Church growth leaders are working on a strategy to boost the growth of middle-sized churches in the Diocese of Lichfield and the wheels have already been set in motion to get the diocese behind the 2007 'Back to Church Sunday' campaign.

Larger churches in the diocese (those with an adult Sunday attendance of over 100) have already for been pulling their efforts together for several years to reverse the downward trend in attendance.

Earlier in November, more than 35 churches in the diocese attended a special conference for larger churches and according to growth officer Bob Jackson, "the good news is that attendance at these churches as a group has now stopped falling and is even rising a little".

Now the focus is turning to the growth of middle-sized churches or 'midi churches' (those with a weekly attendance of 75 to 100).

"Attendance at our smaller churches is also holding up well, but there are a group of churches in the middle where Sunday attendance still seems to be shrinking," said Mr Jackson in the latest edition of the diocesan newspaper Spotlight.

"These are the 'midi churches' and we are now starting the process with them that has been so successful with the larger churches."