‘More than 100 new local congregations have sprung up in the past five years’

The Church may be in decline in the UK, but the CofE’s latest report shows some signs of regrowth. In Blackburn, Joy Rushton says the growing numbers of children and young people attending church is down to a focus on creativity and innovation

On a crisp, spring afternoon, around 60 people of all ages met at St Leonard’s church and school, Balderstone.

They stood outside the church door, singing songs of welcome and praise to God for his goodness. Then, for the next hour, the vicar, together with school staff, pupils, members of the church and local community, journeyed around the church and school grounds collecting seeds, seedlings, twigs and pebbles to create visible prompts for the different stages of the Easter story.