John McGinley
Across the UK & Ireland, something quiet and yet unmistakable is stirring. People are beginning to seek God. A quiet revival is breaking ground, and the Spirit is moving with fresh power and purpose. The Lord is at work, drawing hearts, shifting spiritual atmospheres, and calling His Church to consecration, and courageous obedience. For decades, the story told about the Church in these nations has been one of managed decline. But what if God is writing a different story? This is not mere optimism; it is a hope rooted in the character of God, the patterns of history, and the tangible signs of an emerging awakening.
The concept of spiritual awakening is deeply woven into the fabric of Scripture. It is not first and foremost about human activity but about a divine intervention where God rends the heavens and comes down (Isaiah 64:1). It is a sovereign act of mercy where God revives His people and awakens the hearts of those far from Him.
The prophet Habakkuk, surveying a nation in crisis, pleads with God: “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known” (Habakkuk 3:2). This is a cry for a historic, tangible move of God that is undeniable to the present generation as people are praying “Lord do it again.”
Awakening
And the ultimate model for awakening is found at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit fell with power upon the waiting, praying church, catalysing a movement that turned the world upside down (Acts 2, Acts 17:6). This was not a programme but a Person—the Holy Spirit—empowering ordinary people for extraordinary witness. The Bible consistently shows that God specialises in breathing new life into dry bones (Ezekiel 37), and there is a growing belief that He is poised to do it again in the UK and Ireland.
Hundreds of churches across every denomination in the UK are experiencing significant growth”
The danger of writing about revival and awakening is that is can sound like wishful thinking, a spiritual optimism that has disappointed us in the past. But the rumours of a fresh work of God have been given tangible form in the groundbreaking ‘Quiet Revival’ report. This extensive research, published this year by The Bible Society, revealed that, contrary to popular belief, hundreds of churches across every denomination in the UK are experiencing significant growth. In the UK monthly church attendance grew from 8% in 2018 to 12% in 2024. It documented a “quiet revival” particularly among a younger generation. This revival is “quiet” not because it is secret, but because it is decentralised—not one single movement led by a famous personality, but a thousand points of light igniting simultaneously across the nations. Engagement in local churches quadrupled among 18–24-year-olds from 4% in 2018 to 16% in 2024. And alongside this the Christian publisher SPCK announced that Bible sales grew by 87% during the same time.
Revival
This data is crucial. It provides evidence that the Holy Spirit is moving in a fresh way, renewing congregations, inspiring innovative mission, and drawing people to Himself. Rich Wilson, leader of the student Fusion movement, expressed it wisely when he said, “we are in the grip of a slow awakening.”
This is not happening everywhere, and the expressions of faith are fragile and early. But they are happening”
This helpfully doesn’t overstate what is happening as a revival, but it does communicate that what we are seeing now is real and a distinct shift from where we were. Anecdotally what is being reported is young adults suddenly wanting to come to church and simply turning up. Many are speaking about spiritual encounters in which they have come to believe in Jesus and others are expressing a desire to read the Bible. This is not happening everywhere, and the expressions of faith are fragile and early. But they are happening.
Movements
In Loughborough, a non-Christian young man was invited along to a worship event by his friend. By the end of the night, he found himself kneeling at the foot of the cross, giving his life to Christ and praying about his broken family relationships. The next day he received a call out of the blue from his grandparents and those relationships are starting to heal. Many young people have seen visions or had dreams about Jesus and gone to church to figure out what they mean. One student in Lincoln had a vision of a huge door on her bedroom wall that wouldn’t go away. She googled what a ‘door vision’ meant and came across the words of Matthew 7:7: “Knock, and the door will be opened to you.” At that moment, she knew that it was Jesus calling her to follow Him. She gave her life to Him and has subsequently been healed of years of addiction and depression.
The group has become a passionate worshipping community who are looking to share their faith”
If the ‘Quiet Revival’ report shows the embers, then movements like The Send UK and Ireland are a powerful gust of wind, demonstrating a younger generation awakening to its purpose. The Send is a movement that gathers a younger generation in catalytic events designed to mobilise thousands into their missional calling. On March 17th, 2025, 4,000 people, predominantly from younger generations, gathered from around the island of Ireland in the Belfast SSE Arena. For nine hours they prayed and worshipped and engaged with inspirational messages and at the end of the event hundreds committed to go overseas, to their university and schools and neighbourhoods with the gospel. As the Quiet Revival report concludes, “Christianity is becoming about active commitment rather than a passive cultural label.” A youth leader took 20 young people to the SSE Arena from a local church in a small town outside of Dublin. She explained that before The Send event this was a social group. But afterwards the group has become a passionate worshipping community who are looking to share their faith with others.
Gone is the passive Christianity of previous decades where mission was something done by professionals overseas. The Send embodies a generation that is tired of sitting in pews and hungry for a faith that costs them something and changes everything. One young man sensed God calling him to take bibles into his school. He used his savings to buy 20 bibles and took the box into the school canteen and announced there were free bibles for anyone who wanted one. They were all taken immediately. He offered to read them with people and from that he started a number of different bible reading groups in his school.
Themes
Amid this stirring, Anne Calver and I sensed God call us to write something that would help the Church engage with what the Spirit is doing. From this our book Awaken: the Lord is Doing a New thing was birthed. This work is more than just analysis; it is a prophetic wake-up call and a practical manual for how to respond. The danger of all the stories and statistics that I have shared is that the church breathes a collective sigh of relief and puts its feet up, grateful that God is moving. But the stark reality is that the signs of new life have not come from the Church working in a new way. They are the work of the Spirit, and they are an invitation to us to respond. They are the first fruits of the harvest that God is preparing us for, and we have to learn again how to harvest and disciple those who are ready to come to faith. Awakening is not a passive event we wait for, but a dynamic partnership with the Holy Spirit. The book provides people with tangible ways to engage with God’s wake-up call, emphasising the following themes:
- Praying with Holy Expectation: we must move from maintenance prayer to kingdom-breaking prayer. This means praying the promises of Scripture, like 2 Chronicles 7:14, over our communities and nations, gathering in homes and churches to cry out for revival.
- Embrace personal Surrender: ultimately, national renewal begins with personal revival. It requires a fresh surrender to the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to search our hearts and reignite our first love for Christ (Revelation 2:4-5).
- New Wineskins: the pattern of the Church up until this point has not produced missional disciples. God is renewing his Church and calling us to form authentic communities and ones in which spiritual parents are ready to disciple this younger generation.
- Every member must see themselves as a ‘sent one.’ Jesus is pouring out his Spirit to raise an army who will carry his love to others. This is a time to step into a new missional confidence.
The dawn is breaking. The signs are there. The call of God is going out across the nations: “Awake, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Ephesians 5:14). The question is not if God will move, but who will have the faith to rise, pray, and partner with Him when He does. Awaken will stir your spirit, open your eyes, and equip your heart to be part of the new thing God is doing. Don’t miss the moment – revival begins with the awakened!
John McGinley leads the Myriad programme and The Send UK & Ireland, helping people live missionally. His new book Awaken follows on his previous book The Church of Tomorrow: Being a Christ-shaped People in a Changing World.
