Boom time for the evangelists

About 200 people a day are joining churches in the spiritual 1990s and offsetting the number leaving disillusioned. Figures in the latest edition of the UK Christian Handbook show most of the growth is in evangelical churches.

The Evangelical Alliance claimed people were flocking through the doors because the Christian message was put forward in an understandable way. The Rev Clive Calver, director- general of the alliance, said the materialism of the 1980s had "left a vast spiritual vacuum in the lives of many people".

Meanwhile, Britain's first Christian satellite TV station has begun broadcasting. CC Europe will broadcast for 14 hours a week from studios in Maidstone, Kent, to a potential audience of 19 million across Britain and the Continent.