Gavin and I are both avid football fans and once played for the same football team. We know what it’s like to lose every week. In fact, we once broke the Guinness world record for the longest ever five-a-side football match. After 48 hours we had lost by over 300 goals. But we also know what it’s like to be a part of teams that win every week. The increasing openness to faith and the rising number of people in churches feels like playing on the winning team. It’s a huge boost and mentality shift.
Almost every Sunday Gavin Calver and I speak in a different church across the UK. We go where invited and preach across almost every denomination, to handfuls and hundreds, across the whole spectrum of society. And every week for the last few years we have texted each other with enthusiastic encouragement, reporting seeing God doing something extraordinary in the places we have been. From this vantage point we believed we had a story to tell.
And then the statistics began to reflect what we were seeing; more people, especially younger people, are exploring Christianity and coming to church. But what does this mean for us? I want to suggest three ways to make the most of the changing climate.
1. Start by talking to your friends
Firstly, we need to make the most of the opportunities. Colossians 4:2 – 6 encourages us to be devoted to prayer, pray that a door may open for the message and make the most of every opportunity. We must continue to pray, but we must also take hold of the moment that God has given us. This is the role of good news people.
One of the things that God has called us to do as the Evangelical Alliance is to understand how people become Christians and encourage the UK church to make the most of those pathways. We recently published a report which asked new Christians how they came to faith as adults. One of the questions we asked was: Who helped you most on the journey? Here’s what people said: ​‘A person or people from church’ (35%), ​‘A close friend’ (33%) and ​‘A small group of Christians’ (28%). People repeatedly mentioned that friends gave them time, patient discussion and hospitality, and demonstrated authentic faith. Evangelism is a team game. It is too important and too big a task to be left to the professionals.
In this moment, we all get to play a part. If you have friends who don’t yet know Jesus, they may be more open than before to an invitation to church, a course exploring faith, an evangelistic event or a chat about the Bible. Don’t say their ​‘no’ for them.
"If you have friends who don’t yet know Jesus, they may be more open than before... Don’t say their ‘no’ for them."
2. Stand firm on the truth
Whenever you see the words ​‘gospel’ or ​‘good news’ in the New Testament, the root word behind them is the Greek, ​‘evangel’. It’s where we get the ​‘evangelist’, ​‘evangelistic’ and ​‘evangelical’ from. One piece of work that Gavin and I have done in recent months is to try and define and redeem what we mean when we say we are ​‘evangelicals’. We think a really good retranslation is ​‘good news people’.
To be evangelicals, or good news people, is to build our lives on four compelling foundations. First, we are rooted in the Bible. We need to trust its authority in the midst of rapid cultural and societal change. Second, we are centred on Jesus. We believe that his life, death and resurrection are the most important moments in the whole of human history. Third, we are transformed by conversion. The most important decision every one of us has to make is whether to follow Jesus or not. It really is a matter of life and death. And fourth, we are inspired to activism. We desire to see the world become more like the kingdom, so we aim to make a difference with our lives.
In this season of spiritual openness, people are not just being drawn to the Christian faith. All kinds of spirituality are being explored. What we have in Jesus is the firmest of foundations and the only way to real and everlasting life. We need to stand firm on this truth and, as the ground shakes beneath the world’s feet, invite others to plant their feet on solid rock.
3. Tell a hopeful story
As Gavin and I wrote Good News People, we became convinced that there are some important tensions for us to hold as Christians at this time. One of those is being both hopeful and realistic. We need to trust that in the end Jesus wins and that we can have an unswerving hope in how the story finishes, but we have to be real and honest about the battle we are in.
One of the implications of being hopeful in this time of renewal is that we need to tell the story of what God is doing in the UK. Where people are coming to faith, let’s celebrate and share the news. In the last few months, multiple media outlets have reported a mass baptism on Bournemouth beach, a national newspaper’s headline was ​‘Global crises sending Gen Z to church’, and a leading political podcast reported from a Christian festival, trying to explain the renewal of interest in faith amongst younger generations. If there was ever a time to be hopeful, it is now. Don’t miss this amazing opportunity.
