Sunday attendance in Church of England churches continued to suffer the effects of the pandemic during 2021.
New data has shown that although attendance to weekly Sunday services and midweek meetings rose sharply in 2021 compared to 2020, figures continue to be well below those in 2019.
An average of over 600,000 people attended church in 2021 compared to 854,000 in 2019.
In 2020, 340,000 attended all-age services.
The Statistics for Mission 2021 report also showed the total 'Worshipping Community' - defined in the report as those people attending the church regularly, for example at least once a month - fell from 1,113,000 people in 2019 to 966,000 people in 2021.
The Church of England's Worshipping Community in 2021 was about 1.7 per cent of the population of England.
Many churches have continued to provide 'church at home' services in 2021, offered online, by phone, post, email, and other means.
Approximately ten per cent of the members of churches' Worshipping Communities in 2021 were people who were entirely or predominantly church at home worshippers.
The Church of England's national online service averages around 150,000 views a week.
Author of the report, Dr Ken Eames said the figures showed another "anomalous year" for the Church but expects figures in 2022 to improve.
"My expectation is that we will see a further return of worshippers to churches in 2022."
"The pandemic continued to have an impact on the life of the Church of England, with some churches being closed for worship for parts of 2021 and some members of congregations continuing not to attend in-person services. It would be very surprising, therefore, if Church of England attendance and participation in 2021 returned to their pre-pandemic levels.
"This report should be treated as a summary of, indicating the extent to which things have 'bounced back' but noting that further bouncing back is expected," Eames added.