Rector’s letter December 2025
I sense there is a growing sense of dissatisfaction with how things are. Not just fed up with the government or lack of money but something it is hard to pin down, something inside that says, ‘There must be more to life than this’. If that is you, then you are not alone.
I am always wary of statistics, (I listen with great interest to More or Less on Radio 4), but there does seem to be evidence that people, young people especially, are searching for a spiritual side of life that has been denied them. I say ‘denied them’ not that they have been purposely excluded from it but that life has been so spiritually sanitised and cleansed that it has not been part of their normal encounters with life.
There was a report earlier this year called ‘The Quiet Revival’, here is part of the report’
‘Of adults surveyed, 12 per cent reported that they attended a church of any denomination at least once a month last year, compared with eight per cent in 2018. This does not include weddings, baptisms/christenings, and funerals. “In numerical terms, that’s growth from 3.7m in 2018 to 5.8m in 2024 — an increase of 56%,” the report says. This “dramatic growth” is owed largely to younger generations, it says. In 2018, four per cent of the 18- to 24-year-olds reported that they attended church monthly, compared with 16 per cent in 2024. For men, this increased from four per cent to 21 per cent, and, for women, from three per cent to 12 per cent.’
I suggest it stems from a dissatisfaction with the status quo, and the freshness of discovering something they have not experienced before. The least likely group to attend church are aged 45 – 54 years, and perhaps they are rejecting having to attend as children. There are now new ways of being Church alongside traditional ways, music new and old – something for everyone.
Christmas is the most obvious area where ‘Christ’ is removed and commercial, or family replaces it. The hype is huge, and no one can live up to it. Without Christ there is a hollow ring to all celebrations and gathering, important though they are. With Christ at the centre everything else simply makes sense. There is a joy of Christmas that runs deeper than any outer circumstances. Maybe you will become part of this Quiet Revival this Christmas.
Have a look at this website to see if there is anything there to help.
https://www.churchofengland.org/faith-life/what-we-believe/advent-and-christmas/sign-joy-christmas
Nick
Team Vicar
Christmas Trees in HT
18th Annual Christmas Tree Decorating Competition is open to all groups in the area to supply and decorate a tree in Holy Trinity Church for the Christmas season. We start on Monday 15th December, but you need to book your place. For more information contact me on vicar@tamc.church.
The family Christmas service with the uniformed groups taking part, is on Friday 19th December, 6.30pm in Holy Trinity with the theme of Journeying. All welcome.
The Nativity this year builds on last year so we still need anyone and everyone to come in costume and help us tell afresh the age old story of Christ’s birth. Christmas Eve, 4.00pm in St Andrew’s.
Youth 2 Youth
The numbers coming to the club seem to increase every week and we hope to open for a third evening each week in the New Year. Melissa and Ellie are working hard to meet the varied needs of our young people with a Christmas theme this month.
Nick, Chair.