A Revival... or a Moment?

According to a Bible Society/YouGov survey, there has been a 50% increase in church attendance in the U.K. over the last six years (between 2018 and 2024).

A new Barna study, part of the State of the Church 2025, has found a “groundswell of commitment to Jesus over the last four years.” According to Barna’s latest data, “66% of all U.S. adults say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus... that marks a 12-percentage-point increase since 2021.” This shift, they report, “is not only statistically significant—it may be the clearest indication of spiritual renewal in the United States.”

Among the biggest drivers in both studies would appear to be members of Generation Z and Millennials, and particularly younger men.

Added to the good news is that the “rise of the nones” appears to have somewhat leveled off, at least for now, and sales in Bibles have spiked.

Oh, and lots of people like watching “The Chosen.”

Ah, but then come the other headlines, backed with equally respected surveys. According to Gallup, younger Americans are becoming less likely to say they are religious, with around a third of Generation Z and millennials now identifying as having no religion whatsoever.

And Christians aren’t adding to their base. Gallup also has found that the percentage of Americans identifying as Protestant or nondenominational Christian in 2024 is within a percentage point of their 2018-2020 levels.

Further, while the recent release of Pew’s Religious Landscape Study (RLS) found that the “rise of the nones” that has dominated most cultural assessments over the last decade or so appears to have temporarily stabilized, it also alarmingly reminded us of the overall decline of adults who identify as Christian. In 2007, the RLS found that 78% of all U.S. adults identified as Christian. In 2014, the second RLS found that number had “ticked steadily downward” to 71%. The latest RLS finds that 62% of U.S. adults now identify as Christians. As Pew reports, “That is a decline of nine percentage points since 2014, and a 16-point drop since 2007.”  

That’s not all. As the RLS report itself states, “despite these signs of recent stabilization and abiding spirituality, other indicators suggest we may see further declines in the American religious landscape in future years.” Why? Younger Americans remain far less religious than older adults.

So what, exactly, is happening? Are there signs of spiritual renewal, or has the doomsday clock moved closer to midnight?

The answer, of course, is both.

There are encouraging signs of people, particularly younger people, being open to exploring spirituality, and specifically the Christian faith. This is, however, a minority report in the wider context of a staggering decrease in the number of people who identify as Christians.

Consider the YouGov report. Is there an increase in church attendance in the UK? Yes. Is it truly a 50% increase over the last six years? Yes. But that 50% is going up from a dismal 8% of the population to only 12% of the population. And the quadrupling within Generation Z? Up from 4% to now 16%. Impressive, to be sure, but not exactly a generational shift. In other words, you still have a generation that is 84% unchurched.

All to say, this is no revival. Some positive, encouraging signs in the midst of a seemingly non-stop drip of discouraging reports, yes, 

... but no revival.

But I would call it a moment. I do believe that signs are pointing to a renewal of spiritual interest and openness, including interest and openness to the Christian faith. There is a moral and relational bankruptcy in culture, and it is translating into a new search for meaning.  

Author Douglas Coupland expressed the longing well:

... here’s my secret: I tell it to you with an openness of heart that I doubt I shall ever achieve again, so I pray that you are in a quiet room as you hear these words. My secret is that I need God—that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem to be capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love.

Frederick Buechner told of a boy of 12 or 13 who, in a fit of crazy anger and depression, got hold of a gun and shot and killed his father. When the authorities asked the boy why he had done it, he said it was because he could not stand his father because his father demanded too much of him, because he was always after him, because he hated his father.  

Later, after he had been placed in a house of detention, a guard was walking down the corridor late one night when he heard sounds from the boy’s room, and he stopped to listen. The words that he heard the boy sobbing out in the dark were, “I want my father, I want my father.” 

Buechner observed that the story of the boy was a kind of parable of our spiritual lives. I believe he was right, perhaps now more than ever.

So no, we are not in a revival to be experienced, 

... but instead a moment to be seized.

James Emery White

Sources
Catherine Pepinster, “‘The Quiet Revival’: Huge Increase in Young People Attending Church,” Religion Media Centre, April 8, 2025, read online.
Helen Coffey, “Make Christianity Cool Again: Why Gen Z Is Flocking to Church,” Independent, April 20, 2025, read online.
“New Research: Belief in Jesus Rises, Fueled by Younger Adults,” Barna, April 7, 2025, read online.
Ed Stetzer, “Not Just at Easter: Gen Z Is Returning to Christianity. Data Proves It.” USA Today, April 20, 2025, read online.
Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg, “Sales of Bibles Are Booming, Fueled by First-Time Buyers and New Versions,” The Wall Street Journal, December 1, 2024, read online.
Elizabeth Crisp, “Young Americans Are Becoming Less Religious: Survey,” The Hill, April 17, 2025, read online.
Jeffrey M. Jones, “Religious Preferences Largely Stable in U.S. Since 2020,” Gallup, April 17, 2025, read online.
Melissa Fleur Afshar, “Are Gen Zers Becoming More Religious?” Newsweek, April 18, 2025, read online.
“Religious Landscape Study 2023-24,” Pew Research Center, read online.
Ruth Graham, “Christianity’s Decline in U.S. Appears to Have Halted, Major Study Shows,” The New York Times, February 26, 2025, read online.
Douglas Coupland, Life After God.
Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat.

Photo Courtesy: ©Unsplash/Hannah Busing
Published Date: May 1, 2025

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age, is now available on Amazon or from your favorite bookseller. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit churchandculture.org where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture Podcast. Follow Dr. White on X, Facebook, and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.