Recent weeks have been encouraging for Christians in Great Britain. Statistics from the Bible Society and anecdotal evidence over Easter all suggest that more and more people are coming to church, many for the first time in their lives. Even our atheist Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, felt the need to pay his respects to the nation's Christians at Easter.
Now a specialist in evangelism and missiology has looked at four responses Christians should have to this “quiet revival”, and how we can turn it into something bigger.
Phil Knox, writing for the Evangelical Alliance, noted a number of data points, from opinion polls to Bible sales, that all suggest interest in and practice of Christianity is on the rise.
“If reviewed in isolation one of these studies could arguably be labelled as an outlier. But together, they serve as a useful indicator that there has been a change in the spiritual climate," he said.
“Alongside this, I am hearing from many church leaders reporting significant growth and my social media timeline was recently full of churches packed out to overflowing on Easter Sunday. “
Knox noted that first of all as Christians we are called not to lose hope. Our God has no limits, and so we should not be surprised that he can bring a revival at the most surprising of moments.
The resurrection of Jesus is a case in point. No one took the prospect seriously, despite Jesus clearly saying it would happen.
Knox quotes GK Chesterton, “On five occasions in history the church has gone to the dogs, but on each occasion, it was the dogs that died.”
Secondly Knox questioned if we as Christians or as churches are ready to receive new people. While a seeker may go to church once out of curiosity, if they do not find a welcoming environment of people wanting to walk on the path of faith together, they may not come a second time.
Knox also noted that if we are indeed seeing the beginnings of a revival, we must not waste this time: “Since I have been aware of the shift that is happening, I have intensified my prayers and pushed further in conversations with my friends who are not yet believers. In harvest terms, ‘the fruit may be riper than ever before’.”
Finally, Knox reminded all believers to continue praying for God’s Kingdom to come and his will be done. The work of saving souls is not one that man does alone, but together with God: “I do not believe we are in full scale revival, but we may be seeing the first fruits. Let’s commit to praying for more and believing for greater, locally, nationally and globally. Your kingdom come, your will be done Lord.”
In June the Evangelical Alliance will be publishing its own research into what lies behind the current “quiet revival”. The research will look at the individual stories of 300 new Christians and what led them to faith.
