The Church of England is seemingly avoiding the word “church” in an attempt to attract a larger audience, according to a recent study.
The study, titled “New Things: A theological investigation into the work of starting new churches across 11 dioceses in the Church of England,” was conducted by the Centre for Church Planting Theology and Research in Durham.
The qualitative study examined the language used by 11 Church of England dioceses to describe their new churches.
Traditionally, new churches are known as “church plants.” However, the Centre for Church Planting Theology discovered that despite over 900 new churches being established by 11 dioceses in the past decade, none of them employed the term “church plant” or “church.”
“Not a single diocese utilized the term ‘church’ in their primary descriptor. ‘Church plant’ is not used by any of the 11 dioceses. Only one diocese used ‘fresh expressions’ of ‘pioneering’ in its descriptor,” states the study’s conclusion.
The study refers to these non-traditional church plants as “new things,” as there was no specific definition offered for these “things.”
“The fact that the term ‘church’ is not used, in favor of other terms (community, congregation, etc.) is worthy of . We explore whether the question, ‘what is church?’ is worth asking.”
Six of the 11 dioceses favored the language of “worship” as their primary descriptor for new church projects. Seven used “community,” and only two used “congregation,” according to the Reverend Dr. Will Foulger.
Foulger is the main author of the report as well as the vicar of St. Nicholas’ Church in .
The vicar of St. Anne’s in Kew, Dr. Giles Fraser, expressed to the Telegraph that the sudden avoidance of the word “church” demonstrates “a misplaced desire to be relevant and modern-sounding”.
Dr. Foulger acknowledged in his study that these new language changes are “forcing us to redefine what we think a church is in the Church of England”.
The Church of England did not immediately respond to Digital’s request for comment.