A ‘quiet revival’?

GEN (Generation) Z is trying out worship, according to a flurry of enthusiastic reports recently. A number of ministers have taken to Facebook to proclaim the good news.

Take a breath.

No statistic is quite as simple as that! Yet, let’s enjoy imagining there truly is a ‘quiet revival’ as the Bible Society suggests. Indeed some churches may be reporting anecdotally an increase in younger people in their pews/seating in worship but the statistics are still overwhelmingly about decline across the denominations in the west.

The Gen Zs who make up the bulk of those newly attending worship seem to be, though not solely, London based, and more inclined to gather in independent churches than mainline worshipping communities.

But let us not see this as a bad thing, unless we are geared to keep only our own institution going. And these statistics are about attendance at worship and not church membership: two very different things. We rarely report attendance. Our statistics measure the end point: membership, but Gen Z is not interested in that.

What is a worry is that too many have already grasped these statistics and imagine we are having a mini revival; we can simply sit back and watch it happen for we must be doing something right. No one yet can explain what is happening.

Where this survey helps, however, is understanding a particular generation in society, or, at least, gives us material with which to shape the questions we need to ask that we might understand that generation, especially, it seems, around isolation, new patterns of working, less security in life etc. When we discern what shapes a generation’s character, then we can begin building models of worship that have purpose and value for them and will engage their lives.

“ And these statistics are about attendance at worship and not church membership: two very different things.

Regardless of whether these statistics are true or not our models of discipleship, worship, mission and outreach ought to be able to respond to how life actually is in our communities. This is an invitation to seek to penetrate a section of society today, which is a foreign land to the majority of church goers brought up with a worship model they first experienced 70 years ago.

If we wish to make worship an encounter then understanding the experiences, worldview, patterns of life, of those we are trying to reach is crucial. However, I’m not aware of the church gathering evidence of the lifestyle of any particular generation in order to build discipleship programmes or patterns of worship around that generation.

All the headlines around this recent report might make us breathe a sigh of relief and even inject a bit of hope, which, I grant you, we need. Yet, this is only a starting point, though a hopeful one.

This headline suggests renewing our worship can lead to a positive outcome; Gen Z’s attendance suggests there is a field out there ripe for harvesting but requires some research into the reasons and life-patterns of each generation which ought to be used to shape the worship we offer. Other evidence suggests there is searching for belonging after the isolation experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic and now with working from home.

So let us be encouraged by this report, but equally recognise the work this report invites: Gen Z is trying-out worship but they aren’t putting down roots in our worshipping communities, yet. 

The Rev Roddy Hamilton is minister at Bearsden: New Kilpatrick