The founder of the Alpha course, Nicky Gumbel has said he’s seeing evidence of a ‘quiet revival’ at his own church, Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB).
Speaking to the Evangelical 360 Degree podcast he said that the turnout at the previous week's 1130 Sunday service had been far greater than usual because “at this time of year, it wouldn't normally be completely full. But not only was the church completely full, but all the overflow rooms were completely full and they virtually had to close the building because they just couldn't get everybody in...Something is happening.”
Earlier this year, the Bible Society published a report titled the Quiet Revival. It found that young adults between 18 and 24 years old – the group known as Gen Z – were leading a dramatic growth in church attendance. In 2018, just 4 per cent of 18–24-year-olds said that they attended church at least monthly, but this had risen to 16 per cent in 2024, with a notable rise in the proportion of young men attending.
Gumbel told the podcast he believes people are growing increasingly dissatisfied with other religions and secular ideologies amid the instability and uncertainty of the modern world.
And he gave this advice to the younger generation:
“The greatest title you can have is 'servant of the Lord'…
"The greatest act of service is introducing someone to Jesus... The greatest injustice is to have gone your whole life and never heard about Jesus.
“The big heroes aren’t going to be the people who are known, but those who quietly went along and just served Jesus.”