From live nativities to traditional carol services, churches across the diocese have reported significant increases in the number of worshippers this Christmas, compared to previous years. One church even had to hold back-to-back carol services to meet the rise in numbers! This reflects a wider trend of people, particularly amongst young generations, exploring Christian faith.
Here are some of the stories of how churches across our diocese celebrated and welcomed record numbers through their doors.
St Luke’s Church Sway
St Luke’s Church in Sway welcomed hundreds of people over the Christmas period for nativities, carol services and special events. Attendance was just over 10% higher than last year.
Revd Jane Mitchell said, “It was deeply moving to see so many children, mainly under 11, together with parents and grandparents, discovering again the wonder of Christ’s birth. We give thanks not for numbers themselves, but for the precious lives they represent, for the stories, prayers, and needs each person brings, and for the privilege of offering Christ’s welcome to our community. This joins with the encouragement nationally that numbers attending church are increasing – thank you Lord! Attendance (231) at the traditional 9 Lessons and Carols service were up 34% showing that traditional services are also really appreciated, as people seek the real meaning of Christmas in our anxious world.“
Photo credit: Sophie Gates
Benefice of Tadley, Pamber Heath and Silchester
More than 1500 people from the community attended services in the two weeks leading up to Christmas across the benefice of Tadley with Pamber Heath and Silchester.
The congregation in Tadley had been knitting stars throughout the year and 5000 were distributed around the town, with a link to the services. Around 150 people attended Messy Christmas at St. Paul’s in Tadley with many dressed as a character from the nativity, and the carol service at St Peter’s, Tadley was so popular that in order to get everyone one in, the church had to hold two carol services back-to-back.
The Tadley Live Nativity trail was hosted between local churches and attracted around 500 people. Actors from the churches, with the help of some animals, acted out scenes from the Christmas story.
Revd Steve McKay commented, “We could never have imagined in our wildest dreams how popular this event would be. Numbers tripled on the year before! The event was due to start at 4pm and my heart sunk at 3.55pm when there were just 5 families outside the first church, but suddenly people started streaming into the car park from across Tadley, Pamber Heath and Silchester and we lost count at around 450!”
Four Christmas Eve crib services were held across the benefice including ‘the Chocolate Nativity’ at St Paul’s in Tadley, telling the Christmas story using chocolate.
Revd Steve added, “It’s amazing to think that well over 1500 people have heard the message of the light and love of Christ at Christmas across our benefice. We’ve seen more people wanting to engage with faith and explore what it means to be part of our church community. One of the things I love about Christmas is that it is a story for each one of us. People told me that’s why they turned up to sing carols, why they want to hear the readings, it’s not just to hear the story again; the story is for us.”
Benefice of Bentley, Binsted and Froyle
Despite temperatures of minus three, the Real Nativity at St Mary’s Froyle was a buzz of activity. It was the first time it had been held in the village. Over the previous weeks, there had been planning sessions, briefings, rehearsals and 50 volunteers from across the benefice offered their help on the day. There were three stages to re-enact the Christmas story including the narrator, angel Gabriel, Mary and Joseph, three Wise Men, three donkeys and the Binsted School choir.
Event producer Nigel Southern said, “For the Real Nativity, we planned for 150 guests, and optimistically catered for 200, but we were delighted and somewhat amazed when nearly 300 Bentley, Binsted and Froyle villagers came to celebrate the birth of Christ on a cold December night in a field in Upper Froyle. As it was on December 23rd, we wondered if we would see a drop in numbers attending our Christmas Eve midnight service and Christmas Day service, but not at all. Both of those services considerably exceeded expected attendance. It’s all most encouraging.”
Photo credit: Andrea Kozak
St Andrew’s Boscombe
There were inspiring scenes at St Andrew’s in Boscombe, as people came en masse to the midnight service. One man was already waiting outside the church when Curate Revd Lorraine Kingsley arrived at 11pm to set up. Then as the clock struck 11.30pm, 30 people from the vicarage road gathered on the corner of the street to form a human train. They walked together down the road to the church: children, teenagers, young adults, parents, grandparents, visiting aunts and uncles and friends from nearby streets.
Revd Lorraine said, “Over the past five months, since I was licensed to St Andrew’s, we have had a brilliant time getting to know our neighbours. In the summer, we went for early morning swims, cycle rides and nights out together. Throughout December, the neighbours talked about coming to the Midnight Mass service, but, still, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the long line of people walking down the road towards the church.
“I pray that the message of ‘God with us’ will have touched them in some way that night. I also pray that, throughout 2026, we will continue to deepen our relationships with our wonderful neighbours in myriad ways beyond the church walls, and who knows, maybe they’ll come to Alpha at the vicarage, or maybe they’ll come to the new contemporary service we’re launching in the Spring, or maybe we’ll simply get into conversations about faith, and the love of God. Living in this community is one of the biggest adventures of faith I have ever experienced, and I feel blessed to be here every single day.”
Basingstoke Church
Basingstoke Church saw nearly double the number of worshippers this Christmas compared to last year. There were 650 people across three services last year, and this year there were nearly 1200, with ‘carols by candlelight’ proving particularly popular.
Rector John Hudson feels there are a combination of reasons for the increase. The refurbishment of St Michael’s in the town centre has perhaps created interest and the church focused its advertising on two main services. But it has also seen a growing desire for people to know more. The number of people attending regular Sunday services has also increased in the last six months. People are also feeling more confident about inviting their friends.
He said, “There’s definitely something going on where people are thinking, ‘I’d quite fancy coming to church’. A lot of the people that I spoke to were people who have either not been to church before or almost never go to church. I speak to friends and colleagues and they see it as well, that people are just suddenly becoming interested.”
At Christmas the church extended an invitation to people to join an Alpha course which starts at the end of the month or come along to a Sunday service.
Revd John continued, “I spoke to a dad this Sunday with his two children, who’d never been to church in his life before, but came at Christmas and liked it and said he’ll come each week. I spoke to another mum who’d come at Christmas, and she came to me on Sunday and said ‘I’ve come back’ so I think people have not just come at Christmas, but they’ve found something that they’re interested in. When I was growing up, people had been to church as children, whereas now people don’t know what church is and as they look for purpose and meaning in their life, they wonder if that might be Jesus. Then they come and discover that it is.”
St Peter and St Paul, Shalden
Numbers attending Christmas services at St Peter and St Paul in Shalden have been steadily growing over the last two years. This Christmas the church welcomed 170 to the carol service and on Christmas Day, compared to 155 last year and 121 in 2023.
Churchwarden Peter Rankin said, “On Christmas Day, our service was led by Revd Jon Rooke and he had put together an interactive sermon based on God’s love with the assistance of a giant heart (which turned out to be a present from God) and three young children. The congregation were all given a little wooden heart, when they came in, to put in their pocket. In a church with older demographics, attendance is highly dependent on extended families, often with 3 generations. There were more of these extended families this year.”
Marchwood and Eling Parish
Almost all the services across the Parish of Marchwood and Eling saw around 100 people. Revd Lauren Cheshire said that while historically there have been large numbers at Christmas, this year saw larger numbers than normal.
She added, “Prayer and hard work went into ensuring this season was like a re-launch for the parish. It felt that way. The community was buzzing at seeing the church full, having events for the whole family and realising that our churches are for them to encounter God! This is early days and one visit this Christmas does not a disciple make. But it’s also a beginning and we have plans for weekly, monthly and yearly connecting points to create opportunities for our community to find Jesus and then grow in discipleship.”
