On revivals, quiet and loud

In his poem Dover Beach, published in 1867, Matthew Arnold pictured the tide going out on the sea of faith with a “melancholy, long, withdrawing roar”. In some ways Arnold’s poem was quite prophetic. Church attendance figures have plummeted since the 1860s. For the first time on record the 2011 UK Census revealed that people who identify as Christian are now a minority in our country. 'New Atheists' such as Richard Dawkins confidently claimed that further religious decline was inevitable. Secular reason would soon obliterate the last vestiges of faith.

Not so fast. Newspapers are reporting an uptick in churchgoing among young adults. They are calling it “the quiet revival”. Some suggest that a newfound interest in faith is because the secular world is failing on its own terms. The up-and-coming generation were promised a more prosperous future. If only they knuckled down at school and went to Uni, the world would be their oyster. But having done all that, many now find that they can’t get a decent job. Owning their own home is a distant dream. Well, that could be part of the reason why people are exploring what the Christian faith is all about.  

But perhaps there's more to it than that. Even in our secular age people long for something beyond the delights and disappointments of this present world. A transcendent realm beckons. The sense of communal connection at the summer’s Oasis concerts was described in almost religious terms, as the ecstatic crowds belted out, “you and I are gonna live forever”. Maybe its not the case that, "I all I need are cigarettes and alcohol". Perhaps we should take note of Noel Gallagher’s caution in Don’t Look Back in Anger, 

Please don’t put your life in the hands
Of a Rock ‘n’ Roll band
Who’ll throw it all away. 

Writing in The Times, James Marriott reports that young people are looking for a “full fat faith”, with a focus on encountering God in worship and clear Bible teaching.  As yet, this “quiet revival” is rather patchy, with a focus on larger city churches. That said, stirrings are evident here and there in some Wiltshire fellowships. All this is welcome, at least to a Christian observer. However, a return to faith in Christ is not widespread in society at large, where apathy often reigns. 

For that to change a considerably louder revival is needed. The last large-scale Christian awakening in Britain was the 1904/05 Revival, which was especially evident in Wales, although other parts of the UK were also affected. In that short period, it is said that over 100,000 new converts were added to the membership of churches in Wales alone.

'Revival' means bringing back to life something that was either dead or dying. As the writer G. K. Chesterton explained, “Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave.” What Arnold failed to realise when on Dover Beach was that while the tide may go out on the sea of faith, it can always come back in again. 

* For various local rags & mags