Our small team has spent the past year writing, designing and editing 840 pages of this magazine and uploading more than 500 articles to our website. But here, in no particular order, are the most important numbers you need to know about
£109,000 - The payout that Franklin Graham was awarded in July after a judge ruled Blackpool Council unlawfully discriminated against him by removing adverts for his event from public buses. The preacher has announced he will return to the UK in 2022 for his God Loves You tour.
In related news: Edinburgh Council apologised and paid £25,000 in damages to Destiny Ministries after it cancelled the church’s three-day conference due to the views of its speaker, Larry Stockstill, on sexuality and marriage.
14 weeks - The length of time the government’s gay conversion therapy consultation lasted. If a future definition of conversion therapy includes prayer, the Christian Institute said it would be “the most religiously repressive law the UK has seen in centuries” and would take the government to court over it.
In related news: The Methodist Church brought in same-sex weddings and the Church in Wales offered blessings for same-sex couples. Keir Starmer visited Jesus House and praised their work in delivering the Covid vaccine, but came under criticism from LGBT groups because of the church’s theology on marriage. Within hours Starmer had apologised for the visit.
86 - The number of years Luis Palau lived before passing away in March. J.John paid tribute to the Argentinian evangelist, calling him “energetic, enthusiastic and effective”. It is thought he reached millions with the gospel.
In related news: Tributes also poured in for former Evangelical Alliance director Joel Edwards (70), Kingdom Faith pioneer Colin Urquhart (81), preacher Greg Haslam (68), leader of the world’s biggest church Yonggi Cho (85), Nigerian megachurch leader TB Joshua (57) musical evangelist Carmen (65) and theologian Melvin Tinker (66).
2 years - The length of the Australian police investigation which culminated in Hillsong Church’s global leader, Brian Houston, being charged with concealing the child sexual abuse of his late father, Frank Houston. The pastor denies any wrongdoing and the case will be heard later this year.
In related news: Carl Lentz, the pastor of Hillsong New York, was fired after it emerged he had been unfaithful to his wife. A BBC documentary entitled God Goes Viral was also highly critical of Hillsong.
25% - of people agreed that the UK Church is making a positive difference in their community. The figure is up by five per cent since the last survey three years ago.
In related news: Church Urban Fund found 37 per cent of parishes increased the support offered to their community during Covid. The Scottish parliament praised churches for 212,214 acts of kindness during the first lockdown.
$800,000 was awarded to Grace Community Church, the US megachurch led by John MacArthur, after the Supreme Court ruled that a ban imposed on indoor worship by the state of California (due to Covid concerns) was illegal.
In related news: American televangelist and vocal antivaxxer Marcus Lamb died in December from Covid-19. Lamb, 64, was the founder of the Christian TV network Daystar. In the UK, more than 1,000 church leaders signed a letter urging parliament not to enforce Covid passports for churches.
200 UK cinemas showed The Most Reluctant Convert, a film which depicts CS Lewis’ conversion to Christianity. The number of cinemas and dates were extended throughout the latter part of 2021, as audiences flocked to watch it.
1,000 - The number of Muslims that Hatun Tash claims she has seen convert to Christianity since 2013. In July, the controversial evangelist was stabbed at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, London. Christian Concern said police had “repeatedly failed” to protect her from Islamic extremists.
982,000 - people are following Beth Moore on Twitter. After nearly three decades in America’s largest denomination, the popular Bible teacher announced she was quitting the Southern Baptists. “I don’t identify with some of the things in our heritage that haven’t remained in the past,” she said. Moore has been highly critical of Christian support for Donald Trump.
200 - The number of massage therapists that Ravi Zacharias had contact details for. A damning report found the disgraced late evangelist used his reputation as a world-famous Christian apologist to sexually abuse multiple women.
1.2 million people attended Christ for All Nation’s Gospel Crusade in Nigeria in November. The four-day event was marked by reports of “hundreds of thousands of salvations” and was attended by prominent leaders, including the governor of Oyo State.
$2,250,000 - The amount of money that TV series The Chosen is seeking to raise in order to fund its third season. Seasons one and two of the series, which are based on the Gospel accounts of the life of Christ, have already been viewed more than 160 million times.
23 - The psalm that inspired the Bible Society’s award winning garden at the Chelsea Flower Show. It was awarded a gold medal in the best sanctuary category.
£4.4bn - The amount cut from the government’s foreign aid budget. Christian charities were unanimous in their condemnation of the decision.
60 - The number of years that the BBC’s flagship religious programme, Songs of Praise, has been on air. The Queen applauded the series for showing Christianity as “a living faith”.
In related news: In the wake of a report into his 1995 interview with Princess Diana, Martin Bashir resigned as the BBC religion editor. The corporation has since come under fire for not yet replacing him.
216,000 - The number of children revealed to have been abused by clergy in the French Catholic Church, following a damning inquiry that looked at the past 70 years.
13 million - The number of people that watched the funeral of HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, which took place in April. Most Rev Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, said the Prince’s life “provided an outstanding example of Christian service”.
17 - The number of years Nicky Gumbel has led Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB), the largest church in the Church of England. The 66 year old has announced he will retire in 2022.
In related news: Popular author and speaker Rick Warren said he will step down from leading his US megachurch Saddleback.
9 - The number of years that it took Caroline Campbell, who has Down’s Syndrome, to write out all 782,815 words in the entire Bible by hand.
£125,000 - The amount that Arlene Foster, the former leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, was awarded in damages for a tweet that falsely claimed she was having an extra marital affair. The judge ruled the allegation was even more harmful because she is a “committed Christian”.
500 million - The number of downloads of the YouVersion Bible app – the most popular scripture app in the world.
In related news: one in four people say they would welcome prayer from a robot priest.
