Amid reports of a quiet revival, Abby Guinness shares a similar story from this year’s Spring Harvest — only theirs was one of vibrant, youthful worship, renewed passion for Jesus, and growing intergenerational faith that was anything but quiet
It’s after midnight and a bunch of twenty-somethings are jumping up and down with their arms in the air, grinning and singing at the top of their lungs. Perhaps that’s not so unusual, even for a Wednesday. But stop to listen more carefully and you realise they’re singing ‘Shine Jesus Shine’. They’ve been belting worship songs for a while and show no signs of running out of material, even if they are now raiding the back catalogue.
They are eventually ushered reluctantly off to bed with pleas of, “We need you on top form for the kids in the morning!” This is a large proportion of the Kids’ Team at Spring Harvest and they’re not in a nightclub, but a Butlins dining room that doubles as the team lounge for a week.
The following evening, the largest venue is almost full at 10:45pm. Crowding the front are teenagers who have been waiting on the Holy Spirit, worshipping, praying, sharing testimonies and are now dancing in abandoned praise. Young worship musicians Jake Isaac and Elle Limebear have also raided the ‘assembly bangers’ and are leading the crowd in a raucous rendition of ‘Give Me Oil In My Lamp’. The room is unmistakably full of joy in people of all ages. Some of the responsible (older) folks feel bad about calling for a pause eventually. The staff, technicians and stewards need eight hours in bed before they have to open up again in the morning. Everyone takes it surprisingly well. As they set off for bed, the teenagers are chanting, ‘Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!’ as they go.
There may have been a few tears from those who have prayed to see a renewal of passion like this. Or perhaps it was just the sweat dripping as we tried to keep up.
A landmark moment
It’s often remarked that big gatherings like these are a landmark moment when children and young people realise they are not the only one. They see that there are thousands of others from across the country who love Jesus – and they’re not all crinklies! Entrants to the Youth Preaching Prize (run by Premier Unbelievable? with Spring Harvest) have mentioned that they are the only Christian at their school or the only young person in their church. It’s therefore not at all unusual for young people to be fervent in worship at Spring Harvest.
But this year we experienced something different. The Quiet Revival report from Bible Society had only just been published but we felt it. The data jumped off the page and the revival didn’t seem so quiet! Gen Z are leading the charge and Generation Alpha are following suit. In each of the past four years at Spring Harvest, more children and young people have made a decision to follow Jesus than the year before. This year more than 630 under the age of 18 chose to make that commitment.
Spring Harvest has always been an intergenerational event but since the pandemic our demographic has shifted even more noticeably towards the young. Almost 40 per cent of our guests and team are under the age of 26, and they are more open than ever to bringing friends with them.
Accelerating evangelism
A few years ago, we felt Spring Harvest was like a banquet – a feast of worship, teaching and fun. So we began praying that God would specifically bless the evangelistic nature of the event and began to open the invitation to the table as widely as we could. This year our ‘Everyone In Fund’ (created by the generous giving of our guests) was able to support more than 700 people with a contribution to attend. There were many who might have been surprised to find themselves at a Christian festival. We saw more adults than ever make a first commitment or re-commitment to Jesus.
A large group of prison leavers and another of those recovering from addiction joined us in Skegness. They asked us to find an extra venue for the afternoons so they could carry on worshipping – they didn’t want to stop and didn’t care if anyone had a guitar.
It seems that large gatherings provide important catalyst moments alongside church life. Those curious, those tentatively dipping their toe, those who have been taking it all in for months or years, are given an opportunity to put a stake in the ground and say: ‘Yes – I want to follow Jesus.’ It’s in these moments that faith can seem to feel like it’s on fast-forward and we return home with new vision, passion and energy. Of course we can be filled with the Holy Spirit every day, but we seem ready to catch more of God’s power when we have taken a step out of the ordinary. Perhaps we are more expectant. Or perhaps it’s just that we are given the opportunity.
So we thank God for every one of these event-moments and opportunities across our country, and pray that the sound of revival will continue to rise — getting louder and stronger hereon, in every generation.
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