Polling may be debated, but on the ground a spiritual hunger is growing in the UK.

Is there really a “quiet revival” happening in the UK – or has it been overstated?

There’s been a lot of noise and news recently around polling, faith, and most recently the “quiet revival” – some preferred the word “awakening” and I have said the same because a revival spills over from the church into the nation, but whatever your preferred term research involving YouGov and reporting connected to the Bible Society has been withdrawn as flawed, with questions raised about methodology and conclusions.

Some have said, ‘I told you so – it was too good to be true.’ (The people I’ve read saying that kind of thing don’t seem to think it would be good if it were true). So when I heard about how YouGov fluffed it thought yes – that’s disappointing, we should care about accuracy of course.

But having said that – I’m not nearly as concerned as some people seem to be by the news, because what I’m seeing – and what many others are seeing – doesn’t come from a spreadsheet – but from the Spirit! 

Something IS Happening 

Check out my recent podcasts where I talk with people at the coal face and they all state that across the UK, and especially among Gen Z, there are clear signs of renewed spiritual interest and engagement. 

* Bible sales are surging

* Spiritual curiosity is increasing – churches in Manchester are running seekers course like Alpha back to back. Here we are running my Knowing Growing Going courses too all the time because

* Questions about meaning, identity, and purpose are everywhere and people are turning up at churches looking for answers. Ask our welcome team! 

On the ground, in real churches, with real people, we are seeing it! 

At Ivy, week after week, people are showing up – not out of habit, but hunger. They’re asking honest questions. They’re open. They’re searching, and when I speak with other leaders in Bible-believing, Spirit-filled churches – I hear the same thing again and again:

“Something’s shifted!”

You can’t convince me that nothing is happening when we’re watching it unfold in real time.

The Danger of the “Doom Loop”

For over a decade – especially pre and throughout COVID – church leaders like me have been fed a steady diet of doom. 

“Nobody’s interested anymore.”

“Christianity is fading.”

“Manage the decline.”

If you hear that long enough, you really start to believe it, which changes how you lead, how you preach, even how you pray.

Before long, you’re not expecting people to come – so you stop being ready to help them if and when they do.

In my lectures for WTC I used to finish my course on leadership with quotes from Harvard’s Rosabeth Moss Kanter who describes in her work on Confidence how losing teams (in sports, business, you name it) often see themselves as losers before they actually lose and then it becomes a self-reinforcing cycle.

A doom loop.

What If Faith Changes What We See?

My friend and prayer partner Andy Hawthorne of The Message, a world changer of ever there was one, always reminds me of what Jesus’ words that;

 “According to your faith it will be done for you.”

(Matthew 9:29) 

It’s not according to your location, 

It’s not according to your denomination, 

It’s according to your expectation – it will be done for you. 

What if, for too long, we’ve been expecting decline…and so we’ve only been able to have faith for less, and therefore we do less, see more decline – discipling ourselves into scarcity and pessimism?

Are You Smoking What You’re Selling?

I recall hearing John Maxwell tell the story of two shoe salesmen sent to a remote Island to sell shoes. After arriving, the first salesman called the home office and told them that he’d be returning the next day because no one on the Island even wore shoes.

The second salesman arrived and saw the same thing. He too called the home office but instead of telling them that he was returning tomorrow – he told them to send 10,000 pairs of shoes because everyone needed them!

We are meant to be in the FAITH business – so how do we see the situation we are in and how open people are? In every endeavour and enterprise, that expectation factor totally changes what we do.

A Different Kind of “Bias”

We often warn against confirmation bias – seeing only what confirms what we already believe but honestly, the Church in the west has had a negative confirmation bias for years. Despite Jesus’ promise of a prevailing church that the gates of hell cannot withstand – 

We’ve expected less…

so we’ve noticed less…

so we’ve seen less…

so we’ve believed less.

But what if faith creates a different lens? Not denial or spin.

Simple faith stirred up again when we encourage one another with what we are seeing and we pray like we believe God really is still large and in charge. 

It really does make all the difference if and when leaders believe that yes – 

– The gospel still works

– Jesus still changes lives

– People are searching and open and positive

– And the Church still has something the world desperately needs

(All of this by the way is totally backed up in recent the UK by the Talking Jesus and the EA’s report on how this is the most spiritually open year in living memory – whatever happened with YouGov). 

When our faith is stirred and we start believing those things in the Creeds again – not theoretically, but practically, not theologically but passionately – we begin to act differently.

We pray differently.

We invite differently.

We preach differently – with expectation of ready responses.

We create space for questions and connections and for people to find community. 

And suddenly… guess what… we start seeing more – of what we were believing for. According to our faith, it’s getting done. 

Maybe This Is A Moment To Seize The Day

So yes – let’s keep get better data but anyone who thinks polls are accurate of what people really think do or believe needs their head examined anyway (Brexit anyone?).

Let’s be honest about reality and avoid hype, but don’t let’s not swing so far into caution that we miss seeing what God is actually doing and pray for more, more and more! 

Because from where I’m standing every Sunday, 

People are open.

Young people are searching.

Lives (and eternities) are being changed.

Maybe the accurate picture won’t show up quickly in national statistics, but rather in those natural conversations about the supernatural happening every Sunday in a church near you – when another one walks in saying, “I don’t really know why I’m here… but I think I need God.”

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