Church Attendance & Football

Last Sunday my girlfriend dragged my lazy ass to church. I moved a couple of years ago and haven't bothered to find a church I'm comfortable with worshipping in, and since then Sunday mornings have just been me time. So Saturday night my girlfriend decides we'll be going to church in the morning (yep I'm whipped and I know it!). Since we didn't know where the closest Pentecostal church was we decided to go to an Anglican Church (Church of England) just down the street. Now I pray for forgiveness if this is blasphemy, but that was one of the most boring services I've attended in my life. I haven't felt so much like falling asleep in church since my pre teens. The sermon was uninspiring and the songs sounded like they were just a biology textbook being recited over music. I really need to find me a Church that has service I can feel. You know with the praise and worship sessions that even if you don't know the songs you can just close your eyes and feel the spirit moving.

The second thing that struck me though was how empty that space was. I'm convinced the church could seat over a thousand people, but I doubt if there were more than 70-80 people in the service. I suppose the only way they could afford to pay the Reverend would be through central church funds. No big suprise that Churches are being converted to housing across the country.

Christian Country
In the 2001 Census, 72% of the population of Great Britain claimed to be Christians. This contrasts greatly with the reported only 8% of the population who attend regular church services. Indeed it is claimed that without the rise of Black Pentecostal Churches, attendance at church in the UK would be actually be falling.

Some Random thoughts & observations
Every week during the football season about 700,000 attend live football games in England (just the Premiership, Championship and leagues one and two) and another 1.25 million also watch the live games transmitted by Sky. This doesn't include the reported 4.5 million who watch Match of the Day. Some may remember World Cup 2002 where some churches put up screens for their attendees to watch the World Cup games on Sunday morning, others shifted their service times altogether to ensure they wouldn't clash with the football!. For those who live in the UK, I guess it will prove no big suprise that the figures suggest that Football is more popular in this country than the Church.