"For the first time this year the Shrivenham and Ashbury Benefice piloted Back to Church Sunday," says the Revd Richard Hancock. "The Benefice is situated in the Vale of the White Horse Deanery West of Oxford and is made up of seven churches with populations ranging from 250 – 4000 people.
"The greatest success story was actually one of our smallest churches St John’s Fernham. Fernham, has a population of around 300 people and its average attendance at church on a Sunday is about 8 – 10 people. However the regulars had really got behind the idea and invited people who had moved to the village recently as well as other locals. In a small village this is easy to do.
"What was also unusual was that this service had been arranged for 4pm instead of the usual 9:30am. The result was a congregation of 44. This may not sound many to those of you linked with large urban churches but for a rural village it’s FANTASTIC! I also looked back over previous harvest service records to see what the attendance had been and it was around half of that.
"The congregation had arranged tea afterwards and it was a great village event which brought people together. The congregation will now be encouraging those who came to come along to other Sunday service and looking creatively at how the church interacts with the village.
"What this has demonstrated to me as a rural incumbent is that ‘Back to Church Sunday’ can work very well in small rural parishes as long as the regular congregation makes the effort. We didn’t have large bill boards, radio ads or anything of that kind just people offering a personal invitation.
"We had several welcome packs but people seemed more interested in the home made cakes and the fellowship than the glossy bags though the children did devour the Fair-trade Chocolate within seconds."
