The dream of a “quiet revival” always misunderstood the problem faced by British Christians
For a while Christians have been talking about something called the “quiet revival” — the idea, trumpeted in research commissioned by the Bible Society, and carried out by YouGov, that young people were returning to the pews. The number seemed dramatic: an increase from 4 per cent to 16 per cent of 18-24 year olds regularly attending a church.
Right from the start, there was justified skepticism. It didn’t fit any prior statistical models, and many experts expressed doubt. But the bigger problem was that it was “quiet”. If four times as many young people were really going to church, people would notice. Priests would shout it from the pulpit and young people would discuss it on social media. Teachers would notice it, and public figures would see it in their own social circles.
In private conversations, many friends expressed doubts. On the one hand, we all know lots of young people who have recently converted or started attending church, and for those in the social circles where the “vibe shift” feels most embedded, and inclusive of faith, it was possible to argue yourself into the idea that a massive Christian revival was just round the corner. But we were also intensely aware of how little the cultural zeitgeist had really tipped towards religion in practice.
So the revelation, after months of growing criticism, that the polling behind the quiet revival was deeply flawed, was disappointing but scarcely a surprise to many who wished it were true. The Bible Society, it should be emphasised, did nothing wrong. It was the polling company YouGov which offered up faulty data.
Is there no quiet revival at all? It depends how you define it. In many places, churches and denominations, there is very real growth and renewal. But for every church that is booming, there is one in precipitous decline, and for every adult baptism there are a dozen new parents who won’t be continuing the ritual for their own children.
I am not entirely sad to see the quiet revival put firmly to bed. For all that I would welcome a revival, the dream it represents was always built on a misguided premise. For a certain sort of worthy, charity sector, establishment Christian — the sort of people, in short, who govern the Church of England — the ideal path to renewal was by its nature quiet. If only, the argument went, we could find a sufficiently polished, accessible and contemporary mode of Christianity, our numbers would once more swell.
Missing in all this, and missing in the quiet revival, was the matter of culture itself. The question is not and should never have been “how do we get people to become Christian?”, but rather, “why did people stop being Christian?” The answer can be spun out into limitless complexity, but its essence is simple. People were presented with what appeared to be a more compelling and attractive worldview and way of life — one backed by powerful elites, institutions and, in time, legal sanction. Secular liberalism may not literally prevent you from going to church or being Christian, but it strips out the central social logic of doing so, leaving faith as a private eccentricity or a fading cultural habit.
As one item in a multicultural marketplace, governed by rationalists and utilitarians, Christianity is not only far less appealing, it is not really itself. Christianity overthrew a pagan empire, converted and reconverted a continent, and spread to a third of the world not as a spiritual viewpoint, but as a civilisational project. To be a Christian means to live in a Christian family, to enact Christian laws, to have a Christian politics, to create Christian communities, cities and nations.
The route to revival is real, but it passes directly through many ideas, norms and institutions that establishment Christians cherish
We have spent so long waiting around to be wanted, that we have forgotten that Christianity flourished and continues to flourish where it is needed. When a revival happens, we will not be debating about whether it’s happening, we will be debating what to do about it.
The route to revival is real, but it passes directly through many ideas, norms and institutions that establishment Christians cherish. If Christians really want to see people flock back to church they will have to exert cultural power in ways that progressives and secularists will strenuously oppose. For one thing, it means teaching Christianity in schools, something the Church of England refuses to do even within its own faith schools. It also means a strong identification between nation and faith, and an assertive cultural self confidence amongst Christians. It means sponsoring art, plays, tv and films. It means creating parallel institutions, and reclaiming public spaces.
Revival is by its nature loud. There are going to be people who want to shout it down. It is going to mean battles in classrooms and courtrooms, and it will spark fury from opponents. A loud revival would be a deathknell for the cosily managed decline of the British religious establishment. No wonder they would rather keep things quiet.
