Hundreds of Oxfordshire people will be invited "back to church" during a national event in September.

So far 34 of the county's churches have signed up for Back to Church Sunday (BTCS) on Sunday, September 30.

The idea behind the event is to attract people keen to go to a service, but who would like to be invited. Research carried out by Christian relief and development agency Tearfund found one in seven adults in the UK attends a Christian church and 3m who do not said they would if they were invited. Woodstock's St Mary Magdalene Church took part in BTCS last year and enjoyed a boost in numbers attending.

The vicar, Canon Roger Humphreys, said: "We thought it was a good idea to give people the chance to get back to church. Once you have got out of the habit it can be hard to come back without being invited."

He said last year 150 people were sent invitations and about 40 new people attended church.

He said: "We sent them to people we knew. This year we are hoping to send them to everyone in Woodstock.

"It was a trial run last time and we had a good turn out to what was a typical family service."

Mr Humphreys' church usually gets more than 100 people attending family services, sometimes increasing to 200. He said if BTCS was a success the church might launch an Alpha Course.

Alpha Courses are an opportunity for people to find out more about Christianity.

Mr Humphreys said the Tearfund survey results were a "challenge to the Church".

He said: "It is much easier to go to anything if you are invited and that is what we are trying to do."

BTCS was first tried out in Manchester in 2004 when an estimated 1,600 people resp- onded to the invitation.

Since then 7,500 people have walked back through church doors as a result.

The scheme is now growing and this year will be happening in dioceses as far apart as Chelmsford and Ripon.

For more information log on at the Oxford Diocese website, www.oxford.anglican.org