We Have a Dream

We live in a time of disorder. Financial markets, behaving unpredictably, are disrupting the traditional relationship between equities and bonds. The dollar, the reserve currency for many countries, has declined, leading to a surge in gold. The global and geopolitical landscape is chaotic. Inflation and the cost of living have returned as pressing concerns for many governments. We have no models to predict what will happen next. We are in a place we’ve never been before. Volatility is the new normal of our time. A single misguided comment about tariffs can move markets in extreme directions; billions are lost or made within a matter of hours. Thirty years have passed since my last direct involvement in such matters. While I don’t miss it, I continue to monitor the situation and feel a familiar rise in stress.

Over the last ten years, deconstruction has become a significant theme within the Christian faith. More often than not, it involves deconstructing the church rather than Christianity itself. Institutional deconstruction may offer a platform for the revolution or renewal many of us long for. This process is also extending to the economic and historical narratives that shape the world. The landscape is shifting.

It has been nearly a year since I wrote a post for Rural Ministries titled Thinking Differently, in which I predicted that stories of growth in church attendance would continue to emerge—and indeed, they have. However, this growth has not been uniform across all groups.

Between November and December 2024, a YouGov survey commissioned by the Bible Society asked over 13,000 adults in the United Kingdom about their faith. The results showed that church attendance rose from 8% in 2018 to 12% in 2024, increasing from 3.7 million to 5.8 million—a 56% rise in just seven years. Interestingly, most of this growth is among Generation Z (born between 1995 and 2010). Although church attendance is not a direct measure of spirituality, it points to something significant underway.

The Bible Society report concluded that this represents “a radical challenge to long-established predictions around the future of religion, particularly Christianity, in twenty-first-century Britain. Instead of a continuing decline, we see explosive growth; instead of a Church populated predominantly by older women, we see a rising number of men and younger generations joining.” (1)

According to the same poll, 19% of 18–24-year-olds read the Bible independently. “Bible sales in the UK have increased by 87%.” Nielsen BookScan data shows that Bible sales grew from £2.69 million in 2019 to £5.02 million in 2024—an increase of £2.33 million in just five years.

Clearly, something is happening—and not just in Britain. Barna Research reports increased faith among Gen Z in the United States, with a parallel rise in Bible purchases by first-time believers. In France, adult baptisms rose by 45% in 2025, with 36% of those baptised aged between 18 and 25. Belgium saw similar trends. Finland and Sweden—often described as largely secular nations—also reported a rise in belief in God.

This data is powerful—and potentially misleading. We may be tempted to believe our strategies or structures caused this growth. They did not. It is a work of the Spirit. Much like the financial markets, we have no model to explain or replicate this. We are in uncharted territory.

We need to create spaces and places where people encounter both the presence of God and the presence of others—spaces animated by God’s Spirit. Sadly, many churches are once again positioning themselves for entertainment and attraction: “Come and meet God in our midst,” rather than asking, “How might we encounter God in your presence and create new communities of hope?”

As Mark Sayers, a leader at Red Church Australia, points out, churches are getting caught up in revivalism—trying to replicate the techniques and tactics that worked in past revivals.(2) Perhaps we need to return to the words of Isaiah 43:19: “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”

In the same podcast, Sayers reflects on the death of cultural Christianity. He observes:

“When cultural Christianity is dead or dying, and you've got a remnant church, that’s a completely different place to do ministry and mission... They're there because they want Jesus; they want God. They’re looking for prayer; they want Jesus; they want presence; they want worship; they want to do mission.”

In The Commons, we refer to this emerging phenomenon as the rise of Communities of Hope. These are spaces of genuine relationship and community—qualities that are scarce in today’s society but deeply longed for. These communities are where we encounter the presence of God, and where our neighbourhoods begin to reflect signs of the Kingdom.

We are not trying to recreate church in the image of the world. Communities of hope are learning to depend on the agency of God as we navigate this unfamiliar landscape. It is in our encounters with God—among us and in our neighbourhoods—that the Gospel comes alive where we live.

The community element is vital. Research shows, for example, that participation in community positively impacts young people’s mental health. Andrea Danese, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at King’s College London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, states that involvement in community activities and access to safe social spaces “can provide adolescents with opportunities to build social skills and resilience,” serving as a buffer against social anxiety.(3)

When The Commons speaks of Communities of Hope, we mean neighbourhoods where people are becoming more and more aware of the tangible presence of God—places where lives and communities are being transformed by God's agency, and where relational, Christ-centred community is being actively lived out.

This is our dream: the formation of such communities across neighbourhoods—communities so compelling that you can do nothing but join them.

In The Commons, we continually form conversation tables where God’s people can explore what it means to become these communities of hope. Why not consider joining a table?

See our upcoming Tables HERE.

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(1) The Quiet Revival, Bible Society 2025

(2) Rebuilders: What is the big spiritual trend in all the chaos?, 16 Apr 2025

(3) Coffey, H. (2025) The Independent, Sunday 20th April