Mission to the Christian community

• In the nineteenth century, the Industrial Revolution led to thousands of people moving to towns and cities and the Church's missionary focus in the UK was in providing money to build new churches, training clergy and setting up Sunday schools, etc
• Things changed, however, in the twentieth century, with a rapid decline in church attendance in many denominations. Churches are working to find new wats of providing for the needs of their congregations
• One exception to the decline in church attendance is the rapid growth of evangelical charismatic Christianity which has led to the building of Manu new churches and to more traditional forms of evangelism, e.g. hiring football stadia for crusades and healing services. Often at these, people who are ill or suffering from some kind of disability come to the front for the lying on of hands, and in some cases they claim that they have been healed
• Evangelical Christians also run Spring Harvest. These are holiday camps that take place in some popular holiday resorts. Children and young people learn more about the Christian faith and engage in a range of activities. Some of these activities are explicitly religious; others focus simply on enjoyment on one another's company in activity such as football
• Growing focus on ecumenism, which is the drive to promote unity between the different Christian Churches
• Ecumenism:

  During Lent (which is the six weeks before Easter when Christians try to grow closer to Christ), Christians from different denominations may have Bible study or follow a specially devised Lent course in someone's home. In this way, they learn from each other and grow closer together
• Ecumenism:

  They often work together in caring for the community. They may run joint day-care centres for those who would otherwise be housebound, or volunteer to help in food banks
• Ecumenism:

  In some places, they share buildings for worship. In this way, they learn that what unites them is far greater than what divides them