The number of overall churchgoers rose in the past year, despite a decline in attendance at traditional Sunday services, the latest figures reveal.

The Church of England’s annual survey said that the number of those attending at least once a month grew by around 2,000 to 1.138 million churchgoers last year.

At the same time, regular Sunday attendance fell by 2.9 per cent to 756,000 and regular weekly attendance also fell by 2.9 per cent to 895,000.

Various clerics told The Telegraph that people’s busy modern lives – which increasingly mean working across seven days of the week – were partly behind the Sunday decline.

However, that hasn't phased regular attendees, who have taken advantage of new initiatives to hold services at more convenient times and places for congregants.