The Quiet Revival

Could this UK phenomenon cross the Atlantic and come to Canada?

Something has changed in the UK, particularly England and Wales, and it’s beginning to look an awful lot like a revival. Yet not like revivals in the past. No dynamic, charismatic leader, no specific epicentre, no extended, intense, meetings-- rather, a remarkable, verifiable, groundswell of people committing themselves to Christ, both in belief and active practice. It’s an organic movement of turning, or perhaps returning, to faith, most notably among the young, and particularly among men.

In January, The Gospel Coalition published an article documenting what seems to be a “Surprising Rebirth of Faith” among the students at Oxford University. It proved to be a teaser for what was coming.

Aware that something was afoot, the UK Bible Society commissioned a study to verify the anecdotal evidence and released it in April. Here’s the link:

…. read it, it’s stunning!

According to the Bible Society study, the number of those who consider themselves Christians and attend services at least once a month has risen 56%, from 8% to 12% since 2018. The numbers are even more dramatic among the 18-24 year old demographic with the increase since 2018 exploding from 4% to 16%. Then, among the young men of this age bracket, the growth is astonishing, rising from 4% to 21%! That’s right, in England and Wales, 21% of the young men consider themselves to be a Christian and attend services at least once a month, a 425% increase over 6 years!

These are not the cultural Christians of yesteryear, who tick the box because there is a Christian heritage somewhere in their family or they sentimentally prefer clergy to officiate at weddings and funerals. Because we have gone through years of cultural hostility to Christianity, those who didn’t really believe or practice their faith have abandoned all association with the Church. The hostility of the world has meant Christianity had a social cost to it and this has weeded out those for whom it was a mere cultural identity. This purging has been one of the factors in the Christian demographic numbers dropping over the last decades, but now because those numbers are turning around, we can be more confident that the people who are professing Christianity have made a choice to do so. They are Christians of conviction, belief, and practice.

THE CHURCHES MOST IMPACTED

It's also very interesting which churches are the main benefactors of this Quiet Revival. In the UK, the Church of England, which has drifted into progressive, liberal, theology, continues to lose its relevance, getting much older and shrinking in numbers.

This isn’t where those newly hungry for faith are looking, rather, they are heading to the Catholic and Pentecostal churches. Even though these churches are wildly different, and land at the polar opposites of the denominational spectrum, where they overlap is that they are unashamedly orthodox in their beliefs regardless of how the cultural winds are blowing and that they heartily embrace the concept of mystery. They believe in the supernatural and expect their faith to include a mysterious interface between heaven and earth, centred in Christ. While morality and social justice are wonderful by-products, these are not their central mandates. These are churches where the knowledge of God is pursued, yet with an expectation that communion with God will always have elements of un-earthly, strangeness, outside our control or understanding.

You probably know I wrote a book on Canadian revivals, documenting our most significant revivals and the key takeaway principles we can learn from each one. What’s happening in the UK doesn’t look like anything we’ve experienced, the closest comparison would be the Jesus Movement, and that’s what makes this move of God so incredibly exciting.

A WIDER CULTURAL SHIFT

If it were a few exceptional churches that were being visited by a move of the Spirit, I’d rejoice but recognise it was more likely to remain a British phenomenon. However, because this is a cultural shift, not a location-specific visitation, a Quiet Revival might just become Canada’s experience as well!

The authors of the UK study suggest there are two primary factors that have led to this revival.

1. After years of being demeaned, being a Christian has recently become more culturally acceptable. Public thinkers, commentators, and podcasters are looking at Christianity more seriously, treating it with genuine respect. Many are actually converting and professing their faith publicly. You know the names. These are the influencers that speak to the younger generation in particular. And, while the US and the UK are at the forefront of this trend, it is unquestionably global.
   
   I remember the shift towards favour during the Jesus Movement that happened when I was a young teenager. It was suddenly cool to be a Christian, to have Jesus stickers plastered all over your school binders, to attend prayer meetings and youth events. If you want to get a feel for this cultural vibe shift, watch the Jesus Revolution movie, it captures the phenomenon well.
   
   It wasn’t universal, there were still mockers, there always will be. But it was enough of a shift to give the hungry, permission to run after God without worrying of being totally ostracized and ridiculed by friends or family. This is what’s happening now.
   

2. There is a longing for meaning, order, and belonging in the younger generation. Being raised in secularism (even atheism) has stripped the idea of a higher purpose and a greater meaning from the life of young adults. If we only live for pleasure we discover sooner or later, it’s a path that leads to emptiness and hopelessness. Yet, we intuitively know there must be more. We were made for God, and a life without a higher purpose turns dark. This need is now coming to a head.

The younger generation has not just been raised in this spiritual wasteland, where they are told to construct their own identity, values, and meaning, but then Covid drove them into isolation and anxiety. While the Covid restrictions are gone, the mental health struggles that the pandemic exacerbated remain as chronic, crippling, problems.

HEALING THE ANXIETY

The UK study shows that young women in general, have the worst levels of mental health of all the demographics, with 63% stating that they frequently feel anxious or depressed. However, for the young women who attend church regularly, this number drops dramatically to 42%. Obviously, this is still too high and needs ministry care, but the gap in these statistics is a wonderful testimony to the peace and purpose that Christ gives.

For young men, mental health is also a challenge, but in addition, they are dogged with a profound sense of isolation. Here as well, through the Church, Christ is making a huge difference in lives. For young Christian men who regularly attend church, 68% state that they feel connected to community, in contrast to only 27% of non-churchgoing young men. Again, a remarkable testimony that speaks to the deep need for belonging that we all feel, a longing that is being met by Christ through the Church in the UK.

A RISE IN REAL SOCIAL JUSTICE

The increase in Christianity in the UK is bearing fruit as people are beginning to thrive in new ways, but there is also an increase in authentic social justice engagement, not just performative virtue signaling. This is always what revival has done; God uses it to transform lives, and as that transformation is lived out, it brings societal change.

Could this revival cross the Atlantic? There are already encouraging signs in the US. Although we don’t have the hard data that the Bible Society has collected, there is much anecdotal evidence of a marked increase of the Church in the US, while just like in the UK, a fading of cultural Christianity.

But what about Canada?

COULD GOD MOVE LIKE THIS IN CANADA?

As a nation, we tend to be a bit of a cultural laggard. A clear example of this is the transgender ideology that that has been collapsing in the UK and the US, yet is still hanging on, quite firmly entrenched in Canada. We tend to be slower in making these cultural shifts, we hold on to older ideas longer. So, keep praying and anticipate that we will need a couple of years to catch up. There is no reason that the Quiet Revival couldn’t spread and awaken desperately hungry Canadians to their need for God as it has in the UK. The same podcasters and influencers who are popular in the US and UK are widely listened to in Canada. The same years of secular spiritual wasteland have left Canadians longing for something more, something supernatural, and something unchanging, just as much as they have with the Americans and Brits. We are ripe for a move of God, a Quiet Revival.

I have long taught on praying for revival and encouraged Canadians to contend for a new move of God, particularly for the sake of the younger generation. With revival already a reality in other nations, I remind us of the principle of Zech 10:1, ask God fervently and persistently in the season of outpouring – for outpouring!

“Ask the LORD for rain in the season of spring rain.
The LORD makes the rain clouds, and he will give them showers of rain and crops in the field for everyone.”