Beyond the 'Quiet Revival': 10 Ways We Can Rise To This Missional Moment

I'm thankful to Premier Christianity for publishing my article, Beyond the 'Quiet Revival': 10 Ways We Can Rise To This Missional Moment, here.

(If you want further background analysis on the Quiet Revival report, I have explored it here.)

But if you want to read an extended version of my Premier article, please see below...

Beyond the Quiet Revival: 10 Ways the Church Can Rise to This Missional Moment

It's not every day that church attendance makes the news—and for good reason! But in the last few weeks there’s been no shortage of headlines, threads, and hot takes on the Bible Society’s recent 'Quiet Revival' report. 

If you’ve been napping, the report saw YouGov commissioned to run large-scale surveys in 2018 and again in 2024, exploring how people in England and Wales think about Christianity, church, and spirituality. The latest results are turning heads: a clear rise in church attendance — especially among Gen Z and young men — and a noticeable shift in cultural attitudes toward faith and the Bible. I unpacked some of the headlines (and the hype) over here.

But beyond the surprising newspaper columns, hashtags, and the encouraging corresponding ‘anecdata’, a bigger question is bubbling up: What are we actually meant to do with this? As a pastor of a beautifully average church in a fairly normal place, the Quiet Revival does ring true. But the language of revival can produce a strange cocktail of reactions in a church leader’s heart— yes, excitement and longing, but maybe also traces of scepticism, comparison, and even a fear of missing out. 

The Bible Society have stated they hope their report will be a rallying cry:

“Within the Church, these findings should trigger excitement – but they also need to be a springboard for action.”

So if we are seeing the early rumblings of a quiet revival, how should we respond? Here are ten starters for ten!

1) Pray First: Every Move of God Begins on Its Knees

Behind every revival — ‘quiet' or otherwise — there is always prayer. Not as an afterthought, but as the starting gun. We might not see all the cause and effect, but we can be sure that what we’re witnessing today is downstream of hidden faithfulness: people who’ve been crying out to God, often unnoticed, often for years. Yes, God is gracious. Salvation is undeserving. But our God loves to respond to prayerful dependence. Was it the collective ache in the wake of COVID? Perhaps it was the gut-wrenching lament stirred by leadership failures, powerplays and church scandals over the last few years? Whatever the cause, it seems God has heard.

So if there’s even a whisper of spiritual renewal in the air, then the most strategic thing the Church can do is drop to its knees. Pray for soft hearts. Pray for boldness. Pray for wisdom. Pray together. Pray alone. Pray for more. We can't manufacture revival — but we can plead for it, prepare for it, and trust that God still loves to pour out his Spirit on a praying people.

Jonathan Edwards, central to the First Great Awakening in America, knew revival couldn’t be engineered, but he believed it could be sought. In 1747, he called Christians to united, extraordinary prayer for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom. And as Steve Seamands puts it in reflecting on the Asbury revivals:

“Most revivals begin not with noise, but with a burden - a holy ache in the hearts of God’s people that something more is possible.”

2) Open the Doors: Make Church a Front Porch, Not a Fortress

I recently spoke with a young woman who had just started coming to church. But she explained how she’d already done so much spiritual exploring on her own, particularly online, because she was worried about coming to church. Even though she had a family member who attended church, she felt she might be shunned or stand out or just get it wrong. This reminded me that a church can have the best of intentions when it comes to ‘welcome’, but it’s still a massive step.

And whilst the Bible Society data makes it clear that more people are connecting with church than we might have expected - and more people would be up for giving church at go if invited by someone they trust - let’s make sure the threshold into church life isn’t higher than it needs to be. 

Perhaps we need to think of church as more like a front porch, giving a window into life with God, rather than a fortress against the world. Does our signage say ‘This is for people like you’? Does our social media demystify what to expect? And let’s be sensitive with how we imagine welcome. We need warmth, hospitality, and sensitivity — not an overbearing or exposing runway of smiling-but-determined greeters and clipboard-wielding sign-up warriors that feels more like running the The Gauntlet from TV's Gladiators!

3) Lay Out the Feast: Deepen Bible Confidence with the Riches of Scripture, Not Microwavable Snacks

The Bible Society data is striking: young people are showing a real hunger for Scripture — but also a real confusion about how to read it. They’re not disinterested; they’re under-equipped. That should encourage us. Let’s not just offer soundbites and slogans — let’s set the table and invite them to feast on the full, nourishing depth of God’s Word.

Even among regular churchgoers, many lack confidence in engaging with the Bible. That’s not just a knowledge issue; it’s a discipleship one. This is especially critical in a culture throwing tough, real-life questions at young believers. As the report puts it, there’s a “particular need for discipleship” among younger adults who may still be unsure about Scripture’s credibility.

Glen Scrivener makes a fascinating point here when he points to the popularity of Jordan Peterson’s teaching on Old Testament narratives. Does our church preaching often treat the Bible as a text for “super-spiritual Christians”, rather than showing how Scripture speaks powerfully and perceptively into the human condition. The Bible carries deep resonance, but maybe the Church has settled for throwing out snacks that skim the surface, rather than offering a feast that shows us the truest, richest vision of what it means to be human.

When we raise a generation nourished on the Word, they don’t just grow — they start offering a better story to the world— one that’s more coherent, more hopeful, and more human than anything else on offer.

4) Raise the Faith Flag: Be Bold About Jesus in a Creaking and Curious World

Over the last few decades, we’ve got used to Christianity feeling on the fringe in our culture. In part, this has been healthy for us. But let’s not be on the backfoot. As historian Tom Holland has advocated, from human rights to dignity, justice, and compassion, the Christian worldview has shaped the foundations of our world. So let’s show up in the public square — or school gates, offices, and social media feeds — with a little more spring in our step.

To raise the flag isn’t about being loud or brash — it’s about being lovingly confident. This isn’t a private opinion you’re piping up with; this is good news for the world. This is a vision of life that is good, beautiful and true. Whether it’s how we speak of family, work, rest, identity or grace — let’s not keep it to ourselves.

And if you hadn’t noticed, our world is creaking— under the pressure of self-definition, the exhaustion of expressive individualism, the weight of constant performance, and the loneliness of life without transcendence. People are burning out on a story that tells them they must be enough, know enough, and fix themselves. So let’s kindly, humbly, and courageously raise the flag, and confidently point to another way. 

5) Don’t Miss the Kids: How Gen Alpha Might Surprise Us Yet

Justin Brierley’s been saying it for a while now, but the cultural tide is turning. The old storyline — that Christianity is oppressive and atheism is the enlightened default — is wearing thin. Like in Hans Christian Anderson’s The Emperor’s New Clothes, the illusion is starting to crack. But remember how in that folktale, it wasn’t the experts or elites who named reality. It was the child.

The Bible Society research focused on adults, and Gen Z’s stark and growing spiritual openness is certainly striking compared to older generations. But what if the most overlooked spiritual movement is happening under our noses — at Sunday clubs, kitchen tables, and playgrounds? Anecdotally, in our own context, we’re seeing children asking the big questions — and dragging their parents along behind them. Questions about life, meaning, death, and hope then prompt conversations that most adults had long since filed away.

Could it be that Generation Alpha will be the ones to gently, awkwardly, gloriously point to the truth and say, “Wait — isn’t there more to life than this?” Let’s not underestimate them. Let’s invest in them. Let’s make children’s and youth ministry feel like a frontline of mission, not the babysitting service before “real church” starts. And let’s be ready to learn from their fearless, uncluttered faith.

6) Tend the Embers: Invest in the Slow Work of Discipleship

We’re not just after sparks — we’re after a fire. While curiosity or cultural openness might get someone through the doors, true transformation takes time. It’s not built on hype, but on habits. That’s why the Church needs to play the long game: committing to rhythms of grace, faithful presence, and the kind of deep work that forms people into Christ.

Revival isn’t about momentary emotion — it’s about spiritual maturity. Discipleship happens through repeated encounters with Scripture, prayer, community, and service. It’s unseen, unflashy, and often slow. But it’s how the Spirit shapes a people. If we want revival to last, we need to build for resilience, not just response.

That’s especially true as people arrive with little or no Christian background. We can’t just hope they pick things up — we need to walk with them. Create intentional pathways for growth. Foster mentoring. Teach the whole Bible, not just highlight reels. And above all, turn up the spiritual temperature — let’s pray, preach, and worship like we expect God to move.

7) Don’t Flatten the Faith: Showcase the Weird and Wonderful Delights of Full-Fat Church

Here’s another mistake we might have drifted into: the power of Christianity isn’t in how sensible it sounds — rather, it’s our strangeness that speaks to something deeper. A crucified King. Bread and wine as means of grace. A Spirit who comforts and convicts. Old and young side by side. These aren’t embarrassing add-ons or bugs in the system — they’re the heart of the gospel. Let’s not sand off the edges of our faith. Let’s embrace its wonder.

Of course, this is the classic mistake of liberalism: to dilute the weird stuff to make it more palatable. But maybe even evangelical Christians can be guilty of our own version of this? Do we fall into a rationalism that explains everything away and has no space for sensing the mystery of it all? Or perhaps we prize a professionalism that keeps everything slick, tidy, done in 75 minutes flat — because that’s what we think visitors expect. But maybe what draws people isn’t polish, but presence — the sense that God is real and meets us when we gather.

It’s telling that the two streams seeing the most growth in the Quiet Revival are Pentecostalism and Catholicism — expressions of faith steeped in spiritual encounter, historic rootedness, and mystery. Have we so championed café church, forest church, and mountain church, that we’ve not clocked that the enduring draw seems to be something older and deeper: prayer, worship, preaching, confession, repentance, and hope. Journalist Dan Hitchens, writing in the Spectator, has called it “full-fat Christianity.” Even Angela Tilby, often a liberal-leaning voice in the Church of England, has said:

‘At least half of me thinks that the supernaturalists are right, and that, if we are serious about our faith, we need to question the secular habits of thought that took over our theology in the 1960s, and get to grips with the metaphysical aspects of Christian faith.’

Let’s not flatten the faith — let’s be unashamed of it, and let God surprise us.

8) Don’t Underestimate Every Christian’s Role: Lets Send People as the  Unofficial Chaplains Their Friends Didn’t Realise They Had 

We're all familiar with the concept of a chaplain - perhaps to a sports team, the military, or in a hospital, etc. But the Australian writer and evangelist Sam Chan urges every Christian to think of themselves as an ‘unofficial chaplain’ to their non-Christian friends. After all, most people won’t first encounter the gospel through a preacher or a podcast, but through someone they know.

The Bible Society have suggested that 'interpersonal relationships' are one of the key areas for Christians to give their energy to: "The Church can be bolder in equipping their congregations to identify and respond to opportunities to extend invitations to and start conversations with non-Christians friends, confident not in knowing the ‘correct’ answer to every possible question but in the strength of the relationship.”

So this isn’t just about changing the way we see the people around us, it’s about changing the way we see ourselves. Don’t underestimate your role! You may feel ordinary, ill-equipped, or unsure — but you are someone’s flesh-and-blood example of faith. You carry the peace of Christ into their anxiety, the truth of Christ into their questions, the compassion of Christ into their pain. Be prayerful. Be present. Be ready.

9) Pull Up a Chair: Listen to the Stories God Is Telling

If the Church is growing in unexpected places, then we need ears to hear what God might be doing through those stories. Every new churchgoer has a journey that can help us learn — and when someone shares how they found Jesus, it’s not just encouraging, it’s formative. Their story might just help someone else reimagine their own.

We’re seeing this culturally too. Lamorna Ash’s new book, Don’t Forget We’re Here Forever: A New Generation’s Search for Religion, which has received significant attention in the mainstream press, explores why so many in her generation are quietly returning to Christianity. Mainstream pieces in Elle and UnHerd point to the same shift — that secularism is leaving people hungry. When someone says, “This worked — this brought meaning/hope/peace/joy,” it opens a door for others to explore.

So let’s make space in the life of churches for hearing the stories of those journeying towards and with Jesus. Every conversion is an opportunity to celebrate grace — and to ask what the Spirit might be up to. As the Bible Society said, “Each new churchgoer will have their own story... and the Church can learn from them.” Pull up a chair. Listen closely. God is demonstrating his character in every story.

10) Whatever the Weather, Keep On Planting: Be Faithful in and Out of Season

Lastly, if God is doing something fresh/different/new/distinct (delete according to whatever your theological framework allows!), then of course let's celebrate that - and why would we not throw ourselves into all of the above. But let’s remember our missional calling as the people of God isn’t seasonal. It doesn’t depend on the cultural climate or the latest stats. Our task remains: sow the gospel, water it in prayer, and trust God to give the growth. Whether revival roars or barely whispers, we keep planting the seed of the gospel.

Even the most optimistic data from the Bible Society report is still paired with resistance, be that cultural or spiritual. For example, while 31% of non-churchgoers say they’d attend if invited by a friend, 69% still wouldn’t. Over half say the Bible feels irrelevant to them. That means we have work to do — but also an incredible mission field right in front of us.

So let’s stay faithful. Not because the times are favourable, but because the King is worthy. The call isn’t to chase revival, but to seek the kingdom. To preach Christ. To build his Church. The true fruit of any renewal isn’t in packed pews — it’s in lives shaped by Jesus. That’s the prize. That’s the goal. So let’s keep going — whatever the weather.

And finally…

To their credit, the Bible Society make no bold predictions. As they put it:

“It is clearly impossible to say whether this ‘Quiet Revival’ will continue... or fade into insignificance.”

And in a sense, we don’t need to know. Today is the day of salvation — and our call isn’t to chase revival, but to seek Jesus.

Our hope isn’t in trends or data, but in a risen Saviour who still draws near, still saves, and still reigns. If something is stirring, it’s not because we planned it well — it’s because Jesus is building his Church. So preach him. Pursue him. Fix your eyes on him.

Because the true fruit of any revival isn’t packed buildings or viral testimonies — it’s a Church that looks more like Christ. That’s the goal. That’s the prize. And whether revival roars or barely whispers, the call remains the same: seek first the Kingdom — and never stop seeking the King.