Some parts of the evangelical world in England are growing quite quickly. Between 2005 and 2010 the number of mainstream evangelical churchgoers grew by over 100,000 new people per annum to reach 650,000, half of all the 1.3 million evangelicals in 2010.
That number has continued to grow between 2010 and 2020, although at only half the rate – 50,000 per year. However, the overall evangelical total in 2020, 1,280,000, will probably be 16,000 fewer than the 2010 total as broad and charismatic evangelicals have lost numbers. In short, in 2020, Pentecostals will be one-third, 34%, of all evangelicals.
At the turn of the century the largest Pentecostal churches were the Assemblies of God and Elim, but their numbers were soon to be challenged by others like the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) and Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC). RCCG has always had multiple congregations, while KICC had one enormous church in Hackney (10,000+ strong) which unfortunately had to be moved to make way for the London Olympic Arena. This was eventually rebuilt in Chatham, Kent.
RCCG began in Nigeria in 1952, came to the UK in 1993 and is currently active in 190 countries across the world. It now has more members in the UK than any other Pentecostal denomination, about 76,000 in 2020, with attendance in the order of 130,000, almost a third (31%) of all the Pentecostals in the UK.
RCCG is this large because of starting an enormous number of churches (which it calls ‘parishes’), growing from 120 in 2004 to 460 in 2010, to 710 in 2013 (its period of fastest growth), and to over 900 in 2019.
The map shows the distribution of some of its congregations in 2018. There were six in N Ireland, eight in Wales, 50 in Scotland (with 14 in Aberdeenshire where so many immigrants work in the oil industry), and 787 in England, a total of 851, up exactly 100 from 2015. That’s one congregation per 71,000 people in England!
The density of RCCG churches is shown on the map. Some 9% of the Inner London
The distribution of RCCG congregations in England by county in 2018
population is African, and 6% in Outer London, whereas Africans are only 1% of the population in the rest of England. So, coming from Nigeria, it is not surprising that the RCCG has especially started churches in London, and continues to do so – it had 188 churches there in 2015 and 214 in 2018.
But, as African people have moved out of London, so have the RCCG churches. The number has gone from 85 churches in Essex in 2015 to 95 three years later. Of the many churches in Essex, 8% are RCCG, while in Kent its 82 churches are 7% of that county’s total.
It is not totally a success story, however. The number of churches in some counties – Durham, Gloucestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire and West Sussex – has decreased since 2015. There are also eight counties which have remained static (Bedfordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Dorset, East Yorkshire, Isle of Man, Northumberland and Surrey). Five counties have no RCCG church yet (Cleveland, Cornwall, Cumbria, Herefordshire and the Isle of Wight). It has grown though in the other 29 counties.
Why are RCCG so successful?
The Chair of their UK Executive Council is Pastor Agu Irukwu, who also leads their largest church, some 4,000 strong in Brent, Jesus House for All Nations. Irukwu, a well-known preacher (who often speaks at New Wine and HTB for example), thinks and plans strategically. The RCCG have a mantra, ‘plant a church within ten minutes walking distance’ (of where people live), which is equivalent to a circle of about ½ mile radius, an echo of rural Nigeria where no-one goes to church by bus or car. This is effectively the parish system that Anglican, Roman Catholic and Presbyterian churches follow.
Those living in that area, especially if black, are then invited to the new congregation: ‘We are near you, come join us.’ Closeness and convenience are important plus factors. They identify people like them, and become their neighbours. They can also say, if in an area that has a high proportion of people from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds: ‘We are like you.’ This is akin to a modern version of Donald McGavran’s famous church growth theory, ‘people like to stay with their own people’, the so-called Homogeneous Unit Principle.*
Although African in style, all are welcomed of course, so their congregations (and leadership) are often mixed. They have a large research department at their headquarters, Redemption House in Stevenage, to identify the best places to begin a new congregation. With an engine as strong as the RCCG, no wonder Pentecostalism in Britain is growing! It is now the third-largest English denomination, behind only the Anglicans and Roman Catholics and, if present trends continue, will overtake the Anglicans within a decade.
Dr Peter Brierley
Peter can be contacted on peter@brierleyres.com or via www.brierleyconsultancy.com.
