Better Data = Better Mission
St Padarn’s tutor Alun Evans is excited about the Church in Wales’ new digital attendance, or Membership, app.
It used to be the case that churches would send a form each year to the Representative Body, recording annual attendance figures. But the new app means that service attendance can be recorded and shared quickly whenever a service takes place.
What I’m excited about is that so much can be learned by churches, LMAs, dioceses and the national church about what is happening in the Church in Wales, and greater understanding can help us be more fruitful in our mission and ministry.
The data collected through the app is available for LMA Deans to access, allowing church communities (and LMAs) to understand more about their attendances. Churches will be able to see more clearly if there are any patterns and what that means for the way that they seek to do mission.
How many more people attend services in Advent and over Christmas compared to the rest of the year? Do more people attend over the summer months? Do more people attend one type of worship over another? If a church was considering replacing one service a month with a different type of service, perhaps at a different time, wouldn’t it be great to be able to find out how attendance has changed in other churches which have done the same thing the previous year?
In my role as Tutor in Mission at St Padarn’s, I’m also interested in what can be learned from looking at the data at a national level. Are there any interesting trends that are happening in the Church in Wales? And what does that mean for mission in Wales? It is going to be so helpful to discuss evidence with ordinands and curates about what is going on, and what that might mean for ministry.
The app has been in existence for about a year now and is gradually being taken up by churches across the Church in Wales. Looking at the data that has already come in, there may be some good news to share about what is happening across the Church in Wales as a whole. But more churches need to use the app to get a clearer picture about what is happening.
With attendance figures often higher during Advent and over Christmas, it would be brilliant if every church started to use the new app this Advent. We might feel nervous, worried that our figures may not look so good. But if we can see more clearly what is happening in our churches, we could work ‘smarter, not harder’, and be more in step with how God’s Spirit is moving here in Wales.