Last month, I travelled across the country attending national events in my capacity as Principal Officer of Pentecostal, Charismatic and Multi-cultural Relations and as a minister. From Pentecostal conventions to youth gatherings and prayer summits, I witnessed glimpses of The Quiet Revival unfolding in real time, particularly among young people aged 13-25.
In every place I visited, I met young people who were unapologetic about their faith and bold in sharing how they had walked away from postmodern pressure to live without absolutes. Their testimonies were clear: “We’ve tried life without God, and it doesn’t satisfy.”
These encounters, albeit from more evangelical and Pentecostal wings of the church, speak to what the Bible Society’s The Quiet Revival report has highlighted: God is stirring something significant among young people, particularly within Pentecostal diaspora communities, Catholic churches, and among young men. The statistics are striking. Church attendance among 18-24 year olds has quadrupled from 4% in 2018 to 16% in 2024, with young men’s attendance rising dramatically from 4% to 21%. This data suggests not merely incremental growth but a generational shift that challenges decades of assumptions about faith and young people.
Building on observations from my colleagues Rev Ben and Doral Hayes, I offer potential reasons that revival growth in England is being significantly contributed to by the Pentecostal constituency, particularly among young Black men.
The report reveals that Pentecostalism has become “the third biggest Christian tradition, rising from 4% to 10% of all churchgoers, and among 18-34 year olds, 18% of churchgoers identify as Pentecostal.” However, I must emphasise that this space is far from monolithic. England’s Pentecostal landscape is richly diverse, encompassing indigenous British-led churches, Caribbean and African denominations with international headquarters, and newer neo-Pentecostal congregations planted by visionary young leaders with apostolic fervour. This plurality matters. To understand the revival fully, research must explore not just how much Pentecostalism is growing, but where and among whom this growth is occurring within the constituency. Only then can we discern the textured movement of the Spirit, its leadership dynamics, and its prophetic significance for the wider Church.
Belief in prophetic imagination
The Quiet Revival is not merely a sociological trend; speaking from my tradition, I believe it is prophetic. Migrant and diaspora Pentecostal churches are thriving amidst hostile immigration policies and rising nationalism. This echoes the very origins of Pentecostalism itself. Born at Azusa Street (among other places) in a cultural context of segregation and racial tensions, Pentecostalism has always embodied a theology of resilience and breaking racial barriers through justice rooted in Scripture.
What the world excludes, God empowers. The growth of multilingual, multicultural, Spirit-filled churches is not accidental, and I believe it is a signpost that the global Church is rising within Britain, carrying the fire of Pentecost. The statistics bear this out: the Church is becoming increasingly ethnically diverse, with 19% of all churchgoers from ethnic minorities, rising to 32% among those aged 18-54.
Apostolic declarations
In my travels across the Pentecostal landscape, I also observe a new generation rising with prophetic boldness. Movements like Kingdom Ambassador Culture led by young Pentecostal adults are mobilising thousands of young adults, particularly Black men, across England and Europe through prayer, worship, and digital evangelism. They are not merely hoping for revival they are declaring it; England will see a spiritual awakening.
This apostolic confidence extends to university campuses, where Pentecostal Christian Fellowships led by movements such as the Church of Pentecost are discipling students hungry for Spirit-filled faith. These young believers are drawn to passionate worship experiences, often connecting with God outside of traditional Student Christian Movements.
The numbers validate their expectation. The Quiet Revival report reveals that among under-55s, one-third of churchgoers (32%) come from ethnic minorities, while nearly half of young Black people aged 18–34 (47%) attend church at least monthly. This is not passive church attendance; this is a generation that refuses to apologise for their faith.
These unapologetic movements, led by young adults are not merely seeking revival, they are expecting it. And maybe their expectation is becoming England’s reality.
Discipleship rooted in scripture
Another contributing factor is that Pentecostal churches maintain a strong culture of Bible engagement. From Sunday school and Bible quizzes to testimony services and expository preaching, our discipleship models are grounded in a high view of Scripture. Bible literacy is not a side project for us; it is central to how we measure spiritual growth. The Quiet Revival data validates this approach. Bible reading among churchgoers has increased significantly, with 67% now reading the Bible at least weekly, up from 54% in 2018. Among Pentecostals specifically, around 90% read the Bible weekly.
Responding to the hunger for spirituality
The report also highlights spirituality as a key contributing factor to revival. In a culture where diverse spiritual expressions from new age spirituality and crystals to horoscopes to “Witch Tok” reflect humanity’s deep longing for transcendence, Pentecostal spirituality offers a distinctive response to this universal hunger.
The data reveals this spiritual appetite in that 35% of 18–24-year-olds believe there is ‘definitely a God/gods or higher power’, 40% pray regularly, and 51% have engaged with spiritual practices in the past six months. We are in a spiritually open culture.
From an ecumenical perspective, I believe Pentecostalism’s appeal lies in offering experiential knowledge of God through divine encounter. Our pneumatology speaks directly to the modern cry for transcendence by providing not just propositional truth about God, but participatory knowledge of God’s active presence.
Stories of fading
Amidst the flourishing taking place in the Pentecostal church there is also fading. This balance must be acknowledged.
Fading can feel like failure in a movement wired for victory, breakthrough, and abundance. But biblically, fading can be pruning that prepares for new life. “Every branch that bears fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:2).
We see this fading in intergenerational leadership tensions, where younger leaders may feel their leadership is infantilised while institutional leadership spaces remain occupied too long, and older leaders may feel younger leaders are entitled and inexperienced for the magnitude of leadership and spiritual responsibility they seek. This has led to decline of a generation in some Pentecostal churches.
Fading also manifests through resistance to succession planning, where leadership transitions emerge only through crisis, death, or chaos. The Elisha’s are seeking Elijahs, the Pauls need the humble hearts of Timothy, and the Davids certainly do not need Sauls who love their gifting but hate their calling. There are opportunities to reframe fading as making space for new moves of the Spirit to manifest.
Potential dangers and warnings
As I read the report and hear broader responses of support and challenge to its findings and methodology, I have some observations as a critical friend.
Firstly, we must be careful not to fail to recognise genuine spiritual revival simply because it involves or is being led by Black and Brown communities. The report emphasises that revival is “not only a result of immigration,” which could suggest that immigration connected revival is somehow less legitimate. This framing may reflect an assumption that “real” revival should be predominantly white or ethnically British.
The Church appears to have made this error before. In the 1960s and 1970s, Spirit-filled movements led by Black and Brown believers seem to have been systematically dismissed by the wider Church establishment. Authentic spiritual renewal may have been overlooked due to racial and cultural bias.
We must not culturally colonise this revival. Leaders whose ministries are birthing renewal must not simply be spoken about as subjects in someone else’s narrative, they must be co-creators of the story of what God is doing in Britain.
We must also not allow pragmatic pessimism to quench prophetic imagination. British culture can be self-negating and hesitant to celebrate in general terms, and I would argue particularly regarding spiritual growth. But sometimes you need to imagine and by faith operate and prepare for revival even when it is not fully formed. Like Noah building an ark under clear skies, we prepare for God’s promises. “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).
I also pray that humility drives the outcomes of this report. For traditions that may not share the same growth story as The Quiet Revival, I pray they resist the temptation of capitalist competition and the pressure to chase numbers at any cost. Instead, may they remain faithful to what God has specifically called them to do.
My hope is that this report inspires rather than triggers, that it encourages faithfulness to divine calling rather than comparison with others. Each tradition has its own sacred purpose in God’s kingdom. The goal is not uniformity in growth metrics, but unity in faithful obedience to our distinct callings.
The Discipleship imperative: Beyond encounter to formation
Perhaps the greatest danger facing this revival is allowing engagement to end at encounter. We must ensure that the excitement of Spirit-filled experiences does not overshadow the necessity of robust discipleship structures. While encounters with God are powerful and transformative, they are meant to be the beginning, not the conclusion, of spiritual formation.
The Quiet Revival data reveals both opportunity and challenge. While 90% of 18–34-year-old churchgoers are interested in discovering more about the Bible, 35% agree that ‘my faith is undermined when I read/think about some parts of the Bible’ and 24% say they have less confidence in the Bible than they used to. This underscores the critical need for robust discipleship that creates not just initial encounters but sustains long-term faith formation.
This insight helps us as the church to remain humble and invest deeply in people’s spiritual and Christian development rather than becoming intoxicated by encounter alone. True discipleship is where the real work occurs, and it is the measure of the Church’s genuine commitment to revival. The Great Commission calls us beyond initial conversion to lifelong formation. Sustainable revival requires intentional structures. Without these foundations, even the most powerful revival can dissipate into spiritual nostalgia.
Finally, The Quiet Revival invites us to celebrate what God is doing among young, Spirit-filled believers while confronting what must change in our leadership cultures and discipleship models. Pentecostalism, with its bold imagination, high view of Scripture, and Spirit-empowered worship, has much to contribute to this national conversation and has its own internal challenges that can undermine revival.
This article is in a three-part series called Flourishing and Fading from CTE’s Principal Officers, as each of them reflects on a series of recent reports on church growth.
Read Flourishing and fading: the churches across England today by Rev Dr Ben Aldous
Photos in the main image taken from Church of God of Prophecy, New Testament Assembly Tooting, New Testament Church of God and RCCG, Chapel of Grace, Bradford Facebook pages.