The Bible Society has deleted its report which sparked the ‘Quiet Revival’ phenomenon. It follows news, announced earlier today, that the polling company behind the research, YouGov, has said that fraudulent responses may have skewed the numbers. YouGov is taking full responsibility, and no blame is attached to the Bible Society. YouGov says it will run a new opinion poll on behalf of the Bible Society, and the results will be published in due course.
None of this means a ‘quiet revival’ isn’t happening. For myself, I’m not prepared to call it ‘revival’. I’d prefer to call it a renewed interest in Christianity, and I wouldn’t put it stronger than that. But anecdotally, there is a renewed openness to the Bible among young men and women. And some of those young adults are now attending church more regularly. I’ve seen that in the church that I pastor, and others have seen it too.
So what happened at YouGov? In 2024 they conducted a survey for the Bible Society. And the results initially suggested a notable rise in church attendance in England and Wales, from 8% in 2018 to 12% in 2024, with especially strong growth among younger people. At the time, the findings were checked and no methodological issues were identified, and the results attracted significant media attention as evidence of a possible “revival” in Christianity.
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