麻豆社

Giles Fraser is a priest in the Church of England, concerned about the current state of church attendance. His parish is doing well but like most priests, he's nervous about the numbers and notes the overall decline in worship since the sixties. He considers the poem 'Church Going' by Philip Larkin as his starting point. It imagines what will happen to these buildings, and to Christian faith, when we stop going to church entirely. Is Giles now a missionary in a world that is indifferent to what he has to say? With this thought, he sets off to work out where we are, talking to people on the ground and experts in the field.

In this first episode of three, Giles will find out how fellow clergy cope with the stress that comes with falling numbers, witness the last service at a Methodist church in Northumberland, return to Oxford where he trained as priest and find out why we have so many churches in the first place.

Presenter: Rev Dr Giles Fraser
Producer: Catherine Murray
Asst Producer: Peter Everett
Additonal recording by Jon Douglas
Editor: Tim Pemberton