by Campbell Campbell-Jack, TCW
IT IS a common assumption that churches will continue their inexorable decline with each generation being less religious than the previous. This may not be as true as many would like to believe.
Since 1858, a high point in the mid-Victorian era, Christian adherence in Britain has been in near-constant decline. The short period of growth following the Second World War petered out with the arrival of the Swinging Sixties. At the last national census in 2021, only 46.2 per cent described themselves as Christian. For the first time less than half the British population identified as Christian. Church attendance in Great Britain in 1980 was 11.8 per cent of the population; by 2015, it had dropped to 5 per cent. It is safe to assume that most of the 46.2 per cent self-identifying as Christians are nominal, cultural Christians lacking any real understanding of the faith, and aren’t involved in the life and worship of any church. Unfortunately, cultural Christianity just doesn’t cut it.
It is clear that mainline denominations, despite dreading the demographic collapse of ageing congregations, are failing to reach people with the gospel. The general expectation, although rarely admitted, is that the British church is in terminal decline.
Yet a recent study by the Bible Society indicates this may be in reverse. YouGov surveyed more than 13,000 people, repeating similar research in 2018. The comparison of these surveys on church attendance other than at baptisms, weddings and funerals seems to show that Britain is experiencing what the Bible Society describe as a ‘Quiet Revival’. We don’t find masses of people queuing up to get into popular churches, rather it is many local churches having a few more in the congregation.
How can churches and Christians build on the ‘quiet revival’? by Robert Parr, Christian Today