Proclaimer Blog
Who’s at the EMA?
Here’s a small snapshot of who is at the EMA. We’re not particularly obsessed with data, but we find it’s useful in terms of planning and thinking through exactly what the EMA looks like each year. I bring you these numbers with one sole purpose – the vast majority of delegates (all except about 100) are from the UK. That means that the death of the church and the end of the cause of Christ are vastly overstated by the doom-mongers. Of course, there are challenges and we are preaching into an increasingly secular world. But, in the grace of God, we’re not dead or finished yet.
– There are about 1,300 people at the EMA, some 70% of who are pastors or assistant pastors. They, in turn, represent about 750 or so churches (some people don’t enter their church association on the booking, so we can’t be entirely sure). That’s a remarkable number of churches where the gospel is being faithfully preached Sunday by Sunday.
– Of these delegates, the Free Church/Anglican split (because people always ask) is just over 50-50 in favour of the Anglicans. In other words, there are gospel works going on in both established and non-conformist churches for which I, as a confirmed non-conformist, give great thanks to God.
– We don’t ask people their ages! But a quick glance around the EMA shows that there are a huge number of younger guys in ministry. We are not an ageing ministry, much as the press would like to convince us we are.
– In total, some 3,000 delegates have attended the EMA in the last five years, broadly reflecting the same statistics above.
No, not dead. Not by a long way. Ministry in the UK is increasingly hard and conducted in a hostile environment. But there’s fruit, and there are workers. God is raising up workers for the harvest field. Now, let’s pray for a harvest.