In February 2019 the Church of England voted to end a law dating back to 1603 which required every parish church in England to hold morning and evening services every Sunday. Instead, the rule will now say ‘morning and evening prayer shall be said or sung in at least one church in each benefice’. (A benefice is a parish or group of parishes under the ministry of a member of the clergy.)
The change will mainly affect parishes with small congregations in rural areas. The Bishop of Willesden, who leads a task group simplifying and modernising the rules governing the daily life of the church, said the move was designed to bring church law into line with practice. Currently, a priest who may be looking after as many as 12 parish churches, has to obtain a special dispensation from the relevant bishop in order not to have to hold morning and evening prayers in every church. Whereas in 1960 only 17% of churches were in multi-parish groups, by 2011 the proportion had grown to 71%, mainly in rural areas.
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