5 reasons I believe the UK Church is in a spiritual springtime

As I waited for my train this morning, everything felt different from just a few weeks ago. The air was cooler, a mist hung over the platform and I found myself longing for the light of dawn. The seasons have changed.

As I travel around the UK, I am often asked about the spiritual temperature of our nation. Are we in revival? My usual response is: if this is revival, I’m disappointed. But something is happening. The language I keep returning to is that we may be living in a spiritual springtime.

Like the changing of seasons in nature, spiritual springtime has some fascinating characteristics. What does this moment look and feel like?

1. Everything starts growing again

The withdrawn Quiet Revival report was only ever one of several other marker points of research pointing to the fact that the UK church is growing again. Most recently we have found that 12% of UK adults attend church at least once a month, and there are significantly more people identifying with evangelical beliefs than many expected.

Spring points to what is coming, but it does not yet represent the fullness of the harvest

Alongside this there have been prominent expressions of faith from Christian footballers praying publicly at the World Cup, leading podcasts profiling Christian apologists and newspaper headlines reporting surges in churchgoing among young people. After decades of spiritual winter, spring is here.

2. Growth is uneven and messy

Springtime is unpredictable. One warmer day can lure us into false celebration. There can be late frosts and significant regional variation. So it is with spiritual springtime. One of the dangers in moments like these is comparing our local experience with someone else’s. Not every church is experiencing the same surge in attendees. Some congregations are still closing.

But others are seeing unprecedented events. I spoke at a church in June who, despite their large car park, turned away 80 cars and needed an overflow room on Easter Sunday. Many churches have seen an increase in baptisms. Some have stories of ones and twos arriving in unexpected ways. The green shoots of growth are emerging in uneven patches.

3. A change in conditions before the fullness of results

During seasonal change, the days get longer, the ground softens, light replaces darkness. But the climactic conditions change before the landscape looks different. Much of the growth is initially hidden. Revival might be closer than we think.

And I have experienced this in my own church. For the last couple of years, I have repeatedly encountered churches where people have arrived after dreams, visions or an inexplicable sense that they should come and explore faith.

28% of people now say a ‘spiritual experience’ started their journey to becoming a Christian. Those experiences often precede visible growth, just as warmer soil arrives before the flowers. As I have observed this phenomenon, I have longed for it to happen in my context. Then, in the first few weeks of this year alone, three young men in our own locality reported similar encounters. If you are yet to see the results of springtime, they may be on their way.

4. Things grow from things that have died

There is a truth at the heart of the Christian faith that life comes from death. Jesus said: “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). In spring, new life grows from soil, made up of dead leaves from the previous season.

if this is revival, I’m disappointed. But something is happening

In spiritual spring, resurrection comes from repentance, holiness, prayer and the firm foundations laid by the faithfulness of previous generations. Throughout Church history, renewal has often emerged from the wasteland of seasons that appeared barren. What seems like decline can become the soil from which God brings new growth.

If you have faithfully prayed for the seasons to change and for revival in the UK, thank you. We all stand on the shoulders of praying giants.

5. It is beautiful

I know spring has really sprung when I walk down the road and trees that have been skeletal throughout winter burst forth in resplendent pink and white blossom. Petals floating to the ground create a carpet of colour.

The stories emerging from this season are beautiful. There is nothing quite like seeing transformation in people’s lives - and we are seeing it everywhere. I’ve never known a season where almost every leader I meet has a moving story of someone meeting Jesus.

There’s influencer, Joe Weller, sharing his journey towards Jesus publicly. There’s the father and teenage son I witnessed responding to the gospel together this summer. There’s the woman I encountered celebrating as her parents professed faith. I have seen a close family member become a Christian after years of prayer.

And these are drops in the ocean, compared to the countless stories that don’t make headlines. I will never stop being encouraged by accounts of Jesus changing lives.

Spiritual springtime is not the same as revival. Spring points to what is coming, but it does not yet represent the fullness of the harvest. Colossians 4:2 tells us to be “watchful and thankful”.

As the signs of spring emerge around us, may we have eyes to see them, hearts to thank God for them, and faith to prepare for an even greater harvest to come.

For more good news stories of God on the move, deeper analysis of spiritual springtime and reflections on how we respond check out the latest season of the Good News People podcast