I think most readers of this blog will be aware of the quiet revival. If they are not, I suggest they get a hold of the Quiet Revival report, published by the Bible Society and run by YouGov on behalf of the Bible Society. It compares attitudes and Church attendance in 2018 to 2024; both sample sizes were over 10k in number, and so this piece of research is real evidence of what the Bible Society has coined as the ‘Quiet Revival’ and new openness to Church and attendance by young men, and those on the conservative right. Something, within my own ministry, I’ve been talking about and seeing for a while.
I recently attended a very well-organised and well-attended conference run by Glen Scrivener & Justin Brierley, a former Christian Premier Radio host who has done much work charting and speaking on the ‘Surprising Rebirth of Belief in GOD’ of ‘Speak Life’ ministries. Whilst it was a great day out, and a gathering of like-minded souls, I found myself somewhat frustrated by both the analysis of the causes and what the Church can do to respond to this moment of opportunity. Glen’s own analysis was genuinely impactful and insightful in that he saw one of the causes of the quiet revival as the end of the ‘Hitler Story,’ which is to say that since the end of WWII the Western liberal world has been traumatised by the horrors of the Nazi Regime, and have simply been dedicated to not becoming, or going down any road that might lead to another Hitler or World War. As this story fades in the culture, existential angst emerges, leading people to seek a new story. The assault of the New Atheists has been weathered – and their whole movement is now waxing – whilst the Church is finding itself once again being a natural refuge for people fleeing from materialism and a vacuous hedonism.
However, I was surprised that other causes were largely left unexplored. The power of social media, the impact of the lockdown, the sense of existential threat from Islam, or the Progressive overreach. Many people I have met have spoken of how watching a YouTube video (not necessarily mine) played a pivotal role in moving their thinking forward on the question of GOD and faith. We are currently living in a new golden age of apologetics in the Church, and social media evangelism (where the public debate is happening) must surely be key in people coming to faith or gaining an interest in learning more about Christianity, yet this was not touched. Nor was the issue the Lockdown; when so many people reevaluated their lives, and many more people started watching Church on social media than had actually attended it. One of the common refrains I have heard from people who are the actual embodiment of the quiet revival is that they saw ‘evil’ in the trans ideology – in the way it went so deliberately after children; and was so obviously fueled for many by hatred; that this made them recoil; and think to themselves, ‘if evil exists – there must be a GOD’; fallacious reasoning or not; it is beside the point; it is this kind of thinking that made many start to enquire a fresh into the Christian faith. Similarly many – recoiled at the horrific celebratory and reaction to Hamas’s mass murder of Jews in Israel; and have begun to see the existential threat posed by a bourgeoning and growing Islamist population amongst the Muslim community; and its blossoming into a political and cultural force able to make the Liberal elites cower; they have moved right in politics; and for some, as they have then sought to find the grounding under their feet; in working out their own identity and reasoning behind their new found political outlook; have followed the tributaries from which European Culture has emerged to its Christian source. However sadly none of this was discussed; and I have to wonder, if once again, it might be down to the possibility of polite middle class Christianity; the captivity of comfortableness; and not wishing to say anything ‘edgy’ or too confrontational; that meant these issues were skipped over; I genuinely believe the Church suffers from a middle class blindness; and this blind spot consistently trips it up.
I genuinely did not get anything of use from the ‘what should we do about it’ section apart from ‘Christian Nationalists’ are bad – don’t be a Christian nationalist. However, beyond that, I really – genuinely – and sincerely – came away with nothing useful, practical, or theoretical to run with. So, from this frustration, as I really was there in the hope of finding ways to respond, I have decided to write this article. (Some intro, huh!). I am doing so to offer my own response, and what I think we as the Christian peoples should do in response to Kyros’ moment, this moment of opportunity, which I feel will wane soon enough if the Church fails to cultivate this small flame into a raging fire.
We firstly need to relearn hospitality, young men are coming in (predominantly from the political right), the church needs to welcome – ‘as they are’ and not lecture them, not make our churches so alt left, or so politically timid, that all we offer them are Bible studies, cake sales, Christmas fetes and retreats. We need to hear and engage with them from a strong and clear Christian identity that is allowed to express itself politically, and to offer to them a cause to fight for, under the banner of the cross with other Christians. This is what they are seeking: identity and cause, and they are animated by observable injustices, filtered through a right-of-centre lens. We need space and expression for masculine energy and not seek to stultify it through endless acts of piety and prayer meetings, and yet another song about GOD’s love! These men want to act; so let us channel all their energy into pushing for a Christian civilisation by allowing for ‘new’ expressions of Church life properly adapted to their temperaments. We need to make them feel welcome and that they can and do belong. Let us not infantilise them or treat them like wounded, broken people needing lots of gushy, gooey love, but let us harness their anger and their hurt, channeling it in a godly direction whilst offering a healing balm! Let us treat them – as they want to be seen – warriors; but mould them into warriors for Christ and his holy church.
The study shows an incredible openness amongst Gen Z to prayer, reading the Bible, and going to Church – if it is done through friendships. So I would suggest every church encourages its congregations to form up into their church friendship groups; write down the names of all their friends; and then systematically, go through the list, befriending, praying, studying the bible with them; or encouraging them to study alone and come back with questions; and then inviting them to participate in Church activities. Each time someone converts, they join the friendship circle that converted them, and the process is repeated. I’ve never been to a Church that has tried to evangelise in this way; however, I am confident it would work. The report also shows what was described at the conference as ‘biblical fragility’: people were engaging with scripture but being challenged by it. This, like so many other data points, highlights again that the Church needs to adopt apologetics into the everyday life of the Church. Furthermore, since NOW is a time of revival, we must organise ourselves accordingly. So I would lay this challenge on the doorstep of every church; that after the paid pastor; the second paid position in every Church, should be a full time paid evangelist; not an administrator, not a musician, cleaner, youth worker, or even an assistant pastor; but a full time evangelist; someone paid – whose sole job is to seek the lost and bring them to encounters with the faith.
One of the most interesting things to emerge from the report is that the churches reaping the harvest are, at first glance, polar opposites: Catholic (the more traditional, the better) and Pentecostals. Why these two, you might wonder, at face value, they seem to be the exact opposite of one another. On a surface level they are: until you take the time to appreciate what they both have in common: an emphasis on the supernatural reality as experienced in this world, a clear sense of their own identity, clear expectations of what is expected to be done in their churches, often exclusory to other groups, a clear moral code of right and wrong behaviour. We are seeing people (as noted at the conference) running from a dry, rationalist, materialist world, shallow in meaning and purpose, and looking for the ‘spiritual’, the ‘mystical’, the re-enchantment of the world with the divine presence. So, give them the sacraments, give them spiritual disciplines, give them, as Tom Holland called it, the ‘weird’ or, as I would rather say, a life’s meaning not tied to this world!
I have said many times, men disciples men, not programmes, Christian men, you need to step up; and as you grow in your own faith, challenge these new believers to grow in their new faith; share your lessons learned, what worked and did not work for you; come alongside men, in common cause, spiritually, emotionally, politically and socially. Exemplify in your own life how to live as a Christian and share both insights from your own journey and lessons learned from others. Brotherhoods need to be formed – whether we call them that or not – men have a natural instinct to want to belong; an instinct to want to be on one side in competition with another side. This makes the polite middle-class church quake, but if it wants to seize this moment, it cannot be squeamish. Go on the journey together; this requires more than just a once-a-week Bible study, but a real living of life together, in which you really are part and parcel of one another’s lives.
All of this must be couched in a clear sense of our identity as Christians; as GOD’s people, as His Church, as His holy nation, a royal priesthood, who offer up their souls and bodies to be a living sacrifice to bring about the kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. We must furnish mind, heart, and sinew with Christian customs, tradition, culture; a sense of what it is to live out our salvation with fear and trembling politically, economically, socially, and culturally. We must furnish them with a complete Christian worldview, full of both doctrine and values, and regularly thinking through how to live it out in the real world; that is wise and bears fruit. We must cultivate fearlessness and firmness about being a Christian, one who is willing to die and, yes, fight! We must instill pride in that identity, cultivate its honour, and get the Christian to invest emotionally and materially in the community through marriage, friendships, work, and living. Simply put, their being church must become ALL things to them and to us!
This response to the quiet revival must be ecumenically driven. Many fellowships are completely bent out of shape and cannot cater to some of the men coming in. Churches Working Together councils can help share resources and learning, and even refer these newcomers to Churches that might be better suited to them. Churches Working Together groups could and should act like the local Christian Government, mustering the people of GOD to common causes. This should be wherever our faith legitimately interfaces with the political right, and it should also expand their worldview to embrace the catholicity of the Church’s existence. The Christian Churches cannot be seen to be fighting one another in a way that causes confusion and disillusionment to these new Christians. Instead, they should focus on mustering these men to fight against abortion, the persecution of the Church, discrimination against Christians, poverty in the church, the LGBTQ agenda, Islamification, communism, racism, libertarianism, as well as to put their energies into Christianisation and Evangelism! We need to put the needs of the quiet revival before denominational concerns, or the concerns of our own fellowship, and think of the bigger picture; that might mean Churches of the same denomination working closer together to provide a full response to the needs of the congregation. There is a real opportunity here for the Church, but it needs to be flexible to maximise the possibilities of what is happening. The Church needs to be a society within a society, providing for the full needs of the society. I do believe that in the Churches Together Networks, believing pastors must expel non-believing clergy when it becomes apparent, and not let them control the network. Due to the fact that many of these young men are coming in from the political right, we must guard against ethno-nationalist entryism, WHICH IS HAPPENING. That means we must emphasise, in discipleship, the catholicity of the Church as a non-negotiable, and the idea of our citizenry in the Kingdom as taking precedence over any prior pre-Christian identity.
There is no doubt in my mind – that social media played a role in this quiet revival, the conference acknowledged as much; and it is apparent to me; from the mail I receive, and those like me receive; additionally, it is apparent from the fact that people use social media to gain information; and we live in an information age – and so – it follows; that these men, are engaging with Christianity via social media. I know my speakers’ corner evangelism, and those like me, is watched by an audience, numbering close to a million (at least when you add all the channels together). So why was this not explored more? It was a missed opportunity. However, it shows that Churches, evangelists, and preachers need to be engaging in public conversations, from a Christian perspective, engaging with competing truth claims on social media cannot be understated! The Churches should back this by creating their own social media engagement teams, where a personality engages with socio-cultural-political issues or with polemics and apologetics against other religions. This might be helped by doing it on the street. This will result in those of interest engaging with the team on social media through emails or comments, which the team then seeks to follow up on, including one-to-one meetings, Zoom calls, and additional seminars and courses. The traditional attitudes of evangelism, that of standing on a street corner and shouting at people, have failed and need to be abandoned by the Church.
Once again, more Christianity, in all areas of life, not less, is the answer. There needs to be a narrative to hold the tension together between discipleship, mobilisation, and further evangelism; and there is one: Christendom! We must seize upon this moment to return the Christian Churches to a people, pursuing a civilisational project as an expression of their salvation. This serves 1. as a means of discipleship, engaging every Christian on every issue from a Christian perspective and giving them a vision of how to build the Kingdom, and 2) as a means of mobilization. No one can doubt in our post-Christian society that there is a lot of work to do to bring the nation back to discipleship. Finally, into what are we discipling people? Is it intellectual assent to doctrines, or the Lordship of Christ? If indeed Lordship, should that not touch upon all areas of life, including the very civilisation you are building or tearing down? Christendom is a vision of civilisation, which organises itself according to the Christian narrative, creating laws, policies, institutions, and agenda points that flow from a Christian worldview. How can any Christian oppose this? How can any Christian argue that they want pagan godless laws and ideology to be our governing principles?
I urge all of you who read this article to download the Bible Society’s report, press it into the hands of Church leaders, and impress upon them the importance of their church, either alone or working with others, responding to what is happening. I impress upon all of you the importance of engaging with the Church’s decision-making bodies. I implore all such decision-makers to devise a strategy for the next 18 months on how your congregation, alone or working with others, will cultivate and inflame this spiritual revival, and not seek to repress it or see it as a lemming response, doing nothing in response to it. CHURCH, THE QUIET REVIVAL WILL BE COUNTED IN MONTHS, NOT YEARS – WE DO NOT HAVE TIME TO WASTE TO TURN THIS SPARK INTO A RAGING FIRE! I would also say, each denomination needs to organise an emergency conference to decide upon their response to the quiet revival – to organise a cross-denominational response; the ecumenical council of churches should also seek to organise a cross-denominational response. I do hope and pray that Glen Scrivener and Justin Brierly will start a road show over the next 18months, to try and stoke the fires further around the country, as there is a decided lack of urgency or movement to seize the opportunity to evangelise to a generation of people willing to give us a hearing.
