‘Fire is rising’ in Britain as evangelical churches grow

The ‘fire is rising’ as people in Britain increasingly encounter God in unexpected ways – with evangelical congregations growing, but churches of the ‘mushy middle’ declining.

That was the message from a panel of experts discussing the future of faith in the UK. The annual Theos think-tank event was held at BMA House in central London, and featured a panel of authors, broadcasters and the General Secretary of Churches Together in England, evangelical Mike Royal. It was entitled Does the Future Have A Church?

With a range of experiences and faith perspectives represented, the panel were in agreement that it was orthodox and evangelical churches that were growing. Broadcaster Justin Brierley referred to a change in culture, calling it a ‘meaning crisis’. The pandemic and political and global uncertainty meant people were again asking existential questions. They were, he suggested, now seeking mystery – and it is the churches that ‘offer something otherworldly, that take you out of your humdrum daily existence, that are actually the most attractive; and it’s the mushy middle where churches are declining’. Podcaster and author Tom Holland’s advice to ‘lean into the weird’ was quoted.

BBC Head of Religion and Ethics for Television, Daisy Scalchi, similarly reported that over the last year the corporation had noticed more people coming back to traditional worship programming, perhaps as a result of them asking big questions about purpose and meaning, and looking for television ‘where can you seek those answers or at least see those questions reflected’. She highlighted a clip from Songs of Praise featuring the story of woman called Louise Blyth speaking about her experience of sitting by her dying husband’s bedside.

In the clip she describes the Holy Spirit descending on them as a family for these crucial last very painful moments and what that gave them. Powerful and moving, the clip has been seen by 900,000 people from all different demographics. Panellists pondered what the search for meaning might be motivated by, with Theos’ Dr Nick Spencer asking if people sought an anchor in the current choppy seas, while author and journalist Mary Harrington suggested that the internet had contributed to the increase in curiosity, as ‘people who scroll primarily perceive the world through pattern recognition’ which she considers makes them more open to God.

While women were traditionally the people who kept the church and community going, the panel were interested in the number of male new converts. Brierley suggested that there is a male identity crisis in the West, while Harrington pondered if ‘young men are craving a church that asks something of them, that doesn’t just make them feel good about themselves’. Madeline Davies, of the Church Times, questioned what lay ahead for a generation that praises tolerance but was drawn to an orthodox faith, and what tensions might arise as a consequence.

So does the future have a church? Panellists agreed that it did, but Harrington wryly commented that ‘respectable, institutional, middle-of-the-road, spreadsheet-wielding, PowerPoint-mongering Christianity is probably toast’. As Brierley observed, there is huge opportunity for the church, as ‘people are craving a community of grace’– but anything lukewarm, that ‘mushy middle’, isn’t going to cut it as we strive to share Christ with the nation.