Church leavers again on the increase, but pace drops

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According to advance figures from the Population Register Centre ( Väestörekisterikeskus), a record number of people resigned from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland last year. The total number of parishioners leaving was 33,823, up by 2.4 per cent on the 2005 record figure.
      Conversely, 10,700 people joined the church, or nearly 12 per cent more than in the previous year. This latter figure does not include the roughly 50,000 infants who became members through child baptism.
      The Director of the Evangelical Lutheran Church's Research Institute Kimmo Kääriäinen commented that the preliminary figures were as anticipated: no dramatic changes have taken place, and while the leavers do constitute a new record, the pace of increase in resignations has slowed markedly. In 2005 there was a roughly 20 per cent growth (see linked article).
     
The Helsinki Parish Union, comprising 24 Finnish-speaking and six Swedish-speaking parishes, was the largest in terms both of people leaving the church and joining or rejoining it. Resignations were down in Helsinki by almost nine per cent, while those joining or rejoining the church grew by six per cent.
      The exodus also slowed down somewhat in Tampere, Vantaa, Kuopio, Kotka, and Mikkeli, while among the large parishes and parish unions, the greatest percentage increases in people deciding they have had enough of the Lutheran Church were seen in Porvoo, Jyväskylä, Hyvinkää, and Turku.
     
The Evangelical Lutheran Church has slightly more than 4.3 million members, including children. This represents more than 80 per cent of the population. Nearly 60,000 Finns belong to the Orthodox Church, part of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
      Leaving the Lutheran Church has become somewhat easier of late, as it can be performed online. The service, provided by the Union of Freethinkers of Finland's Tampere branch, was used by more than 27,000 people in 2006. This was a mighty leap up of 21.5 per cent on the 2005 figure. Young people resign from the church via the Internet more commonly than do other groups. Under-30s accounted for two-thirds of those leaving by this method.
     
The increasing numbers of leavers and rejoiners could be understood in terms of people making temporary life-choices, and church officials have noted that it is not so much about loss of faith as loss of confidence in what the church has to offer at a given moment.
      Many young people leave the established faith, but return to the fold in later life, either to get married or when the time comes to have their children christened.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  More Finns leave Lutheran Church in 2005 than ever before (22.2.2006)

Links:
  Union of Freethinkers of Finland
  Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland

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