The Gen Z ‘Quiet Revival’

Why Young People in the UK are Turning to Back to God, and How the Church Should Respond

Photo by Akira Hojo on Unsplash

In February 2023, a story spread across social media that a new revival was taking place in America. Later dubbed, The Asbury Awakening, Christians all over the world marvelled at how God seemed to be moving amongst young people in Kentucky.

The story goes that Asbury University held a regular chapel service like any other, and then at the end, a small number of students became overwhelmed by a sense of supernatural peace and love, so they decided to stay behind and keep praying together. Rumours spread that God was pouring out his Spirit, and people started going back to the chapel, even though it meant skipping class.

Soon after, people from around the country - and indeed the world - heard about the outpouring, and many made a pilgrimage journey to catch a glimpse of what was happening. A common report was that whenever someone entered the chapel, they were overcome with a sense of deep peace and love. Many claimed that they lost all sense of time, and forgot to eat or go to the bathroom because they were so enthralled by this experience.

Rumours spread about miraculous healings, both physical and emotional. Enemies began to reconcile. Celebrity pastors who expected to skip the que outside were turned away at the door and asked to line up like everybody else (I love that!).

The phenomenon lasted for 16 days.

While many Christians in the UK were enthusiastic about what was happening, I repeatedly came across a great deal of skepticism, particularly among the older generation. They felt that what was happening in the US was probably just hype, and that something like this would probably never happen in Britain.

But, later that year, British Christian broadcaster Justin Brierly published a book called The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God.

In it, he observed a change in attitude towards Christianity among the intellectual elite. Earlier in his career, Brierley had made a name for himself by bringing together atheists, Christians and people of other faiths to debate one another on various philosophical and theological topics. For the last few decades, there had been a prevailing hostility towards Christianity, which many of us began to take for granted.

Then, after the Covid-19 pandemic, Brierley noticed a discrete change in attitudes, and he hypothesised that this might be having an influential effect on younger generations.

Surprisingly, Christian belief was no longer seen as anti-intellectual.

Soon after the book release, he released a documentary podcast series of the same name, which quickly rose to Number 1 in ‘Religion and Spirituality’ for Apple Podcasts.

Up until recently, much of this talk seemed to only rely on anecdotal evidence. Many were still skeptical.

This was until the Bible Society commissioned YouGov to conduct a large-scale survey for the purposes of analysing church attendance and attitudes towards Christianity across Britain.

In April 2025, they published the findings in a report titled, ‘The Quiet Revival.’

Source: The Bible Society

Here are some of their key findings:

“In 2018, just 4% of 18-24 year olds said they attended church at least monthly. Today this has risen to 16%, with young men increasing from 4% to 21%, and young women from 3% to 12%. This is now the second most likely age group to attend church regularly.” (Page 6)

In other words, there has been a fourfold increase in church attendance amongst Gen Z, and for young men, the increase has been more than fivefold.

The report also found that:

“35% of 18-24 year olds say that there is ‘definitely a God/gods or higher power’” (page 8)

And,

“40% say that they pray at least monthly.” (page 8)

Moreover,

“36% have said that they are curious to learn more about the Bible.” (page 40)

And, perhaps most astonishingly,

“34% said that they would attend church if they were invited by a friend.” (page 40).

The report concludes that on a cultural level,

“Christianity no longer feels bizarre, nonsensical or embarrassing.” (page 20).

This is a very different landscape to what I encountered when I was their age!

How has this come about?

We can’t know for sure, but Brierley and others are attributing this culture-shift to the following:

1. The decline of New Atheism. Brierley reports how New Atheism was unable to sustain itself as a cultural force, particularly after their ‘Elevatorgate’ scandal and the rise of public intellectuals who challenged their circular logic.

2. The rise in figures such as Jordan Peterson, who have been normalising the Bible as an important piece of literature that sustains Western culture. Peterson is not himself a confessing Christian, however his Jungian belief in archetypal narratives allows him to engage in the Bible in a meaningful way that young people seem to appreciate. You can read about my thoughts on Jordan Peterson here, and listen to me discuss this with Brierley here.

3. The Tom Holland thesis has now become prevalent in public intellectual discourse. Holland asserts that much of Western liberalism, far from being the antithesis of Christian belief and practice, is actually a natural byproduct of Christian theology. You can read more about my thoughts on his work here. Many Gen Z are engaging with this thesis as a starting point to explore how and why Christianity may be a cultural force for good on a societal level.

4. Young people are feeling disenchanted, and are searching for ways of ‘re-enchanting’ themselves. Dubbed, ‘The Meaning Crisis,’ there is a common feeling that we need to bring awe back into society, and many are postulating that the old religions might be able to do this. Politics and celebrity culture aren’t quite cutting it anymore. I have written more on re-enchantment here.

5. A prevailing sense that as a generation, Gen Z have been raised boundary-less, and this has not been good for their personal wellbeing. There seems to be a search for communities that can provide spaces where young people can feel emotionally safe while also being challenged. Gen Z influencer

   Freya India
   writes compellingly on how the breakdown of the traditional family unit and the decline of organised religion, combined with the rise in digital life experiences, has left Gen Z feeling abandoned, distressed, and aimless.

   One cannot help but notice there is bitterness in the air, especially towards the Boomer generation, whom Gen Z (and some Millennials) believe were responsible for tearing down institutions that previously gave people meaning. Now, there is evidence that church going amongst Gen Z is linked with higher rates of life satisfaction. See below for a graph from the Bible Society’s report:

Page 24 of Bible Society report

So, How Should Christians Respond?

If this trajectory continues, it is likely that you will not be able to leave all the discipleship work to your local pastor.

1. If you consider yourself to be an ordinary Christian, please be willing to roll up your sleeves and get involved. Take young people out for a coffee and a chat. Have them round your house for dinner (if appropriate). Volunteer to be a mentor. Young people don’t want to be prothletised but they do want to be accompanied. They want companions on the journey. This will be an all-hands-on-deck situation - please don’t shy away from it!

2. Do not patronise them. Most of these young people - especially the men - are finding their way to church because they have spent the last few years listening to intellectually stimulating podcasts online. They want to be stretched intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. Do not shy away from deep and hard conversations. It’s ok to not have all the answers, but don’t be afraid to engage with the hard topics anyway.

3. Do not assume that what worked for your generation will work for theirs. Boomers had a big hippie revival in the 1960s and 70s. I became a Christian in a loud Pentecostal South Australian youth revival in the early 00s. Don’t assume that this is what a Gen Z revival will look like. Previous generations loved hype and noise, whereas Gen Z seem to prefer stillness and contemplation. They get enough noise and hype from the outside world; when they come to church, they want something different.

4. Be open about the cost of being a Christian. Young men in particular really want to be challenged. Talk about the ways that following Jesus has been hard, and then talk about why it was worth it. Talk about Christian views on sex and porn. Talk about giving money away to the poor. Talk about how Jesus teaches us to forgive our enemies. Talk about the spiritual disciplines. Talk about sacrifice. Tell them to read Bonhoeffer.

   To paraphrase an agnostic young man I spoke with a few years ago,

   “How can you Christians expect me to take you seriously, when you don’t even take yourselves seriously?… My brother converted to Islam a number of years ago, and it changed his whole life. He had to change his name and his clothes. He now prays five times a day, and he has married a Muslim woman... You Christians have tried so hard to look like the secular world that you now have nothing to offer it. If I were ever to become religious, I would convert to Islam. They at least aren’t embarrassed about what they believe. They are open about what it would take to live for God/Allah.”

5. Lean into the supernatural. There are three main Christian denominations that are experiencing rapid growth in attendance amongst young people right now:

   • Eastern Orthodox

   • Roman Catholic

   • Independent Charismatic

   The number one thing that all three have in common (that other denominations omit) is that they take miracles seriously. I have written in a previous essay about how young people are desperate for re-enchantment. Give them what they want. Be open to the Spirit, even if that makes you afraid. Lean towards awe, not away from it. Young people really want this - do not shy away from it.

6. Try and help them see beyond political tribes. Anecdotally, I have noticed that every young man I have met on this journey began it because they were engaging in Right Wing political content. If you are a true believer, you have to be able to step outside of the Right-Left divide because the gospel both transcends and pre-dates it. As you come alongside young people, try and encourage them to move away from political tribalism and towards the person of Jesus.

   Elizabeth Oldfield
   writes compellingly on this topic here.

7. Don’t forget the women! Everyone seems to be getting excited about young men returning to church, but women need belonging too. Younger women (especially those who lean politically to the Left) are reluctant to engage with Christianity because they are concerned that church represents political oppression. Given the mounting evidence that Jesus was a champion and empowerer of women, the church has a lot of catching up to do in this area.

   Freya India
   wrote a stunning lament here. Please take women’s voices seriously.

8. Invest in your own personal theological learning. There was a time in the 90s and 00s when pastors used to say “you don’t need a theology degree to preach the gospel.” While it may be technically true, this sentiment bred an attitude of reverse-snobbery towards theological education, which left ordinary Christians unprepared when New Atheism went mainstream. Let’s not make that mistake again. Bad theology can be enormously damaging. If we ourselves are not theologically literate, we run the risk of letting the likes of Jordan Peterson govern our hermeneutics more than the wisdom of the Spirit and the early church.

   I have the pleasure of working for Westminster Theological Centre (WTC), which is an interdenominational, Charismatic theological college that offers a range of part-time courses suited to church leaders and ordinary Christians. We have an non-validated evening class called ‘Foundations in Kingdom Theology’, which you can study from anywhere in the world, as well as part-time UK-based degree level programmes ranging from undergraduate through to Masters level.

   We also have a range of free online resources, a podcast, and an upcoming online summer school, in June.

   Whatever is right for you, I highly recommend going deeper in your own learning journey, so that your mentoring of young people is done as an overflow of what God is doing in your life.

Whatever God is calling you to do, know that this may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change young people’s lives.

In sum, Gen Z are not interested in anything “showy”, artificial, or watered down. Instead, they are looking for a faith that is intellectually stimulating and spiritually alive.

Let’s give them the real deal - they certainly deserve it.

To use the Australian mantra, “go big or go home!”

Until next time,

S

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Helpful Resources:

'3, 2, 1' Course: an introduction to Christianity that even some secular influencers are now advertising.

'Practicing The Way' Course: a practical introduction to Christian discipleship by John Mark Comer.

24-7 Prayer: an introduction to Christian prayer

WTC Theology: a vast array of online resources and university-validated programmes for those who want to go deeper and learn more about Christian theology.