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Can the Church Survive?

Last updated: 07 March 2010

Think back just 20 years. No Facebook or Twitter; no broadband or iPlayer. We wrote letters and stuck them in envelopes with stamps on. And anyone carrying a mobile phone risked straining a muscle, since they were usually the size of a brick.

Dramatic changes in communication have been mirrored by a continuing revolution in attitudes to religion. Many Christian churches have halved their membership in this time, and some have become extinct. In others, the experience of Sunday services has changed radically, with an explosion of new music and worship styles; and attempts to stem the tide of decline, have seen the growth of churches in pubs, and mission through everything from sports chaplaincy to line-dancing...and most recently the plans of a Carmarthenshire church to open a bowling alley.

But every year, almost all the figures - for attendance, membership, and especially the involvement of children and young people - go down. And while many people talk of being spiritual, fewer and fewer see themselves as religious.

Roy Jenkins looks at what's been happening and why, and explores whether churches have any realistic prospects of a significant reversal of these trends. He's joined by Rev. Canon Prof. Leslie Francis , academic and Anglican priest who's written extensively about why people choose to practise a religion; Sally Humble-Jackson , writer and performer; James Karren, Baptist Minister and founder of Solace a pub church in Cardiff; Elfed Godding, National Director of the Evangelical Alliance in Wales, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

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