Following on from last week’s ‘thought’….
This week I tuned into the Religion Media Centre Briefing on Tuesday lunchtime which discussed a recent Bible Society/YouGov report entitled ‘The Quiet Revival’. This 2024 nationally representative survey based on 13,000 responses has found a 50% increase in church attendance (from 8% to 12%, including 4 times as many Gen Z young people aged 18-24 and five times as many young men).
Dr Peter Brierley suggested that one predominant factor in this time period was Covid but it was unclear how this related. Other factors were new churches, especially Pentecostal churches. Dr Tim Hutchings, from the University of Nottingham, reiterated that the spike wasn’t showing up in any other data sets from mainstream denominational churches, in fact the Church of England reports that attendance is still down from pre-Covid levels.
Maybe the isolation and anxiety issues brought on by Covid has triggered an interest in Christian things; maybe the young are worshipping on line rather than visiting Church buildings. Alongside this survey, Bible sales are up and Charity shops are appealing for more Bible donations because they can’t keep up with demand.
Something is happening! This survey also shows that nominal Christianity is declining – if a respondent says they are Christian – they are much more likely to be actually living the faith rather than labelling themselves in line with their family tradition or to impress.
Maybe especially young men, finding themselves with an identity crisis, are being raised up by Jesus, just as He raised the widow of Nain’s son (Luke7:11-17). Are we, as Churches, ready should we have an influx of new young Christians to nurture and love? It’s exactly what we’ve been praying for but what do we need to do to welcome and accept these new disciples into our churches?