An Easter survey of Oxford churches has revealed striking contrasts, with some suffering dwindling congregations and financial difficulties and others thriving and modernising.

A Good Friday procession from St John's Church in Kidlington

The Rev David Parry, of Holy Family Church, in Blackbird Leys, said if his church was a business it would have gone under by now.

Despite starting off as the focal point of the estate when it opened in the mid-1960s, he said the church was struggling to attract new members to its congregation.

About 50 people attend Holy Family - a combined Anglican, Methodist, United Reformed and Baptist church - each Sunday and it receives about £230 in weekly collections.

Anglican minister Mr Parry, 58, said that was not enough to cover the cost of funding two full-time ministers, a church community worker and maintaining the building, in Blackbird Leys Road.

He said: "There has been a decline in congregations and church attendances and the figures have never been very good as far as I can see in areas like Blackbird Leys.

"If this was a business it would have gone by now, but we're not financially self-sufficient. It's the will of the wider church that we should be here on the estate, so we will continue to stay.

"There are a lot of rivals for our attention nowadays. People are more mobile and when it comes to Sunday, there's no restriction to what people can do.

"But people here in Blackbird Leys are more ready to acknowledge they are in a mess - suffering from debt, drugs, broken relationships or whatever - than in other places across Oxford. "I'm disappointed that more people do not respond by coming to church and it's easy to blame oneself, but the fact is that it's such a widespread phenomenon today."

In contrast, Oxfordshire Community Churches, based at the King's Centre, in Osney Mead, Oxford, is prospering.

Mike Beaumont, 54, pastor at the non-denominational community church said: "Across the country church attendances have dwindled, but by and large churches that believe the Bible and look to make it relevant to everyday life today are the ones growing - and that includes us.

"We can get as many as 400 people for a Sunday service and our turnover across our group of 10 churches in Oxfordshire is in excess of £2m a year. That's a healthy business and reflects people's committed faith."

The Rev Jonathan Sewell said St Mary's Church, in Barton, was also thriving, with Anglican and Asian congregations and choirs.

He did not reveal how many people regularly attended, but said the congregation was at the same level - if not higher - than when the church opened in 1958. Mr Sewell said: "There are many extended families, with grandparents, parents and children, living close to each other here and the church plays an important role in their lives.

"Oxford has some very affluent, wealthy areas and on the other hand, some not-so-wealthy areas.

"The way it works is we support each other and by doing that the church as whole thrives."

In Summertown, congregation numbers at the United Reformed Church have reduced in the past 20 years.

But the Rev Ruth Whitehead, who has been at the Banbury Road church for six-and-a-half years, said change was good.

She said: "It feels like we have turned a corner. We have recognised that the church is not about people coming every Sunday. We are getting out into the local community and helping people where they want help, instead of just sitting in the church waiting for them to come to us."

Father Th Quang Nguyen, priest at St Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church in Headley Way, Headington, said: "A lot of people are still coming to mass - but attendance depends on the season. I don't expect people to come every day but attendance on Sundays is good." "We have a lot of young families in the parish and I feel very encouraged by them bringing their children to church. We are a real 'family' community."

James Bloice Smith, 51, minister of the Headington Baptist Church, said: "Certainly over my lifetime church-going has declined significantly, but today more people still go to church than go to watch football or clubbing on a Saturday night - and yet we don't concern ourselves with the decline of those.

The Rev Fleur Houston, the United Reformed Church minister at Holy Family Church, said: "I would not say the church was necessarily any less important these days.

"People in Blackbird Leys have real spiritual needs and use the church as a place where these needs can be addressed.

"There's a real openness on the estate that tends to be wrapped up in other places. The church is here and will stay here whatever happens."