The evidence is in, says Rev Pat Allerton. Young people are turning back to scripture in their search for truth
Recently, my godson’s secondary school had a team of Christians visit as part of a mission week they were running. A few days in, the vicar on the team headed out to the playground and tentatively approached a group of 15 lads. He had some bracelets with Bible verses on them and sweets to offer to them. As he expected, they declined to take any, but then one of them then asked, “do you have any Bibles?”. He was astonished. Here was a group of teenagers actively asking for a Bible!
Research suggests this is not an isolated incident. According to Christian publisher SPCK, UK Bible sales increased by 134% between 2019 and 2025.
This interest in the Bible is mirrored globally. Creators of the popular YouVersion Bible App reached a billion installs worldwide last year. The beauty of technology is that it can give us access to the Bible anytime, anywhere, and people in the UK are continually coming back to it, not just checking in once. As many as 500,000 people engaged with the Bible App in a single day this January - the biggest day for use ever in the UK.
This uptick in Bible interest is not just about book sales but reflects a broader cultural movement of renewed interest in religious texts and practices, a search for truth and meaning. And we’re seeing similarly positive trends when it comes to church attendance too. Between 2017 and 2025, the number of 16-24-year-olds attending church increased from 4% to 16%, according to the Bible Society’s ‘Quiet Revival’ report. Indeed, I have witnessed this at my own church too. There has been a steady curve of growth in our congregation, often people in their 20s with a fresh and deeply real hunger for God.
Why is this happening? Or more to the point, why now?
A loss of trust
We live at a time when historic norms and definitions, about who we are and what it is to be human, have been thrown up in the air. In a globalised age, every worldview and belief system is on the menu. We have the freedom to pick one, or none. This, plus established institutions and individuals hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons, has led to an epidemic in levels of distrust.
Then there is AI! Is anyone else sick of being forwarded fake videos? Is it any surprise that young people, especially, are asking, is anything solid in this world? Is there anywhere firm I can place my feet? They feel like a boat unmoored from its anchor, tossed about on a stormy sea. And it’s getting stormier.
I recently heard Pete Hughes, vicar of KXC church in London, speak about “the shaking of secularism and the search for a saviour.” Young people are looking for a place to put their trust and they know that the Bible has, historically, been that.
A search for truth
Young people have grown up swimming in a secularist soup that makes no claims and offers few signposts. They are invited to discover and live ‘their truth’, but never to think if it might be true for others. The Quiet Revival suggests that people are beginning to see that indeed, the Emperor may have no clothes on; that what we’ve been sold might not be what we thought it was. A search for truth is beginning to stir as people sense there must be more.
A generation that has defined itself as ‘spiritual but not religious’ is beginning to dig a little bit deeper. After all, in a universe governed by laws, is it too far to think there might be spiritual ones, or perhaps even a law giver? A mate of mine recently celebrated something by saying “thank you universe!”. Many now want to go one step further, to find and thank the universe’s creator instead.
A desire for transcendence
If a loss of trust and the search for truth concern the head, then the search for transcendence is a matter of the heart. People are becoming aware of their own spiritual thirst, hungry for purpose and meaning. More and more people are experiencing St Augustine’s maxim to be true, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” They know deep down that even with bad stuff going on, this life and this world are just too beautiful for there to be nothing and no one behind it. And they want to connect with that reality!
‘The search for a saviour’ has begun and Bible sales tell us where they’re looking. The wonderful news is that in its pages they’ll discover the God who left heaven and came looking for them. When they read this book with faith, Jesus will walk off its pages and into their lives.
In 2025, the UK’s most read Bible verse on the Bible App was Jeremiah 29:11: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” People are searching for something they have never had: a strong foundation in something real and enduring, for peace, hope, and love. The Bible is the doorway to a relationship with the God who provides all these things and more.
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