Arriving in Freshers’ week, it can be hard to know where to look. The whole of Oxford Road is very suddenly full of people with loud music, gazebos and many, many pamphlets. Among the campaigners and club advertisers, dotted at regular intervals along the pavement, are the Christians. It can be a bit of a shock, coming from a faded rural Church of England parish, as we do, to find that Christianity is trying to be cool again.
In April of this year, The Bible Society, a Christian charitable organisation focused on translating and disseminating the Bible, published what it called a “transformative” report. According to their surveys, Christianity in the UK is undergoing a “quiet revival”. In contrast to the narrative of Christian decline so heavily discussed for the last century, young people are now increasingly interested in the Church and its teachings, and a growing number consider themselves regular churchgoers.
The report sparked a flare of excitement across Christian media outlets and national papers alike, but its results were in direct conflict with a similar study published in 2022 by Kings College London. There, it seemed as though the decline was still in full swing, with Gen Z the most likely generation to identify as atheist and the least likely to call themselves religious. The truth of the matter is unclear, but the idea of a revival seems to have picked up traction on our campus at least. The Mancunion went out and spoke to two young evangelists to find out about their experiences.
Nathan Murray is a recent Physics graduate from the University of Manchester, ex-committee member of the Christian Union, and is currently studying a Master’s degree in Theology at the Nazarene Bible College. During Freshers’ week he comes out to represent the Revelation Church, where he’s interning, and to “tell people about the good news of Jesus and the gospel.”
Ollie Abraham is a student worker at City Church Manchester, another ex-Christian Union committee member, and a recent Psychology graduate. Like Nathan, he’s out in the streets spreading awareness of his Church and trying to talk to passing students.
They both admit that it can be difficult to know if anyone pays attention when they’re out and about like this. As Ollie says, “It’s a mixed bag. Some days you’ll find that people stop and talk for quite a while […] other times, it does feel more like people pass by. They take a leaflet and that’s about it.” And yet, despite the low levels of immediate success, both tell us that they are seeing a surging interest in their Churches, especially among young people.
Nathan calls it “inexplicable”, saying that it’s not their evangelism but “people are just turning up to Church.” According to him, “God is pouring faith and zeal into the youth.” Olllie has a different view. To him, young people are taking a broader interest in “faith and religion,” not necessarily just the Church. Either way, the idea of a ‘quiet revival’ isn’t an abstract concept to either of them, it’s something they’re seeing evidence of every Sunday.
The reasons for this resurgence in faith are perhaps rooted in wider societal concerns. A sense of political unease, persistent questions of identity, and an increasingly uncertain future can all drive people to find something to believe in.
More pessimistically, links have been drawn between how far more men are flocking to the Church (13% attendance versus 10% for women) and a rise of conservatism and right-wing radicalisation. While this may be true in America, it’s unclear if the same can be said in the UK.
The underlying attraction may come down to a desire for comfort and security. For students, particularly the freshers dazzled by the first week circus on Oxford Road, the need to feel grounded in your own identity can be crushing.
The way Nathan sees it, students are at a “critical” age. “You hear a lot of worldviews coming into Manchester” he tells us, and it can be difficult for Christians coming to university to “stay with their convictions.” For him, churches are places where people are “loved, invested in, and known.” The aim of the Christian Union is to get students into those places, making sure they have a congregation to rely on.
Ollie seems to have a similar view, saying that “There’s a real need for Churches and faith in students.” “One of the benefits of coming to university as a Christian is you know that on a Sunday you’re going to go to a place where people believe similar things to you and have similar goals as you. It’s just an instant community.”
It’s easy to understand the appeal. But this is hardly the ‘only on Christmas and Easter’ image of archetypal British Christianity. It’s a commitment that certainly requires a level of devotion. As Nathan puts it, the “Call of the Christian life is to be a disciple of Jesus – giving everything over to Jesus, picking up your cross and following him.” He admits “Jesus doesn’t promise an easy life, but he does promise eternal life.”
It’s a new model, for the UK at least; it’s certainly a familiar line of thinking to find in the States. Ollie suggests that one reason for the gravitational pull that these new, evangelising Churches have on young people is their willingness to stay on top of current events and get involved in youth culture – you’ll even find the Christian Union running a pick-me-up stand for late-night partiers in Fallowfield.
But the suggestion that older traditions are being left behind is only half true. The Church of England is falling behind in numbers, still on the decline even according to the ‘quiet revival’ study.
However, in Manchester, the Catholic Holy Name Church is seeing a similar pattern to its younger counterparts. In a statement to The Mancunion, Father Dushan Croos SJ told us that “We have a number of people enquiring about Christianity, perhaps more than previously and I think they are asking genuine questions about their life and how religious faith contributes to it.”
In his view, the recent excitement may have been a little hasty: he’d “want to see what is happening over five or ten years,” but he has heard of “a noticeable increase in interest from young adults” across Manchester’s Catholic parishes.
Father Croos gives credit to Pope Francis, and now Pope Leo, for “[having] provoked helpful questions for young adults and offered a pathway forward, especially when political leadership seems so weak with a large number of challenges to society faced in many areas.”
He believes that “the questions faith asks of human life and society, are likely to help young adults navigate life choices, and to find real freedom in choosing what is good for them and for others.”
The reality seems clear then, that for Manchester’s student population, the feeling of a sea change has been in the air for some time. The British youth want something to believe in, and after a decades-long march away from faith it seems that we might be turning right back round to Jesus.
More than anything, the strong religious presence in our student communities can be seen in the collection of young Latter Day Saint missionaries based behind the Aquatics Centre. The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints is famously dedicated, and famously isolated by that dedication, but their ‘Mission to England Manchester’ has dug its heels in.
Speaking to Elders Langston and Libbet, they tell The Mancunion they’ve found their place in Manchester, and value the connections they’ve made to the community around them as “pretty special.”
It’s not quite enough to contradict the findings of the 2022 Kings College London survey completely. It may well be that in reality Christianity in the UK is doing something more complicated than a simple (and thematically appropriate) resurrection.
In essence, there is a feeling on the ground that the religious landscape among students is shifting and has been for a while. Feelings of belonging and security seem to be a greater desire now than ever before, but as Father Croos told The Mancunion:
“Of course, one could imagine a religious offer which tries to give all the answers, or promises an easy identity by excluding others, but I’m sure that would not be helpful or satisfactory for very long.”
