The "Quiet Revival" That Never Was?

Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging

truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

Have reports of a revival of Christianity in the Western world been, to paraphrase

Mark Twain, greatly exaggerated?

Last week, the Bible Society of the UK pulled down a much discussed report that it suggested

that the nation was undergoing what they called a quiet revival.

And their website, CEO Paul Williams admitted that, and I quote here, the 2024 survey sample

on which our report, the quiet revival was based, was faulty.

It can no longer be regarded as a reliable source of information about the spiritual landscape

in Britain.

Well, the data in question had been compiled by market research group Yuga recently acknowledged

that it had not employed the usual quality controls and had included responses that are

now known to be fraudulent.

In their own statement, the Yuga of CEOs said this, quote, Yuga of takes full responsibility

for the outputs of the 2024 research, and we apologize for what's happened.

We would like to stress that the Bible Society has at all times accurately and responsibly

reported the data we supplied to them.

The Bible Society report, which had coined the phrase quiet revival, was issued in April

of last year.

They claim that, and I quote, church decline in England and Wales has not only stopped

at the church's growing, as Gen Z leads an exciting turnaround in church attendance.

A few months later, Times columnist James Marriott published a lengthy essay describing

the young converts filling UK churches.

What Marriott called in the essay a comeback for Christianity is, he said, due to a backlash

against secularism, set against the backdrop of global turmoil and a search for loss

meaning and connection.

Even then, Marriott had written that the Bible Society report had already been bitterly

disputed.

And yet, he continued, and I quote, Christianity undoubtedly has a new energy and Christianity

status in public life is much improved.

Among the things he had pointed to as proof of such claims were recent high profile conversions,

popular endorsements of Christianity and the rising church attendance he was seeing

in some places.

And for his part, even as he admits that to receive the faulty data had been frustrating

and disappointing, Bible Society CEO Paul Williams maintained that when it comes to Christianity

in the UK and the wider Western world, there is in fact a very positive story to tell.

And he's not wrong.

I quote here, what he wrote, over the past year we've seen an unprecedented public conversation

about Christianity with countless stories of a spiritual awakening among Gen Z, along

greatly increased Bible sales in the UK, growing numbers of adopt baptisms and confirmations

and increased attendance at evangelism courses.

This wider picture is also supported by a number of other surveys based on probability sampling

which point to an increased engagement in faith among young adults compared to older

generations.

And then offer the following summary of what he thinks can be said about the state of

religion there, despite these new revelations about the study that they reported, quote,

while religious identity overall is shifting from Christian to no religion, Christianity

and Britain appears to be moving from a declining nominal faith to a committed and active

one as cultural shifts, especially among young people, encourage a more proactive search

for identity, meaning and purpose.

Of course, here in the US, especially in the weeks after the assassination of Charlie

Kirk and his memorial service, the largest evangelistic event in human history, some claim

that America was experiencing revival.

But today, months later, there's far less energy behind such claims and much less evidence

of a lasting return to church.

At the same time, we can be thankful for the so-called vibe shift that has left America

in a much different place on a few very consequential moral issues.

In the end, it could be that Marriott's analysis is the most accurate of America as well

that we're witnessing younger generations reacting against confusion, against meaninglessness,

and against the ideological totalitarianism of modern secularism.

However, we must remember that just rebelling against what's clearly not true is not

the same as embracing what is true.

In his distinguishing marks of a work of the Spirit of God, the great 18th century revivalist

Jonathan Edwards identified five marks of true revival.

These marks can also help us evaluate this current moment.

True revival, Edward said, is focused on Jesus Christ, opposed to sin and evil, is grounded

in the Bible, promotes sound doctrine, and produces love, humility, and unity among

believers, rather than arrogance and division.

If those are indeed true marks of revival, especially by that last mark, it is premature

at best to think we are experiencing a revival in America.

And yet, perhaps what's most helpful to learn from Edwards is that we guard against excess

and ungrounded emotionalism on one hand and also not succumb to cynicism, on the other

hand.

Christians should expect God to be at work, even to bring awakening, what a shame it would

be to miss a movement of God because it came in a form we didn't recognize or expect

or even worse that we didn't want.

Instead we must remember that we cannot manufacture what only God can do.

Our place is to pray and to work and to expect.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint.

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