Increasingly Fragile? Assessing the Cumulative Impact of the Pandemic on Rural Anglican Churches

ABSTRACT In an earlier study, Lawson’s fragile rural church hypothesis was tested among participants in the Coronavirus, Church & You Survey conducted during the first lockdown from May 2020. The data demonstrated that a third of rural clergy and nearly a quarter of rural laity endorsed the thesis, a higher proportion than in non-rural areas. New data from the Covid-19 & Church-21 Survey conducted during the third lockdown from January 2021 demonstrate that both rural clergy and rural laity have grown more pessimistic regarding the future of the rural church. The proportion of rural clergy who consider that as a consequence of the pandemic key lay people will step down and be difficult to replace has increased from 29% to 49%. Among rural laity, the proportion has increased from 22% to 32%.