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Church of England appears to stop using the word 'church' to sound more 'relevant': study
The Church of England is apparently dropping the word “church” in the hopes of drawing in more crowds, according to a recent study.
The study, called “New Things: A theological investigation into the work of starting new churches across 11 dioceses in the Church of England,” was conducted by the Centre for Church Planting Theology and Research in Durham.
The qualitative study inspected language used by 11 Church of England dioceses to describe their new churches.
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Traditionally, new churches are referred to as “church plants.” In this study, the Centre for Church Planting Theology discovered that even though more than 900 new churches were established by 11 dioceses in the past 10 years, none of them used the word “church plant” or “church.”
“Not one diocese used the term ‘church’ in their main descriptor. ‘Church plant’ is not used by any of the 11 dioceses. Only one diocese used ‘fresh expressions’ of ‘pioneering’ in its descriptor,” reads the study’s conclusion.
A sign welcomes visitors and congregation members to St Mary’s church in the West Sussex South Downs village of Slindon, on 9th August 2024, in Slindon, England. (Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images)
The study refers to these not-quite-church-plants as “new things,” as there was no specificity offered as to what these “things” are.
“That the term ‘church’ is not used, in favour of other terms (community, congregation etc.) is worthy of theological reflection. We explore whether the question, ‘what is church?’ is worth asking.”
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Six of the 11 dioceses preferred the language of “worship” as their main descriptor for new church projects. Seven used “community,” and only two used “congregation,” according to the Reverend Dr. Will Foulger.
Foulger is the main author of the report as well as the vicar of St. Nicholas’ Church in Durham, England.
A general view of St Cuthbert’s Church in Billingham, County Durham. It is believed that a church has stood on this spot in Billingham since 845 AD in the Saxon era. It is described as the ”mother church” of the town and it is located on Billingham Green. However, due to a lack of funding and a decline in its congregation, the future of the church is under threat. As seen in Billingham, County Durham, on July 8, 2024. (MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The vicar of St. Anne’s in Kew, Dr. Giles Fraser, expressed to the Telegraph that the sudden drop of the word “church” shows “a misplaced desire to be relevant and modern-sounding”.
Dr. Foulger admitted in his study that these new language changes are “forcing us to redefine what we think a church is in the Church of England”.
The Church of England did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
World
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World
Greenland leaders push back on Trump’s calls for US control of the island: ‘We don’t want to be Americans’
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Greenland’s leadership is pushing back on President Donald Trump as he and his administration call for the U.S. to take control of the island. Several Trump administration officials have backed the president’s calls for a takeover of Greenland, with many citing national security reasons.
“We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,” Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and four party leaders said in a statement Friday night, according to The Associated Press. Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory and a longtime U.S. ally, has repeatedly rejected Trump’s statements about U.S. acquiring the island.
Greenland’s party leaders reiterated that the island’s “future must be decided by the Greenlandic people.”
“As Greenlandic party leaders, we would like to emphasize once again our wish that the United States’ contempt for our country ends,” the statement said.
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Greenland has rejected the Trump administration’s push to take over the Danish territory. (Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images; Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trump was asked about the push to acquire Greenland on Friday during a roundtable with oil executives. The president, who has maintained that Greenland is vital to U.S. security, said it was important for the country to make the move so it could beat its adversaries to the punch.
“We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not,” Trump said Friday. “Because if we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor.”
Trump hosted nearly two dozen oil executives at the White House on Friday to discuss investments in Venezuela after the historic capture of President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3.
“We don’t want to have Russia there,” Trump said of Venezuela on Friday when asked if the nation appears to be an ally to the U.S. “We don’t want to have China there. And, by the way, we don’t want Russia or China going to Greenland, which, if we don’t take Greenland, you can have Russia or China as your next-door neighbor. That’s not going to happen.”
Trump said the U.S. is in control of Venezuela after the capture and extradition of Maduro.
Nielsen has previously rejected comparisons between Greenland and Venezuela, saying that his island was looking to improve its relations with the U.S., according to Reuters.
A “Make America Go Away” baseball cap, distributed for free by Danish artist Jens Martin Skibsted, is arranged in Sisimiut, Greenland, on March 30, 2025. (Juliette Pavy/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Monday that Trump’s threats to annex Greenland could mean the end of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
“I also want to make it clear that if the U.S. chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops. Including our NATO and thus the security that has been provided since the end of the Second World War,” Frederiksen told Danish broadcaster TV2.
That same day, Nielsen said in a statement posted on Facebook that Greenland was “not an object of superpower rhetoric.”
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen stands next to Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen during a visit to the Danish Parliament in Copenhagen on April 28, 2025. (Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)
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White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller doubled down on Trump’s remarks, telling CNN in an interview on Monday that Greenland “should be part of the United States.”
CNN anchor Jake Tapper pressed Miller about whether the Trump administration could rule out military action against the Arctic island.
“The United States is the power of NATO. For the United States to secure the Arctic region, to protect and defend NATO and NATO interests, obviously Greenland should be part of the United States,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
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