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Ethnic minorities boosting church attendances
Ethnic minorities boosting church attendances, decline in English church attendance figures is slowing thanks largely to ethnic minority groups, new research says.
Ethnic minorities, in particular black Pentecostal Christians, are helping pull congregations out of a "nosedive" in attendance, according to a study by organisation Christian Research.
The findings are based on the 2005 English Church Census showing more churches have been growing in the last seven years and congregation figures are declining at a slower rate.
In the 1990s one million people left church in nine years but in the seven years from 1998-2005 half a million left, according to the figures.
More than a third of churches, 34 per cent, are growing, compared with 21 per cent in 1998.
Black people now account for 10 per cent of all churchgoers in England – increased from seven per cent.
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