If you think that God is not interested in numbers then I have news for you. The evidence says that God loves statistics. In this blog I will look at that evidence through the Bible’s use of two numbers –…
Author: <span>Neil Elliot</span>
The United Reformed Church of the UK have reported their statistics in the 2024 yearbook. Below is an analysis of those statistics by Martin Camroux. Thanks to Martin for allowing me to share his report on this blog. My apologies…
Last week I wrote about the process and reasons for adding data items to the annual return. This week I am writing about the opposite – removing data items – and the very good reason(s) why. The Pentecostal Church of…
This year both the CofE and the Anglican Church of Canada will be asking for new data items. In this blog I will consider why we do that and what is involved. The data items for the CofE are about…
Who is coming to our Christmas services and why? We might think this is obviously to encounter God. But some recent research shows 33% of participants did not believe in God. This should give us cause for thought, optimism and…
Luke’s account of Christmas has a census as the reason Jesus birth took place in Bethlehem. As we come into the Christmas season I want to reflect on the nature of what statisticians do, in the light of the Bible’s…
What happens to the statistics we carefully collect and collate. How are they used – if at all? In this edition we will look at myths, realities, and aspirations of using church stats NumbersMatters is also available as a podcast…
The CofE has released the Statistics for Mission 2022, so are they good news, bad news or no news? Well as I will explain, the broad answer appears to be yes. Included also are some interesting occasional statistics on the…
Should the Church be SMART or organic? A recent Church Times article rails against episcopal managerialism and sets its sights on “targets” as the problem. In this week’s NumbersMatters I want to say why we need SMART targets now more…
Covid in Canada in fall 2023 Anecdotal instances of Covid have been on the increase in my neck of the woods over the last few weeks. Is it time to be concerned? This blog is not the place for an…