Fragile Church of England Rural Churches: Listening to the Voice of the Laity in the Light of the Covid-19 Pandemic

McKenna, U., Lawson, A. and Francis, L.J. (2026) Fragile Church of England Rural Churches: Listening to the Voice of the Laity in the Light of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Rural Theology. ISSN 1470-4994

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Abstract

Data from the Coronavirus, Church & You survey, run in Church Times between May and July 2020, are used to test and to develop Lawson's hypothesis of the fragile rural Church of England. This paper seeks to discover the response of lay people in relation to the following marks of the fragile rural church: sustaining congregations, sustaining historic buildings, and sustaining finances. It moves on to examine how lay people perceived the impact of the pandemic on church growth or church decline, and the boon or bane of online worship. These data begin to explore what the fragile rural Church of England may look like in the future, recognising the need for further research as the consequences of the pandemic unfold.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Published by Taylor & Francis in 2026. This is an author accepted manuscript of a published open access article available at https://doi.org/10.1080/14704994.2026.2642560. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.
Keywords:	fragile church rural church rural laity pandemic online worship congregations
Depositing User:	Ursula Mckenna
Date Deposited:	09 Jun 2026 08:56
Last Modified:	09 Jun 2026 08:56
URI:	https://lbro.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/1332

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