Recent evidence suggests that Church decline in England and Wales has not only stopped, but that the Church is growing, with young people leading the exciting turnaround in church attendance.
A report called ‘The Quiet Revival’ by the Bible Society, released earlier this year, revealed that the percentage of 18–24-year-olds attending church at least monthly has risen from 4 per cent to 16 per cent, with young men increasing from 4 per cent to 21 per cent, and young women from 3 to 12 per cent. Churchgoing Christians now make up 12% of the population, up from 8% in 2018. There are now 2 million more people attending church than 6 years ago.
We are delighted that in the Diocese of Winchester many churches are saying they are also seeing signs of ‘the Quiet Revival’! Most recent figures for our diocese show that our total worshipping community increased by 6.8% between 2023 and 2024 (the national average was a 1.2% increase), with Sunday attendance for children was up 10.2%.
We spoke to a few churches who are seeing growth, particularly in young people, to encourage and inspire you with what God is doing amongst us…
“I’ve been a youth worker now for over 30 years and I’ve never seen anything like I’m seeing at the moment.”
Dave Thornton is the youth, children and families director at Christ Church in Winchester. He says almost every week they are seeing new people joining their youth groups to learn about God. In March the church, along with Chandlers Ford Parish Church, ran a youth weekend away at Fairthorne Manor at which 15 young people gave their lives to Christ, with 6 of them being baptised since.
“Occasionally on a residential you might see two or three people decide to become Christians, but I’ve never seen 15 people decide to become Christians in one go. Not only that, but the life change that we’re seeing is phenomenal.”
18-year-old Tom was on the weekend away and said, “It was really powerful, to feel I was stepping forward; to say I want Christ to be there at the centre of my life. I think now it’s just building on that and surrounding myself with really great people who really understand faith and who I can relate to and draw inspiration from.”
The church also runs a bible study for young people in a Winchester coffee shop and around 15 attended the last meeting for discussions over a hot chocolate. Dave Thornton says, “They’re really getting into God’s Word and they’re excited about it. We had a young man turn up for the first time and after the session he asked for a bible. Then his friend said ‘I haven’t got a bible either, so can I have one?’ One of them then turned to the other one and said, ‘I could come round to your house, and we could read the Bible together’. I thought ‘how did they even know that was a thing?’ They’re just wanting to read the Bible and are getting together to do it. Again, that is something that I just haven’t seen.”
18-year-old Caspar has been a Christian for just over a year and attends the Download youth group at Christ Church. “I was the lowest I’ve ever been and felt like there was nothing going for me. I didn’t believe, but I prayed one night, and I said ‘God, if you’re there I need help because I have nothing left’. The next morning, he just answered everything. Social media and stuff like that can have a negative effect on mental health but it’s like God has seen this and he’s turning it around. It’s such an incredible thing when you see the numbers of young people who are now experiencing God.”
Asked why young people are turning to Jesus, 18-year-old Philip said, “I think there’s a lot going on in the world at the moment with wars and politics so when people see how broken the world is, they realise that there’s so much safety in Christ and you can trust in him.”
Christ Church has even seen parents being brought to services by their teenage children, many who have never been into church before. “There are miraculous things happening behind the scenes!” says Dave Thornton.
The church also reports that the same quiet revival is being seen amongst university students too, with the number of people who attend their student work growing each week. “I think we’re seeing such an openness to spirituality,” says Student Minister Jess Monk. “I think church has almost become an old tradition that’s become interesting and intriguing again especially for people whose parents maybe were unchurched. And if you weren’t part of a Church of England school, you missed out on the experience to sing the songs and do school worship together. Students are often in awe of what a church building looks like and then even more in awe when the singing starts. I see students instantly brought to tears because it’s something that they don’t experience anywhere else.”
Student Gus said, “I didn’t grow up in a Christian household and had a tough time with mental health. When I came to Uni, my friend invited me to church and I said no for the first year. Once I started coming to church, I noticed how different everyone was and wanted what they had. Since being a Christian my problems have not been fixed but I have been equipped to be able to deal with and have become such a better version of myself.”
“God is clearly doing something quite remarkable in the student world and in the young peoples’ world,” Jess continues. “We had a student who turned up one Sunday and said, ‘I just found a bible on my bookshelf, and I read the entirety of the gospels and I want to know more about this Jesus. God is meeting our young people far before we even get a chance. It’s about how we get ready to receive the curiosity and the eagerness. We must not get in the way with our elaborate ideas but be flexible and responsive to where God is moving.”
Andover Parishes has seen evidence of the ‘Quiet Revival’ too, with young people turning up at main services often unaccompanied by parents because “they want to find out more about God”.
Youth Community Lead, Veronica Brewer, says, “I think we’ve seen Jesus working in amazing ways and in quiet ways across all our youth settings. We’ve had one girl who started coming here without her parents. I met up with her parents actually, and while not wanting to be at church themselves, they were very happy that she was exploring it. She comes on a Sunday morning and she’s coming to our youth summer camp ‘Satellites’ with us. She’s bringing all her friends now as well – she’s just gathering them in.”
In 2024, Andover Parish began its own Youth Church, planned and run by young people for their peers. Ten young people have already been baptised this year including three young women who made their commitment at Fullerton Mill river and shared their testimonies with others, as well as seven young people recently being confirmed.
17-year-old Isaac said, “My faith is the most important thing in my life. It’s the first thing I think about when I wake up and it’s the last thing I think about before I go to bed. I think a lot of my faith is also about spreading the word, not just limiting it to a couple of people but bringing it openly to everybody.”
15-year-old Nardia shared her testimony with the congregation, “My faith is really important to me because it has helped me overcome things that I thought I could not. It’s something wonderful that I’d also encourage anyone to do, not to force religion onto then, but to help them understand that nothing is impossible with God. I think more young people are turning to God because they’ve seen that life without God is not worth it. It has changed my life and I’m seeing things much clearer now. It’s God’s direction, not my way, God’s plan, not my plan.”
17-year-old Esther attended the holiday club ‘Satellites’ and said, “It was like wow! I made so many new friends that week alone and having more friends who are Christian just made me want to grow more in my faith. I feel like today was just my way of saying, ‘yeah, I agree, I am a child of God’”.
The church recently asked young people what drew them to come along, and the responses were about making connections with friends, looking for a sense of belonging, and searching for peace amidst mental health challenges.
The church continues to take its ‘Life Bus’ to three secondary schools and to the local skatepark. Veronica says she has noticed more requests for bibles and lots of conversations about Jesus.
“A few weeks ago, I was rummaging through the box and a couple of girls asked, ‘what’s in the box?’. I said, ‘there’s some Bibles. You could have one if you like.’ They all said, ‘could we take one to give to our friend?’ They were looking in the front of them because they have topics, such as where to turn if you’re anxious, what to do if you need peace. About five of them took Bibles that day, and it was just amazing to see. The opportunity for conversations has been incredible.”
IN 2024 St Paul’s Church Throop baptised 15 people in the River Stour in Bournemouth, and this year eight more took the same step of faith, with 200 people standing on the banks to bear witness – most of them were young people.
Revd Jim Findlay says, “We seem to be in an exciting time at St. Paul’s Church where we’re seeing steady numerical growth in our church family, across the age groups. Sometimes when national reports suggest church trends, we look around and wonder what on earth they’re talking about, but with the ‘Quiet Revival’ report we are seeing the reality of it, albeit gently. Older teenagers are coming to church and youth groups, independently from their parents, and asking questions, seeking Jesus. We’ve even experienced people walking in off the street asking to speak to someone about Jesus – what a privilege! These youngsters seem to be searching for the Jesus of scripture, to get to know Him and walk with Him. They seem to want to know if faith works, if Christians are authentic and present a way of life that is genuine and different to what they’re finding in the world. My constant prayer is that the church is ready to answer that challenge.”
Among those who were baptised was Matt, who described himself as being “stuck on the cusp of atheism and agnosticism” but says he was forced to face tough questions about life head on, when a close friend passed away. He said “It was there that I found God for the first time, I knocked and He answered. A great light illuminated within me. I now know that I was presented with the Holy Spirit, which guided me on my pursuit of life’s deepest truths.”
Once a month, the youth groups of 5 churches in Southampton gather for a Worship Night. It’s hosted at a different church each month and in the last 2 years numbers have doubled with between 90 to 110 young people attending, including those who have never been to church before, with many inviting friends along.
“Though it’s called the ‘Quiet Revival’, it doesn’t take away the powerful nature of what God’s doing,” says Michael Shorey who is Head of Youth from Highfield Church. “We are getting more young people happy to just come along. Even those who wouldn’t say they are Christian, will happily sit in our Worship Nights and be inquisitive about why we’re doing what we’re doing. I think it’s the first time in years that young people are coming along and wanting to understand, rather than just coming to a youth group because it’s a Friday night and they have nothing else to do.”
Abi has been going to the Worship Night for six years and says, “I think a lot of people, including myself, struggled through the pandemic and churches were one of the things that stayed together. They would continue to meet online and even coming out of that, it’s still a community.”
12-year-old Carys, who has been attending for a year, said: “I think for young people, it can be quite scary at the moment in society and maybe they need something to turn to and are searching for something to help them out. When things are hard, they can trust God to help them with it.”
One of the Worship Nights is held at St Albans, Swaythling Parish which runs its own youth group once a month. Vicar Peter Dockree says, “We’re an estate church and for a long time we’ve been sowing the seeds and laying the groundwork for mission. Seeing that manifesting in terms of people becoming part of worshipping communities takes time, but suddenly, from nowhere really, it’s mushrooming and really happening. In terms of youth, they wait outside half an hour early and queue to get in. There are so many young people who are searching and feel a bit lost. We see all the challenges on this estate, there’s drugs and violence, but we see there’s lots of good stuff happening too.”
Nine youth groups from Southampton also came together at YouthFest in June. 150 young people joined a weekend of fun, worship, teaching and ministry.
Among those who attended were friends Owen and Josh. 16-year-old Owen grew up in a non-Christian family and thinks more people are turning to Christ because other young people are spreading the word: “I think in the last two years, I’ve fallen to Christ with the help of my friends, and wow, what a change in my life it’s been. If I can’t talk to anyone who is here with me physically, I can always talk to God because I know that he’s there for me and he’ll always answer and always forgive. Obviously, the streets aren’t a very nice place, so I think people talking about the Lord and what He does and what He can do, just opens up a bigger world for young people like myself.”
His friend Josh who is 17 agrees, “I think people are seeing the great benefits of it. They see what turning to God can change in their life. I think perhaps they see their Christian friends have that spark in them that they feel they don’t have, and they just want to know more about it.”
One of the young people at YouthFest, 18-year-old Liv Harder, has seen the ‘Quiet Revival’ for herself, having started an online bible study and group chat for young Christians. More than 170 people now join weekly from across the world!
“The Quiet Revival is happening so much. I talk about Jesus all the time and so many people ask me questions. I’ve got a friend at work and she asked me ‘what church do you go to? How do you know Jesus? It’s crazy, the amount of people that don’t turn it away and they are open and want to ask questions. I just think there’s a hunger for truth, hungry for seeing the light and Jesus is the light at the end of the day and if people have Jesus in them, they’re going to spread that light even more.”
It’s that change of attitude that’s also been noticed by Revd Tim Matthews from LOVECHURCH Bournemouth. Recently around 70 people were baptised on the beach at Boscombe and many passersby stopped to find out more.
He said, “When I came here 11 years ago, I had it in mind that people don’t really want to know the gospel. You have to sort of convince them that they want it before you can preach it. I think that’s changed. I don’t know whether it’s Covid or whether it’s the state of society now, but that initial resistance isn’t there, people actually want to know. Jesus said, ‘there’s a massive harvest’ and we’ve got to perceive it and go for it.”
