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Most
of these figures concern full-time stipendiary clergy, that
is those who have been ordained as presbyter (priest) and deacon in the
Church of England.
In the mid
1960s there were just over 15,400 ordained full-time clergy in the Church of
England. In the mid 1970s this figure fell as the decision to require clergy to retire by the age of 70 worked its way through.
By the early 1990s the number of clergy was still falling at a rate of around 3/4 of one percent (about 100 clergy) per year.
In 1992 the Church of England took the decision to ordain women as presbyters (priests) and the first such were ordained in 1992. Whilst this led to an immediate influx of women clergy the number of men continued to fall.
The number of women being ordained has not compensated for the loss of men and and the overall decline in clergy numbers has continued and if anything accelerated since 1992.
Since 1992 the average decline in clergy numbers has been someting over 1% which is higher than the rate before 1992. This equates to about 120 clergy per year which means that on average each Diocese is having to accommodate having 2 or 3 fewer clergy every year.
Amongst male clergy the rate of decline is over 2% per year and the total fall since 1991 is nearly one third.
| Year |
Men |
Women |
% women |
Tot |
| 2007 |
6,880 |
1,543 |
18.3 |
8,423 |
| 2006 |
7,109 |
1,507 |
17.5 |
8,616 |
| 2005 |
7,298 |
1,466 |
16.7 |
8,764 |
| 2004 |
7,451 |
1,401 |
15.8 |
8,852 |
| 2003 |
|
|
|
|
| 2002 |
7,920 |
1,262 |
13.7 |
9,182 |
| 2001 |
8,158 |
1,194 |
12.8 |
9,352 |
| 2000 |
8,398 |
1,140 |
11.9 |
9,538 |
| 1999 |
|
|
|
|
| 1998 |
8,653 |
983 |
10.2 |
9,636 |
| 1997 |
8,875 |
919 |
9.4 |
9,974 |
| 1996 |
9,440 |
820 |
8.0 |
10,260 |
| 1995 |
9,666 |
783 |
7.5 |
10,449 |
| 1994 |
10,008 |
|
|
10,008 |
| 1993 |
10,247 |
|
|
10,247 |
| 1992 |
10,375 |
|
|
10,375 |
| 1991 |
10,480 |
|
|
10,480 |
| 1978 |
11,549 |
|
|
11,549 |
| 1963 |
15,446 |
|
|
15,446 |
Click to enlarge
Ordinations
Nor do the figures for ordinations for full-time stipendiary ministry show much reason for optimism. The number of men going into ministry is almost half what it was in 1991 and despite rising in the early 1990s has fallen since. This has not been compensated for by the number of women.
|
Men |
Women |
Total |
2007 |
162 |
102 |
264 |
2006 |
128 |
95 |
223 |
2001 |
190 |
105 |
295 |
1994 |
244 |
72 |
316 |
1993 |
285 |
56 |
341 |
1992 |
273 |
67 |
340 |
1991 |
245 |
72 |
317 |
1964 |
605 |
|
605 |
1960 |
598 |
|
598 |
1955 |
455 |
|
455 |
Click to enlarge
Other forms of licensed ministry
On the positive side the number of people in other licensed ministries has increased.
Readers have remained static with almost no change in numbers over the decade from 1996 to 2006. However, whilst men made up two thirds of the number in 1996 their number has fallen by almost exactly one thousand and they are now just over half of all readers.
The number of part-stipendiary, non-stipendiary and ordained local ministers is the area of growth. Since 1996 the number of men in such posts has increased by 240 whilst the number of women has increased by over 1,000 such that by 2006 there were 3,228 people in these ordained ministries.
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