Parish churches have lost another 20% of worshippers in four years and fallen behind mosques. They are in panic mode | Simon Jenkins

Too many beautiful church buildings are going to ruin. Councils could run them better. Let them

The Church of England is in a state of “panic and fear”, of “deep anxiety”, and should stop being obsessed with numbers and face the reality of decline. So says one of its bishops, Guli Francis-Dehqani, of Chelmsford. It’s not hard to see why. Two years ago, as weekly worshippers re-emerged after Covid, church statisticians were desperate to see if they would return at least to their 2019 numbers, when...