By Dr Gareth Crispin2025-04-02T09:13:00
By all means celebrate stories of a revival of spiritual interest among Gen Z. But if we don’t empower Christian parents to pass faith onto their children, we won’t move the needle on church growth, says Gareth Crispin
Do you have bugbears? Not large, hairy, goblin-like creatures, but the metaphorical type of bugbear, the continual source of irritation. I have a few, one is the way that research is presented in the press. Sometimes research is flat out mis-represented in a headline (I’ve written about that here). In other instances, it is presented as a new news story when, actually, it’s not really new at all, and therefore is not much of a story.
Last week, The Times published an article that managed to both mis-represent the underlying research and not really be much of a story at the same time. The headline: “Most of Britain’s non-believers were raised as Christians”, mis-represented data from the Pew Research Centre by confusing the retention rate with the leaving rate; so, it’s not actually ‘most’.
But the bugbear that really bugged me was that this is also not much of a story; it’s essentially saying that a country which used to be ‘Christian’ has become less ‘Christian’ - which most of us knew already.
2024-10-22T18:00:00Z By Chine McDonald
If you want to pass on faith, it needs to be actions, not just words, says Chine McDonald
2021-05-25T12:59:00Z By Emma Fowle
Even prior to Covid-19, the number of children and teenagers attending church services in the UK was in steep decline. But after a year like no other, is the answer going back to the way we’ve always done things, or is it time for a fresh approach?
2025-07-18T08:11:00Z By Chris Sinkinson
More than 1,000 people from five different churches gathered on Bournemouth beach last weekend. As 92 people came forward to be baptised, local church leader Chris Sinkinson says that it’s another example of the changing spiritual atmosphere in Britain
2025-07-18T12:53:00Z By Andy Flannagan
Andy Flannagan introduces a new song for the church, which invites Christians to relinquish control and submit to God’s authority
2025-07-18T10:29:00Z By Billy Hallowell
It’s easy to celebrate when high-profile people express faith in Christ. But what about when they falter? We should be slow to judge and quick to pray for them, says Billy Hallowell
2025-07-17T11:11:00Z By Tim Bechervaise
Maro Itoje captains his club, his country and now, the British and Irish Lions. The 30-year-old rugby player says he hasn’t always taken his faith as seriously as he should. But he is now - and it shows on the field, says Tim Bechervaise
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