The Church of England yesterday claimed a dramatic rise in attendance figures for services, after adopting new ways of calculating the number of worshippers.
In publishing its attendance figures for 2002, the church averaged out the figures for the whole of October, instead of counting the numbers on a particular Sunday.
The figures have become increasingly sensitive for the established church, which is anxious to maintain its influence at a time when, like other mainstream denominations, it has seen an increasingly steep drop in numbers over two decades.
The church had been heavily criticised in previous years for massaging its statistics, or even refusing to publish them.
The church claimed yesterday that other statistics published this year, showing attendances continuing to decline well below 900,000, were wide of the mark and that a "more precise figure" showed an average of 1.7 million people attending church over the month (though only a million attending on Sundays).
Most of the increase was said to be in city centre churches, with the congregations of rural parishes still declining.
The church also claimed the number of worshippers attending Christmas services, traditionally the busiest time of year, was also a reliable indicator. In 2002 about 2.6 million people went to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services.
The church's report said: "Taking into account other services of worship (carols, Christingles etc) not included in this Christmas count, the size of the Anglican church in England, if portrayed in these terms, is approaching 3 million people, which is three times the figure of 1 million often cited in the public arena."
Other figures in the report, when compared with previous years, do indicate a decline. In 2002 the church conducted 54,700 weddings, compared with 86,000 weddings in 1994. The number of christenings in 2002 was 158,000, down from 189,000 in 1996.