The revival so quiet you can’t actually hear it?

Three years ago I wrote a comment piece for Evangelicals Now suggesting that there was a quiet work of God taking place in the churches and we had not noticed it.

Imagine my delight when the Bible Society published “The Quiet Revival”, a survey by YouGov showing that church attendance in the UK had risen by 50% in the last six years and that the main growth was among young people. Only 4% of young people attended church at least once a month in 2018, now the figure is 16%.

The Bible Society’s numbers raised questions though. Writing for en, Rebecca Chapman pointed out an important problem: “Data from the denominations themselves indicates a decline over the period between 2018/19 and 2023 in both Catholic and Church of England attendance.” She was not the only one to point this out, Humanists UK commented: “Where is this quiet revival? It is so quiet we can’t see it!”

Despite this, I quietly congratulated myself on having a prophetic edge to my ministry. I’m in my autumn years and every encouragement is welcome! But then I read a recent article by David Voas, emeritus professor of social science at University College London who specialises in religious change in modern societies.

Voas had cast a professional eye over the Bible Society’s data and pointed out that “people opt in to YouGov’s survey panel and are rewarded after completing a certain number of surveys. The risk of low-quality or even bogus responses is considerable”. The YouGov data were not a random sample of the whole population, and the Bible Society have not yet published its data set, a basic expectation in modern scientific work.

'Life is more than data'

Voas concludes that the survey is misleading and runs counter to the numbers from the denominations themselves. But life is more than data. Three years ago, I was optimistic for non-statistical reasons. Here they are:

1. First was the success of Alpha and Christianity Explored. Reaching out through natural networks of friends and family, giving people time to digest and discuss the gospel, is fruitful. Many of my friends were converted this way and are still faithful years later.
2. Second was the arrival of Christians and new converts from other cultures. Immigration has brought a cultural richness and new growth to many churches. We were only a small fellowship in Sunderland but at one point we had to run simultaneous translation into Mandarin and Farsi. Missionaries coming home after a lifetime of service overseas found themselves unable to retire because the gospel door was off its hinges!
3. And then there was social action. We followed the example of a church in Newcastle and found ways to serve the lonely, the addicted, and the homeless. Ten years later we have “Soul Church” – a messy, challenging community of people with rough backgrounds trying to follow Jesus. And it is not just us; this is happening all over the country.

Three years ago I asked the question: “Is the church declining, or being purified, and are we witnessing a low-intensity, slow-burn revival?” I still think the answer is yes, but a lot of the people being added to the church will not show up in a YouGov poll; they are under the radar. While our traditional denominations are in steady decline, the younger church movements are growing.

As Winston Churchill said in a speech on VE Day: “We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing!”