The Archbishop of Canterbury is encouraging churches to put on a special welcome this September.

Back to Church Sunday is held annually and will take place this year on 30 September.

As registration opened this week for Back to Church Sunday 2012, Dr Rowan Williams said the initiative was "essential".

“We have been in danger of forgetting just how much we still have in the ‘bank’, just how much … wish there is for connections to be made in the minds and hearts of a lot of people," he said.

"What Back to Church Sunday has more than anything demonstrated is that you don’t have to dig too far to find that desire for connection.”

He added that Back to Church Sunday is “part of a proper bit of forward thinking which builds on an intelligent analysis of what is genuinely there in communities ... for the sake of the Gospel”.

Back to Church Sunday was first launched in the Diocese of Manchester in 2004 and has since spread across the Church of England and to other denominations.

Each year, thousands of invitations are sent to friends, neighbours and others in the community asking them to come to a church service.

It is estimated that last year, an extra 77,000 people attended church on Back to Church Sunday.

Organisers are aiming for 5,000 churches to take part in 2012, continuing the upward trend in participation and average returner numbers.

Last year, 4,200 churches took part, 20 per cent up on the year before, and the average number of people coming back was the highest ever, at 20 per Anglican church.

Since 2004, feedback suggests about 230,000 people have come back through the prayerful invitation of a friend.

Traidcraft has put together a £10 Back to Church invitation pack for participating churches that includes banners, bunting, balloons, and Fair Trade refreshments.

The Bishop of Hertford, the Rt Rev Paul Bayes, said: "Back to Church Sunday is simple. It's about inviting someone you know to something you love. There are at least three million people waiting for a friend to invite them - and in the light of that fact we're aiming for 20 per cent more partner churches in 2012.”