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FIEC: Challenged - but growing!

The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) is in optimistic mood.

According to the results of a survey conducted among its 470 churches, nearly nine out of ten of them are expecting growth in their membership over the next five years.

This confidence is not far-fetched. It is an extension of the experience of the past five years, during which twice as many FIEC churches have grown than have declined. Even a third of churches which had declined in the last five years believe that there will be a turn-around and that they will grow in the next five years.

These figures are contained in a 27-page report, published this month by the FIEC, on the findings of a Consultation which was carried out in the autumn of 2003. The data on which the report is based came from 409 churches completing a questionnaire with 66 questions on a wide range of subject areas.

Priorities

The findings of the report will help the FIEC to establish its priorities over the next few years, and to put in place initiatives which will help churches to address the challenges revealed by the survey.

Since 1998 half the churches have seen an increase in Sunday morning attendance, while only a quarter of churches have reported a decline. The average Sunday morning attendance is 75, compared with 35 at evening services.

This encouraging picture contrasts with the contemporary climate in which churches of many kinds are reporting a serious and rapid decline. Many FIEC churches are relatively small, half of them having 30 members or fewer.

Pastors

The survey also shows that 72% of FIEC churches have pastors - the same proportion as had pastors 15 years ago.

Other important facts revealed by the survey are that churches benefit greatly from having a pastor, that children's and young people's work is difficult, that conversions take place in small as well as large churches, and the planting of new churches is regarded as a high priority for the immediate future. Churches can also be slow to respond to the need for training and to regulatory requirements and public expectations.

This was the first comprehensive consultation conducted by the FIEC since a similar survey among its churches in 1989.

(More details and charts from the FIEC report are given in EN.)