A Quiet UK Revival?
Reports of a rising spiritual quickening among Britain's youth
I remember thinking broadcaster and writer Justin Brierley was being a tad premature when, in March 2024, he wrote an article for The Spectator titled, ‘A Christian Revival is Underway in Britain’.
Sensational Reversal
In his piece, Brierley – author of the book, ‘The Surprising Rebirth Of Belief in God’ – mainly referenced the upsurge in cultural Christianity of secular influencers such as Tom Holland, Jordan Peterson and Douglas Murray; also noting that a number of others – among them former atheist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, comedian Russell Brand and author Paul Kingsnorth – had all been public about their recent coming to faith. As it turned out, that article became the most read piece in The Spectator for the whole of 2024.
A year later and out pours a flow of statistics that seem to support Brierley’s claims. New research from The Bible Society shows that Britain is in fact experiencing a ‘Quiet Revival’. The findings were based on two very large YouGov surveys and constitute “an incredible methodically rigorous poll, with a high level of confidence” (personal correspondence with The Bible Society). Both the Christian media (read here, here and here) and the mainstream media (read here, here and here) have been reporting widely – and enthusiastically – on the findings.
For decades we seem to have been hearing nothing but church decline – especially within the traditional denominations; the Christian faith being rejected in favour of a secular rationalism. The new data sensationally reverses held beliefs that Christianity is declining in Britain. Over 13,000 people were surveyed on church involvement across England and Wales. Data was compared to a near-identical study of a similar sample group in 2018.
Bible Society Figures
-
Across all age groups, church attendance in England and Wales increased by a massive 56% between 2018 and 2024. There are now over 2 million more people attending church than there were six years ago.
-
Most notably, attendance among Gen Z (ages 18-24) has quadrupled, from 4% to 16%. A separate survey in January 2025 indicated that a quarter of Gen X (born between 1965 and 1980) identify as atheist – but this falls to 13% amongst Gen Z.
There are now over 2 million more people attending church than there were six years ago.
-
The report found significant, broad-based growth among most expressions of Church – but particularly in Roman Catholicism and Pentecostalism.
-
The most dramatic finding was that the number of young men joining churches now outstrips the number of young women joining. Previously, young men had been the social group least likely to engage with Church.
-
The Church is also becoming more ethnically diverse, with one in five people (19%) coming from an ethnic minority.
-
The report identifies younger people being particularly warm to spirituality, with 40% of 18–24-year-olds saying they pray at least monthly and 51% saying they’ve undertaken 'a spiritual practice' in the last six months – the highest of any age group.
-
34% of non-churchgoing 18-24 year-olds say they would attend church if invited by a friend or family member and a quarter (25%) say they would be interested in discovering more about the Bible.
-
Whilst recent years have seen male influencers promote traditional values as a form of masculinity, the increase in young men in church is noted by the survey’s authors as being more 'organic'.
Mass Gatherings
Certainly, for the past couple of years, heart-warming reports have been pouring through of an uptick in the Christian faith from all over the UK.
Churches like Holy Trinity Brompton in West London and Hillsong Church are said to be constantly “rammed” with young people and are experiencing significant growth. Five London Hillsong churches baptise around 500 people each year.
Last summer, more than 6,000 young people gathered at Wembley for the first night of a UK and Ireland tour by Send, a catalytic international youth movement with the purpose of activating believers to live missional lifestyles at home and abroad.
Just last month (March), The Send hosted its first-ever Arena event in Scotland, when over 3,500 people gathered in a Glasgow stadium to lift up the Name of Jesus. 1,100 stood to be sent to witness boldly for Christ in their local schools, universities and neighbourhoods.
Such gatherings aren’t confined to evangelical / charismatic groups. Also last month, 10,000 young Catholics gathered from across the nation for Flame, the UK’s largest Catholic youth event, held at Wembley stadium.
Unprecedented Openness
The UK-based movement Fusion has been sharing the stories of lives transformed at university for decades. But in the last year, the nature of these testimonies has changed. Students are dreaming dreams, seeing visions and, increasingly, encountering Jesus through the Bible. The study found that half of all students think the Bible is relevant to today’s world - 1.2 million young adults in the UK.
There is excited talk of a hunger for God’s presence in young people that hasn’t been seen in a generation.
Then come multiple stories of young people happening to attend a church service without some kind of relational link or invitation. There is excited talk of a hunger for God’s presence in young people that hasn’t been seen in a generation. Young people sharing their faith in school, starting Christian Union groups and seeing their friends come to know God.
Detailed personal testimonies are even appearing in the secular press of thousands of young men who have recently “found the Church - and salvation from modern life.” Another secular website, The Conservative Woman, was happy to publish an article on Easter Sunday, arguing that the physical resurrection of Jesus from the dead was no myth but based on solid, reliable evidence.
Another 
strong indicator that the tide of faith is turning is statistics produced by The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK). They reported an 87% increase in purchases of the Bible between 2019 and 2024 – a jump from £2.7 million to £5 million spent on copies in the last five years. The evangelistic Alpha Course also continues to be popular across the country, and indeed around the world. It’s perhaps no surprise that the average age of people on the Alpha course is 18 to 35.
Campus revivals USA
Such encouraging reports are not only coming from within the UK – other western nations are sharing in the growth. In America, a striking plethora of dramatic bursts of revival activity have taken place all over the country since the well-publicised Asbury revival in 2023. Charisma magazine highlighted eleven Universities that experienced revival in 2024, including Florida State University, Liberty University, Virginia, and the University of Alabama.
These campus awakenings continue apace, with similar movements occurring in various locations in the early months of 2025 – notably at Ohio State University and the University of Kentucky.
Research by Barna, part of the State of the Church 2025 initiative, reveals that 66% of U.S. adults affirm a personal commitment to Jesus that remains vital, a 12-point leap from 2021’s record low of 54%. Meanwhile, a report by the University of Chicago reveals that there are around 10 million more Bible users in the States in 2025 than there were a year ago – notably millennials (a 29% jump), and men (a 19% increase).
In Norway, every fifth person enrolled in the national Church is between the ages of 25 and 34.
Europe and Australia
Even in mainland Europe, often regarded as the least Christian of the world’s continents, encouraging reports are to be found. In France, the Catholic Church welcomed more than 10,300 adult catechumens this Easter, marking a 45% increase from 2024 figures – which itself were up 32% on the previous year, constituting the largest intake of adult converts in France in living memory, and, notably, mainly comprising young people.
Still within the Catholic Church, in the southern France city of Toulouse, a remarkable renewal has been occurring among the town’s student population. ‘We can’t keep up with the number of students requesting baptism’, noted one leader.
In Finland, church attendance among 18-to-29-year-old men more than doubled between 2011 and 2019. The same uptick applies to their prayer habits and belief in God. In Norway, every fifth person enrolled in the national Church is between the ages of 25 and 34.
On the other side of the planet, in Australia, a recent new highly-regarded survey found that Gen Z males are now more likely to identify with Christianity than their female counterparts (40% compared with 30%).
Traditional Denominations
Even the State Church, the Church of England – widely regarded as being in terminal decline – has seen a degree of growth - the number of people attending services increasing by 5% in 2023 (the most recent report) to almost a million regular worshippers (though attendance remains lower than pre-Covid figures).
2024 figures may be more promising still. The National Church has been buoyed by the fact that more people than ever before are looking for a local church on its dedicated search page, AChurchNearYou.Com. Page views rose significantly from 128 million in 2023 to 199 million in 2024. The website also recorded a massive increase of 268% growth in shares to social media pages and devices on the previous year.
Then there’s the Catholic Church, which has also had its share of negative headlines in recent years. But last week, The Telegraph reported on ‘The extraordinary resurgence of the Catholic faith in Britain’. Many from Gen Z are turning to Roman Catholicism, in part encouraged by traditional Catholic influencers they’ve found online.
About half of those being received in Westminster are new converts who want to be baptized, and a great many are young.
At the vigil of the Lord’s Resurrection this past Easter weekend, the London Catholic diocese of Southwark received 450 new candidates and catechumens — a decade high — while Westminster recorded 500 new faithful, up by 25% from the previous year. About half of those being received in Westminster are new converts who want to be baptized, and a great many are young.
Many people - of all ages, but especially young, single men - are also flocking to the Orthodox Church after discovering the 'masculine' Christian religion through online influencers. It appears that the ancient forms of Christian faith, with wisdom and liturgies stretching back millennia, have become more attractive to young adults seeking a solid foundation on which to stand.
The Figures Scrutinised
And yet …. The Bible Society survey reveals monthly attendance figures in the Church of England as going from 1.5 million to 2 million – a 30% growth. This seems incredible when all we hear is of dwindling aged congregations. Indeed, the Church of England’s own record of monthly church attendance shows a decrease …….from 1.1 million to 1 million.
Similarly, the Catholic Church’s weekly mass attendance between 2019 and 2023 was officially reported to have gone down from 700,000 to 550,000. The Bible Society survey, in distinction, shows numbers going up from 850,000 to 1.8 million – an astonishing 112% growth. Clearly, there is a degree of discrepancy here, suggesting differing methods of estimating attendance.
Clearly, migration has contributed significantly to the church growth in the UK – migrants increasingly stemming from nominally Christian regions of in Africa and South Asia. This might help account for The Bible Society’s reported massive monthly quadrupling (292% increase) in Pentecostal attendance in the 7-year timespan (2018-24) – rising from 150,000 to 600,000.
Reality on the Ground
It's clear that the great majority of stories, testimonies and reports shared in this article relates to the younger generation – those in their mid-late teens and twenties. And that’s not surprising when talking of revival – ‘quiet’ or otherwise. Virtually all historic revivals worldwide have occurred predominantly among the young – older converts generally being the exception.
And yet, a much-noted Times article from earlier this year, based on a poll of Gen Z, suggested that young people in the UK and USA are becoming more ‘spiritual’ but not ‘religious’ – both less atheist and less Christian. Even by the Bible Society’s own figures, most of Gen Z don’t claim to believe in God, and less than a third say they are Christian. We cannot complacently sit back and wait for Gen Z youth to walk into our churches and quickly surrender to Christ.
The main problem with the Bible Society report is that nobody I speak to, from varying regions of the country, can relate to some the statistics quoted: a 56% increase in adults attending church (2018-24); 21% of young men attending church at least once a month, significant church growth across the racial and generational spectrum.
We cannot complacently sit back and wait for Gen Z youth to walk into our churches and quickly surrender to Christ.
While many are encouraged by signs of the Spirit moving in their midst, most church leaders I know aren’t seeing these statistics being evidenced in their own localities. One noted: “When revival happens, in whatever form it takes, I don’t think we will need a survey to point it out – it will be quite obvious.” Another, while noting the reported growth in church attendance in recent years, pointed out that the UK's population has also increased significantly over that time.
Testimonies abundant
But, most interestingly, a video-clip by N. Ireland pastor Jamie Bambrick enthusing about the Bible Society report has already received hundreds of replies, a surprising number of them, from all age groups, from people testifying to having found Church or found Christ for the first time in recent months. Heart-warming comments such as the following, chosen at random, abound:
-
‘I’m 21 (Male, UK), and I’ve converted in the last month.’;
-
‘Ex Muslim here. Christ is king’;
-
I'm 70 last month. I came back to the church 2 years ago. It has changed my life for good and I'm being baptised today!
-
‘Mid-30s here. Started going to church a few months ago. It was a good decision.’
-
‘Started practicing Christianity in 2020 and I am so glad I found peace, my anxiety is gone and I read the Bible everyday’
-
‘I'm 54. I've recently received the gift of forgiveness, having been away from my faith for 18 years.’
Praying for More
Despite concerns over a few of the specific statistics quoted in the Bible Society’s report, the evidence from a wide range of sources indeed suggests that something of a quiet spiritual movement occurring, at least among Gen Z, across the United Kingdom.
Societal institutions, trust and community have all been fragmenting, and our culture has experienced a deepening crisis of meaning, alongside a rising sense of instability, uncertainty and anxiety. The misery, depression and angst of Gen Z has left a God shaped hole. Many are looking to the Church to regain a sense of hope and purpose.
Growth in church attendance is not to be confused with people decidedly surrendering their lives to Christ.
This is heart-warming news – immensely encouraging to all who have been faithfully praying for God to move in our midst. Yet beginnings of a spiritual shift is one thing. Growth in church attendance is not to be confused with people decidedly surrendering their lives to Christ.
We’ve long stated at Prophecy Today our belief that as the cost-of-living crisis deepens across the UK, restrictions on our freedom tighten and times generally get tougher, people would start to be shaken out of their complacency, and in the upheaval they find themselves in, begin turning to God in significant numbers.
Let’s pray that the spiritual quickening already begun within the UK will lead to real spiritual transformation in thousands of Gen Z lives; and further, that it will spread across the generational, cultural and racial spectrums, so that multitudes will be gathered into the kingdom of God, in our day.