April 2025 North America, Latvia, UK
LATVIA We're in the midst of a few days in Latvia, two baptisms, giving out welfare, especially to a brother and sister in agony with their teeth and unable to afford to even pay a dentist to extract their rotten and infectious teeth, and many other welfare issues.
NORTH AMERICA
This week we were so happy to witness the online baptism of TREVOR in his swimming pool. Brother Jim Barton will continue to provide pastoral support to our brother, who came to God, the Lord Jesus and the Bible from a totally secular background. Another example of how man is looking to his maker in these troubled times.
UKRAINE
Appreciate your prayers for the trip we are about to make to Ukraine this week, Lord willing. The level of civilian bombardment is currently higher than at any point in the war so far.
UK
It was during the lockdown that brother George contacted us, having read The Real Devil and The Real Christ and enthusiastically come to one mind with us on these matters. Then in 2022 we went up to Inverness, northern Scotland, to meet and baptize him. He has shared the wonderful truths of the Gospel with his teenage son JAYDEN and so along with our teenage sister Evia, we went up there again to meet and baptize Jayden- and take more copies of The Real Devil and The Real Christ for our brothers to distribute. Such a truly happy family time together.
Whilst in Inverness we met with JOE, who carries a pocket Bible with him everywhere and has a great familiarity with the text of the Bible, one of those people always able to finish a Bible quote when you start it, and who has earnestly been seeking for baptism but didn't find any church he is of one mind with. So with joy we were able to baptize him.
In a brief moment of free time in Inverness, we went into a shop, recognized the shopkeeper's South London accent, got chatting... and found another man originally from Croydon. We stayed in that shop for so long chatting about Church in a Pub, he remembered The Orchard Pub well, and the things of the Gospel. It was just one of those things that, as is said, "You can't make these things up". We really hope and pray he will continue studying the Bible Companion app and also come to baptism in future. He has a lot of free time in his shop looking at his phone between customers, and now he has something worthwhile to look at and study. And it was great to get our teenagers out on the doors distributing cards inviting the people of Inverness to download the Bible Companion app:
Again we marvel at the wave of interest in the Gospel from one end of the UK to the other. We keep reporting baptisms every week in the UK and it seems this is part of a wider trend in the UK. Recent major surveys by YouGov [which is a Government sponsored survey with tens of thousands of respondees and thought to be 99% accurate in reflecting positions within British society], Premier Christianity and the UK Bible Society all indicate that there has been a quiet but marked revival of interest in the Bible, Christianity since the end of the pandemic. And this is after decades of decline in interest in God and the Bible. Here are some of the key statistics:
- "There were around two million more people attending church in 2024 than there had been in 2018."
- The most dramatic church growth is among young adults, particularly young men of white Anglo Saxon ethnicity. "In 2018, around four per cent of 18-24 year-olds said that they attended church at least monthly. Now... [the figures for] young men have increased from four per cent to 21 per cent". That is an incredible increase, and is reflected in our own experience. 40% of 18–24-year-olds say they pray at least monthly. 37% of 18–24s say they are curious to discover more about the Bible. 34% of 18-24s who identify as non-churchgoers "say they would attend church if invited by a friend or family member".
- "The number of Bibles sold each year in the UK has increased by 61 per cent between 2019 and 2024, having been flat for many years before that". "Bible reading among adults in England and Wales has doubled since 2018, with 12% of the population now saying they read the Bible outside of church services weekly or more, compared to 6% six years earlier". And the figures show that "weekly Bible reading is far more common among young churchgoers". This growing interest in the Bible must be meshed together with an increasing distrust of authority figures, church leaders and "the church" as an institution. "Of Christian Under 34s 44% say they find it challenging ‘finding people to learn from/with’, compared to 25% of older churchgoers".
- Until 2018, more women than men attended church. That has now changed. More men than women attend- thanks to the huge increase in attendance by young males. 18% of white males are now [2024] attending church monthly, compared to 3% in 2018. A huge increase. These figures are the more surprising because "There is also research emerging showing them to be less likely to socialise in person than previous generations at the same life stage".
- It is middled aged people who are in decline as believers. A large majority of males under 24, whether Christian or not, say they'd appreciate a Christian praying for them. Very few middle aged people say they would be appreciative of this.
- Denominational Christianity is in sharp decline, with the Church of England particularly in free fall and a strongly and widely stated cynicism of joining any particular denomination.
Make of these figures and responses what you will. But they fit exactly with our amazing experience of meeting and baptizing so many British people over the last three years since "Church in a Pub" began. We give thanks and pray for guidance as to how best engage with the undoubted interest that is being expressed in this "Quiet revival".
We've put these figures together, and some further thoughts from Duncan & Evia, in a video
at https://youtu.be/8QAC7fkwV5o
PRAYER POINTS
- For those recently baptized
- For our dear ones in Ukraine and our trip there this week
- For all the unchurched secular people in western countries, indeed everywhere, who are now looking to God, Jesus and the Bible but who are put off by "church". We have so much to share with them and help that specific group to the Kingdom.
- For wisdom in knowing how best to continue engaging with the undoubted revival of interest in the Bible and Christianity which there is in the UK
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks