing research is being compiled

Twin Peaks

Methodism’s membership profile

tends towards the older end of the age

spectrum...

but groups and outreach activities

are largely attended by

young people Membership (51% aged 65 to 79)

Groups and outreach activities(45% aged 0 to 19)

In –house membership survey 2011; Analysis of groups and outreach activities 2013

Perc

en

tag

e

Mixed Signals...Attendance Up :

Membership Down1,110 Churches

Attendance Down : Membership Down

2,065 Churches

Attendance Down : Membership Up442 Churches

Attendance Up : Membership Up507 Churches

Methodist Churches have fared variously according to different measures

Out of 4,124 Local Churches, excluding those closing in the period 2010 to 2014 or where membership figures were unchanged