Christmas facts and surveys

09 November 2017

Christmas facts and surveys

The Religious Celebration of Christmas

Church of England attendance at Christmas

2.6 million people attended Church of England churches at Christmas 2016 (of whom 34 per cent received communion). During Advent, 2.5 million people attended special services for the congregation and local community, and 2.8 million people attended special services for civic organisations and schools. All figures showed an increase on the figures for 2015.

Reported total Christmas attendance in cathedrals was 131,000 in 2016, the highest figure since 2011. Total attendance increased 5% from 125,000 in 2015 and 1% from 130,000 in 2006. Services during Advent, the period leading up to Christmas, had a reported attendance of 635,000 in 2016, an increase of 2% from 624,000 in 2015.
https://churchofengland.org/media/4038454/2016statisticsformission.pdf
https://www.churchofengland.org/media/4043119/cathedral-statistics-2016.pdf

What do Christians thinks about Christmas?

In a survey conducted by the Evangelical Alliance in 2016 we found:

39 per cent of evangelicals surveyed will either provide food parcels for people in the community or meals for homeless or vulnerable people.
99 per cent of evangelicals surveyed will take part in a religious activity this Christmas (carol service, church on Christmas Day or Eve, or public carol singing).
94 per cent will take part in a carol service.
89 per cent of evangelicals surveyed will either volunteer or give money to a charitable cause this Christmas.
73 per cent of evangelicals surveyed will give to charity, and 22 per cent will give money to local, national and international charities.
99 per cent give consistently throughout the year or increase their giving at Christmas.
84 per cent of evangelicals surveyed characterise the celebration of Christmas in the UK as too much about money and consumerism.
Two thirds (66 per cent) see Christmas in the UK as still a celebration of Jesus' birth, and an equal number view it as a great opportunity to tell people about Jesus.
When asked personally about their enjoyment of various aspects of Christmas, Jesus came out top. 93 per cent scored celebrating his birth highly. 84 per cent highly enjoyed spending time with family and friends, 76 per cent giving presents, 35 receiving presents, and only 19 percent rated eating indulgently highly.

Why do occasional churchgoers go to church at Christmas?
In an essay entitled How far is Bethlehem? exploring the ordinary theology of occasional churchgoers by David Walker, the results of surveys of attenders at services in Worcester and Lichfield cathedral were published. Here are some of his findings:
Motivation for going to the service

94 per cent said their motivation was the music.
75 per cent said they wanted to be reminded of the Christmas story.
55 per cent said they wanted to feel close to God.
55 per cent said they wanted to worship God.
52 per cent said they wanted to find the true meaning of Christmas

What kind of service?

78 per cent said they prefer the service to be candlelit.
76 per cent said they prefer traditional rather than modern hymns.
94 per cent said they expected the service to be uplifting.

Belief in the Christmas story among occasional churchgoers

58 per cent believed in the birth took place in a stable
57 per cent believe in the role of the shepherds
55 per cent in the wise men
42 per cent in the virgin birth.

Reported on www.brin.ac.uk on 12 June 2013
The essay by Dave Walker is published in a collection of essays entitled Ordinary Theology: Everyday Christian believing and the Church edited by Jeff Astley and Leslie Francis published by Ashgate 2013.

Christian resources for churches and schools

The Evangelical Alliance information and research office has prepared a list of resources to help you plan a special service, talk or school assembly. The listing also includes sources for alternative gift solutions here.

Modern Celebration of Christmas

Belief in the Christmas story
In a survey done by YouGov in 2014 they found more than around 50 per cent of people don't believe the following aspects of the Christmas story:

An angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus (51% don't believe it, 20% don't know and 28% do believe it)
Wise men were guided by a star and bought Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh (44% don't believe it, 19% don't know and 37% do believe it)
The newborn baby Jesus was laid in a manger (47% don't believe it, 24% don't know and 29% believe it)

Internet shopping on Christmas day - a popular activity?

Shopping on Christmas day has been a popular activity. In 2015 record numbers were expected to spend “a significant proportion” of their Christmas day shopping online, spending an estimated £728m, up 11 per cent on the £658m spent in 2014.
Reported in The Independent 25 December 2015.

Spending predictions for Christmas 2017

Data compiled by price comparison site GoCompare, shows that 31 per cent of households plan to browse in the 2017 Black Friday sales which have for the last few years been the big start to the UK’s Christmas shopping period. It is estimated that £3 billion will spent during the event with 49 per cent of the shopping being done online. 23 per cent of shoppers planning to make Black Friday purchases wil use their credit cards to fund their purchases.
In a survey for finance website Bobatoo 45 per cent said they don’t set a budget for their Christmas spending and 21 per cent said they will go over their budget. 34 per cent say they will stick to their budget.
Bobatoo also asked how much people were planning to spend this year. Most people said they were planning to spend less than £200 on food, drink and decorations. Planned spending on presents is higher with 38 per cent planning to spend less than £300 and 30 per cent planning to spend £300-£500

Sources: Bobatoo and Independent online 7 November 2017

Food, drink and gifts going to waste
In 2014 4.2 million Christmas dinners were wasted across the United Kingdom, according to Unilever. The figure is the equivalent to 263,000 turkeys; 7.5 million mince pies; 740,000 slices of Christmas pudding; 17.2 million Brussels sprouts; 11.9 million carrots and 11.3 million roast potatoes.
Reported in The Independent 4 December 2015

In research conducted for Christian Aid in November 2017 found that 50% of British families say they spend too much on food for Christmas which then gets thrown away. Sprouts and cranberry sauce are the items most likely to be thrown away with families in the West Midlands families being the most likely to throw away sprouts! More detailed statistics are available from the Comres website: http://eauk.co/2iAzXPO and to go along with the research Christian Aid have produced a short film highlighting food waste at Christmas time http://eauk.co/2iAhTFg

ING the financial services company found in their survey Christmas survey that around one in seven Europeans were unhappy wuth what they received for Christmas the previous year and 10 per cent couldn't even remember their gifts.
Although more than half said they had kept their unwanted gifts, 25 per cent 're-gifted' them to someone else. A further 14 per cent sold the items and 10 per cent tried to return them to the store. Five per cent even said they had given them back to the giver, with the British and Dutch being the most likely to do so (11 and 9 per cent respectively).
http://eauk.co/2zsWAiF

Charity shops also do well in January with the number of unwanted gifts being donated to them, the Post Office found in their research that 25 per cent of unwanted gifts end up being taken to charity shops.
Reported in Daily Telegraph online 26 December 2014

Knowledge of the Nativity story
In a survey of parents and their children undertaken by ICM for the Bible Society in December 2012, 22 per cent of parents and 18 per cent scored eight out of 10 in a Nativity knowledge quiz:

98 per cent knew Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Luke 2:4)
89 per cent knew Mary put the baby Jesus in a manger (Luke 2:7)
83 per cent knew the angel Gabriel told Mary she would give birth (Luke 1:26)
77 per cent knew Herod was king at the time (Matthew 2:1)
63 per cent knew the angels were the first to announce the news (Luke 2:15)
52 per cent knew Mary and Joseph were travelling because they has been ordered to register with the authorities (Luke 2:1)
46 per cent knew the shepherds were first to visit Jesus (Luke 2:16)
32 per cent knew the word emmanuel (Matthew 1:23) means 'God is with us'
26 per cent knew Mary and Joseph were engaged when she found out she was going to have a baby (Matthew 1:18)
14 per cent knew the wise men travelled west following the star to Jerusalem (Matthew 2:1)
Source: http://www.biblesociety.org.uk/news/children-and-parents-6-out-of-10-score-on-nativity-knowledge/

8% knew Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Luke 2 4)

2. 89% knew Mary put the baby Jesus in a manger (Luke 2 7)

3. 83% knew the Angel Gabriel told Mary she would give birth (Luke 1 26)

4. 77% knew Herod was king at the time (Matthew 2 1)

5. 63% knew the angels were the first to announce the news (Luke 2 15)

6. 52% knew Mary and Joseph were travelling because they has been ordered to register with the authorities (Luke 2 1)

7. 46% knew the shepherds were first to visit Jesus (Luke 2 16)

8. 32% knew the word Immanuel (Matthew 1 23) means 'God is with us'

9. 26% knew Mary and Joseph were engaged when she found out she was going to have a baby (Matthew 1 18)

10. 14% knew the wise men travelled West following the star to Jerusalem (Matthew 2 1)

- See more at: http://www.biblesociety.org.uk/news/children-and-parents-6-out-of-10-score-on-nativity-knowledge/#sthash.kly7p54x.dpuf

On average parents and children scored 6 out of 10. 22% of parents and 18% of children scored 8 out of 10 or more.

Just over half the families (52%) planned to go to a school nativity this year.

According to the survey, these are the ten best-known facts about the nativity:

1. 98% knew Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Luke 2 4)