Roland W. Morant - "The Feminisation of the Church of England Rolls On Apace"
[...] Peter Brierley found that attendance at church in 1980 was 57% for women and 43% for men. In the year 2000 the figures were 60% or women and 40% for men; while in 2010 attendance for women was 63% and 37% for men. Thus although there was a net loss of men and women from churches in the ten year period 2000 to 2010, the proportion of women still attending (albeit in an overall shrinking group) appeared to be steadily rising. This must have been because men were leaving churches at a much faster rate than the women.
The proportion of men worshippers relative to women worshippers has been
in decline for a very long time, almost certainly from before the end
of the medieval period. The Reformation, a male instigated and led
activity, may have slowed down or even reversed temporarily in some of
the new national churches a decline in men's attendance. Other factors
since then which may have boosted men's presence at acts of worship were
the Methodist revival in the eighteenth century, and several other
revivals (e.gs. Tractarian, Evangelical) in the Nineteenth Century.
But
when we come to recent times, i.e. the Twentieth Century and the
present one, we can see quite clearly that the falling away of
attendance at church, especially by men has become more pronounced and
very visible, and deservedly should be called a haemorrhage of the
lifeblood of the Church. That nearly all mainstream churches for a long
time - and increasingly so in recent times - steadily and spectacularly
have lost their men folk, ipso facto is turning Christianity into
a female religion. And that is about as serious a criticism as can be
made about the Christian religion today. [more...]
Earlier today this very topic came up in a discussion I was having with others. It's a major challenge, and not just for the Church of England.