EDITORIAL
Discern the Times | Amy Orr-Ewing
Something is happening in the church, and it’s making the news.
In post-Christian Great Britain where I live, we have been working hard to proclaim the gospel and make the case for the Christian faith, and something extraordinary is happening: People are waking up to their need for God. They are buying Bibles in such great numbers that it is making the news. There is a renaissance in belief in God.
According to research from the Bible Society, church attendance has seen a dramatic increase, particularly among young men in the United Kingdom. In 2014, only 4% of male respondents ages 18–24 said they attended church. Today, this number among that same segment has risen to 21%. What the Bible Society is calling “The Quiet Revival” is something I am seeing in my own travels. Young people, and notably young men, are discovering the Christian faith and coming to church.
In the 2010s, atheism, and in particular New Atheism, was on the rise, but that tide has now turned. Take Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of the New York Times bestseller Infidel, for example. She came to Europe as a young teen, escaping extremism and poverty in Somalia. As she grew up, she was persuaded that there is no God, and she emerged as a spokesperson for atheism. She rejected all faith and shared the stage with Richard Dawkins and other prominent atheists to speak about the nonexistence of God.
In the last couple of years, however, Hirsi Ali has come to faith in Jesus Christ and been baptized. She has been speaking publicly about this transformation, so Dawkins wanted to interview her. He confessed that he had hoped that she was interested in Christianity for what it might offer politically, structurally, culturally and morally, but he did not anticipate her having encountered a powerful living God.
Here is a little bit from their interview:
Dawkins: “I’ve called you a political Christian, but from what you’ve just said, it sounds like you are more than just a political Christian. It sounds as though you actually believe it. … You surely do not believe in the resurrection?”
Hirsi Ali: “I choose to believe that Jesus rose from the dead. That is a matter of choice. It’s a matter of going back to: Is there something or is there nothing? I think you start with there is nothing, and yes, for years I agreed with you that there is nothing. But if you come round to the idea that there might be something much more powerful than we are, something that caused everything else, then something like Jesus rising out of the dead and these other miracles—Jesus being born of a virgin—for that higher power it is not a big deal.”
Dawkins: “I came here to persuade you, Ayaan, that you’re not a Christian. But I think you are a Christian.”
Public intellectuals are finding the Christian faith. Gen Z is coming back to church. God is on the move. But are we ready?
We must “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you for the reason for the hope within” (1 Peter 3:15). Our congregations and teams need to be equipped to meet the moment in the culture, so that they are ready to lead people to Jesus, answer their questions about faith, and usher in the move of God that has already begun.