The rise in the incidence of cohabitation without marriage in a number of countries is sometimes temporary, leading eventually to marriage, or is treated as an alternative to the institution of marriage. The latter is frequent in the Netherlands and in Scandinavian countries but less so in central Europe.A panel of the Church of England recommended in 1994 that the phrase "living in sin" be abandoned and that unmarried couples, whether heterosexual or homosexual, be more readily welcomed into Christian congregations.