Posts by John Hayward
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The Spread of Humanism
This week the Girl Guide movement in the UK decided to drop the reference to God from their promise [1]; it is now sufficient for a Guide to promise to “be true to myself and develop my beliefs”. The change […]
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When the Presence of God Persists …
Models and Reality People sometimes ask me how I can model church growth using mathematics, given that it is God who grows the church. I can answer that in two ways. Firstly, we construct mathematical models of many things in […]
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A Second Visit to the Cwmbran Outpouring
It is now over a month since Victory Church in Cwmbran opened their doors five nights a week to share with other people the work that God has been doing in their church. After my first visit I asked two […]
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Contagion in Cwmbran: A New “Welsh Outpouring”?
It would be a brave person to make the claim that there is a new Welsh Revival. Wales is known as the Land of Revivals, with at least 15 revivals between 1762 and 1862 [1], plus the beginnings of Methodism […]
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“Church Growth in Britain” – A Review
Book’s Purpose I have just finished reading a book called Church Growth in Britain[1], which may seem a strange title given the church in the UK has been in persistent decline since the 1950s, both in membership and attendance. The […]
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Census 2011 – Initial thoughts on Religious Adherence.
Today the figures for religious identity were released for the 2011 census in England and Wales. The headline figure is that the percentage of people identifying themselves as Christian has dropped from 72% in 2001 to 59% in 2011. As […]
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Women Bishops and Church Growth
Today was the day the Church of England narrowly turned down a proposal that would allow women to become bishops. Clearly this made headline news in the UK, especially as it had been widely anticipated that it would be passed. […]
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Dealing with Church Decline
Church growth is not just an academic study for me; it is personal. Not only am I fascinated by the growth and decline of churches; I am part of it. I belong to a church and engage in its mission, […]
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Enthusiasm and the Presence of God
I love enthusiasm! It may be a crowd enthusiastic for their sports team, an academic passionate for their subject, or a child in raptures over their latest toy. It is a joy to watch, because the enthusiasts are so happy […]
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The Strength of the Christian Church in the USA
It is often remarked by sociologists of religion that the Christian church is much stronger in the USA than in the UK. This is reflected in the figures where in many places in the UK the church has less than […]
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Community & Relationships in Church Growth
I recently had an email from someone who wondered if the limited enthusiasm model of church growth implied that the church should give more attention to building relationships within the community, and that the church should also become a stronger […]
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A Word I Never Use
In life all people have words they never use, usually things like swear words which are deemed culturally offensive. However in church circles different types of churches have words they never use, or hardly ever. For example some churches never […]
In 1904-5, Moriah chapel was the centre of massive church growth in Wales through a God-sent revival.