Like the 53 bus in London, you wait 15 years for some really good news on the Church of England in Notts and then two bits come along at once, just when I’m leaving! This week the national attendance statistics for churchgoing came out and Notts was top (to everyone’s surprise)…I was running, yes running (or maybe it was skipping) without shoes on, down the corridor to tell my boss and make sure I wasn’t misinterpreting the figures. Seems they were as right as they are ever going to be, so we were top on growing numbers. However, because it’s the C of E and we’re not too bothered about bums on pews, we’re not making a huge deal of it…just a press release, some radio interviews and a mention on TV. The second bit of good news was that Christmas attendance is up aswell, by quite a lot and that’s everywhere pretty much. This is especially good news for Churchads.net and the ‘Christmas Starts With Christ’ campaign we’ve been working on for the last 4 years. Could it finally be paying off? Or are people just getting into Christingles and choirs singing carols because of nostalgia and Gareth Malone? More discussion on this on the Radio 4 Sunday programme I suspect.

So, someone told me it was good to be leaving on a high, in the light of this news of church growth. I wasn’t so sure, because if it continues to go well, I’d sort of like to be around and part of it. Looking on the bright side, it’s Ascension Day tomorrow and 16 boys (and a photographer) will be climbing the tower of our Cathedral – Southwell Minster, at the unearthly hour of 7.30am to sing in celebration of the special day. Jesus’ ascension into heaven was an entirely different kind of high, but was also linked to church growth. He had to go for something really good to happen…but I could be reading too much into that.

Working for the church does have its perks, because tomorrow, actually today now, the office is closed. I will be attending an alternative ‘worship centre’, in the guise of Sheffield’s Meadowhall shopping centre. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.