The Church of England is the Established Church in England and has a legal obligation to deploy licensed ministers with the care of souls over every part of the country and provide a place of worship accessible to every person.
The Church, in undertaking its mission, seeks to grow in the following interrelated ways:
The holiness, transformation and commitment of her members (growth in depth) - both individuals and churches. Increased number of disciples of Jesus Christ (growth in numbers). The fruit of social righteousness and a transformed society (growth in the outworking of our discipleship). It is God alone who gives the growth in the church (1 Cor. 3: 5-9). So growth is not to be fulfilled for its own sake. It is only good growth when it comes through faithfulness to the gospel. Sometimes, in history, the Church has been faithful and not grown; and at other times, it has been unfaithful, but also proved to be relatively popular.
