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Most
of these figures concern full-time stipendiary clergy, that
is those who have been ordained as priests 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 since the late 70's.
In 1992 the Church of England took the decision to ordain women as presbyters (priests) and the first such were ordained in 1994. about 1% per year since the late 70's. but not By 2002 this figure had fallen to 8,764. However, this does not take
into account the ordination of women, figures for which were first recorded
in 1995. The number of ordained full-time men in 2005 had fallen by over half to 7,298, a 53% decline. The decline since 1991 has been nearly 1/3rd amongst the men.
In 1992 the Church
of England took the decision to ordain women as presbyters (priests)
and the first such were ordained in 1994. This led to an immediate increase in the number of clergy in post but the number of men continued to decline.
Since 1994 the overall decline in clergy numbers has accelerated and is closer to 1 and a quarter percent (around 120 clergy per year). But this includes the fact that the number of women entering ministry has gradually risen. In practical terms this means that on average each Diocese has had to lose between 2 and 3 stipendiary posts each year.
However, the figures for the number ordained men show the dire consequences of the 1992 decision. From the early 90s to 2006 the number of men in full-time stipendiary ministry has fallen by almost a third. Though there was a flurry of people leaving as a consequence of the 1992 decision the decline has continued and is still running at over 2% per year.
| Year |
Men |
Women |
% women |
Tot |
| 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 |
1991 |
245 |
72 |
317 |
1992 |
273 |
67 |
340 |
1993 |
285 |
56 |
341 |
1994 |
244 |
72 |
316 |
2001 |
190 |
105 |
295 |
2006 |
128 |
95 |
223 |
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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