CHURCHES in East Lancashire appear to be going through a tough time. Arson attacks and closures have created a crisis and last weekend saw the demise of two Methodist churches in one day. Lack of support was blamed and Methodists say the problem is nationwide. Roman Catholics have also noticed a decline in congregations, although the Church of England says its numbers are rising. JAMIE DIFFLEY looks at the fortunes of our churches.

THE difference in the two churches could not be more obvious.

While members of the congregation at the Lower Darwen Methodist Church choked back the tears as they sang their last-ever hymn, a couple of miles away another church was thriving.

St Bartholomew's, at Ewood, Blackburn, is thought to be the fastest-growing church in the Blackburn Diocese. Despite its unusual location -- in the car park of Blackburn Rovers Football Club -- the C of E church has been revitalised.

Martyn Halsall, communications officer for Blackburn Diocese, said its success in the face of adversity was down to a number of factors, including the Rev Ken Howells.

Mr Halsall said: "Mr Howells has really raised the profile of the church within the community. He advertises services on the back of buses and he has revitalised the church."

Mr Howells, who is also the Chaplain to Blackburn Rovers, has been known to modernise his services, which Mr Halsall believes could be the key to survival.

He said: "It's a question of being relevant to the community, wherever that community is. Holding more modern services is way for the church to proclaim faith in a relevant way to today."

While modernisation has worked for the Church of England, the Roman Catholics are more strict and are prepared to risk losing worshippers rather than their principals in an age when divorce, sex before marriage and adultery -- all frowned upon by the church -- are all too commonplace.

Father Michael Walsh, spokesman for the Salford Diocese and a former deacon at St Alban's, in Larkhill, Blackburn, said: "Obviously there is a concern about numbers, for which there are all sorts of different reasons.

"While the worship has to be attractive, there have to be certain stands.

"You can't get people in church by saying the Ten Commandments have gone because gimmicks will not work.

"Some people just don't believe any more, while others are busy, but you cannot change all the things that the church stands for."

A Salford Diocese Almanac, which includes East Lancashire's Roman Catholic churches, cites two churches that have closed in the past 20 years -- Our Lady of the Assumption and St Mary's, both in Blackburn.

Father Walsh said that church closures were not simply a case of people not attending because they didn't believe.

He said: "Populations move away from areas so churches become under-used. Churches are permanent while people are not."

Although the Methodists are seemingly in a crisis, with the closure of Lower Darwen and Sydney Street Methodist, Clayton-le-Moors, the Rev Terry Young, who took the last service at Lower Darwen on Sunday, said a new dawn was on the horizon.

He said: "Falling congregations are a national thing, although the Anglicans are not as far on as we are. But it is a Western thing because churches all over the world continue to grow. I believe that the falling numbers will stop. In the past the church has gone through very bad times but has always come through.

"This is how God works. We need change but people are reluctant.

"It is His way of almost forcing change upon us and I believe that in the not-too-distant future there will be a revival, a movement which will end these depressing times."