IT was a tough choice to make, but elders at Eastwood United Reformed Church have decided the church will close this summer unless more people start coming to services.

With congregrations dwindling to a handful of ageing worshippers, the elders felt they had little choice – even though the closure will mean many community groups could lose the adjoining Rayleigh Road church hall where they are based.

Groups have been given notice it will close in July, with one final service due to be held in early August, but church elder John Tyler says the church could still be saved if enough people start coming to services again.

In article mpu He explained: “I can remember when we had 40 or 50 worshippers every Sunday, but now we are down to four.

“The youngest is 79 and we are getting to the stage where we physically cannot keep the church open and running and doing all the necessary things.

“It’s very sad. I came here in the Seventies. Then they found out I could play the organ, so when their organist was on holiday they asked me to play.

“When she got arthritis in her hands, I found myself there and joined them.”

So why has the congregation fallen off so sharply?

Mr Tyler said: “Over the years people have died and people have moved away – I know of onlyone person whomadeaconscious decision to leave the church.

“People just don’t go to church in the numbers they used to. We are a small church, some people just don’t like that.

“Lots of churches have closed – Elmsleigh Gospel, Holman Brethren Assembly, Chelmsford Avenue Congregational and GreatWakering Congregational.

“Lots of people drive to Westcliff and to Rayleigh to attend churches there – driving right past us. We wish they’d stop here.”

The outlook may seem grim for Eastwood URC, but other churches in South Essex are thriving.

The Diocese of Chelmsford, which oversees about 600 Anglican churches in Essex and East London, says it has no plans to close any of its churches.

A spokesman explained “The overall picture is attendance in Anglican churches in ChelmsfordDiocese is buoyant.

Kicker “Any decline at ordinary Sunday services is being balanced out by new forms of church like ‘Messy Church’, which is an all-age family event.

“New forms of church are helping to tell the good news of Christ in ways that are meaningful to the next generation.”

SOME FLOCKS ARE GROWING FAST

NOT all churches in the area are in decline, according to one local church leader.

Mark Churchward, a senior leader at Southend Christian Fellowship, based in Southchurch Road, says many congregations are positively prospering.

Mr Churchward, who is also chairman of Love Southend, an organisation which encourgages local churches to work together, said: “My experience is the state of many congregations is a very healthy one. In line with national trends, there is a decline of numbers at some churches and we have our share of churches which are closing down.

“However, there are many congregations which are growing in numbers across the area, and that growth is happening both among traditional and newer churches.

“There are hundreds of ways congregations, large and small, serve their local communities – through youth work, preschool groups, senior citizens’ lunches and activities and dropin centres. The list is endless.

“Then there are activities where churches work together to provide things such as the winter night shelters and the Southchurch Food Bank.

“So, to borrow Mark Twain’s phrase, reports of the church’s death in South Essex are greatly exaggerated’.”

FINDING NEW WAYS TO SPREAD THE WORD

THERE’s a lot more to church work 2015-style than holding services on Sundays, says the man leading a team reaching out to a very different “congregation”.

These days, “street pastors” are to be found patrolling the nightlife areas of Billericay and Southend into the early hours every weekend, “showing God’s love” as they put it, in a way many may see as more relevant than hymn-singing and Biblereading.

After a long police career with the Metropolitan and Essex forces, Phil Norton now heads up Billericay’s street pastors, working from the town’s Christian Growth Centre.

He said: “Christianity is still thriving in various ways. Having said that, I’m also aware some congregations do decline.

“They may eventually even close their buildings and sell them off. If this happens, then I know the people concerned only do this as a last resort and with a very heavy heart.

“From my experience, that doesn’t necessarily give an indication that the number of people coming to faith, or in fact mean attending all local churches is in decline.”

Mr Norton said people often chose a different kind of churchgoing.

He explained: “Many new expressions of church life are now popping up outside of what we have always seen as people attending the recognised denominational churches.

“A lot of people now attend the non-established churches – community churches and house churches.

Speaking personally, I now attend the Christian Growth Centre, in Billericay, which is a growing, vibrant community of faith-filled people.

“The good news is church attendance is not on the decline but is going through a transition as to how it helps their own locality.”

While Eastwood’s United Reformed Church may be suffering, the Rev Darren Pike, minister at Eastwood Baptist Church, not far away around the corner in Nobles Green Road, says his congregation has been growing.

Southend Christian Fellowship, in Southchurch Road, has also enjoyed a growth in popularity – it has just had to give its building a revamp, creating a balcony, just to fit everyone in.

West Leigh Baptist Church, in London Road, is also packing them in these days – so much so it is considering running two services on Sundays to meet demand.