Is Christianity on the increase?

[Simon 75]

Hi - I was just wondering if people think that Christianity in the UK is growing again? I only ask because it seems to me that since the whole covid thing people are waking up to realise that there is a lot more evil in this earth than realised. I came to God and Jesus through this realisation and I know other people have as well. Thoughts?

 

[Serendipitous Waffle]

I'm not sure about the U.k. as I've not been there lately. However, I do know that more people I know have embraced Lord Jesus. They are now seeing the demons and the evil play their hand and this has thankfully swayed them towards the Lord.

 

[Pioneer3mm]

I was in Scotland (a country that is part of UK)..last month..
- short trip.
---
Interesting/informative book about..Scotland.
'Land of Many Revivals'
- Scotland's Extraordinary Legacy of Christian Revivals..1527-1857
- Tom Lennie

 

[Larniavc]

I think it depends where you live. Certainly not as popular in the South but when I moved up North I met many more Christians than I was used to.

 

[Lotuspetal_uk]

On a local level I've definitely seen an increase. Our local fellowship has grown a lot since 2020.

People are thirsty for truth.

 

[Sunflower39]

Hi, I’m from the UK and I became a Christian a year ago. Up until that point, I was agnostic and even atheist at times. My initial reason is because for the first time ever, I looked around me and pondered over our existence and realised that this world is too amazing and complex to be one big coincidence. Since becoming a practicing Christian, this has affirmed to me that God is real.

I feel that since the general decline in Christianity, there is more and more disorder and evil in this country. I have noticed that more and more people have attended the church I go to recently, more than a year ago so perhaps you’re right. I can only speak for my church though.

 

[Larniavc]

I just looked it up.

The religion question is voluntary; 94.0% (56.0 million) of usual residents answered the question in 2021, an increase from 92.9% (52.1 million) in 2011.

For the first time in a census of England and Wales, less than half of the population (46.2%, 27.5 million people) described themselves as “Christian”, a 13.1 percentage point decrease from 59.3% (33.3 million) in 2011; despite this decrease, “Christian” remained the most common response to the religion question.

“No religion” was the second most common response, increasing by 12.0 percentage points to 37.2% (22.2 million) from 25.2% (14.1 million) in 2011.

There were increases in the number of people who described themselves as “Muslim” (3.9 million, 6.5% in 2021, up from 2.7 million, 4.9% in 2011) and “Hindu” (1.0 million, 1.7% in 2021, up from 818,000, 1.5% in 2011).

Wales had a greater decrease in people reporting their religion as “Christian” (14.0 percentage point decrease, from 57.6% in 2011 to 43.6% in 2021) and increase in “No religion” (14.5 percentage point increase, from 32.1% in 2011 to 46.5% in 2021) compared with England and Wales overall.

London remains the most religiously diverse region of England in 2021, with over a quarter (25.3%) of all usual residents reporting a religion other than “Christian”; the North East and South West are the least religiously diverse regions, with 4.2% and 3.2%, respectively, selecting a religion other than “Christian”.

Religion, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics

The religion of usual residents and household religious composition in England and Wales, Census 2021 data.

www.ons.gov.uk

 

[yorkie73]

We live in divisive times, and where extremist thinking has become quite commonplace on the internet. I think the level of hate towards the three main religions has risen steeply in the last ten years or so. It also made me feel more of a bond with Christianity. Every time I've seen someone mocking or trolling Christians online I've felt that bond strengthening. I think this is part of the reason, also, for more people coming or returning to The Bible.

 

[Ophiolite]

Because of declining church memberships and attendances , and resulting impact upon finances, The Church of Scotland has had to close several churches and place them on the market for sale.

The excellent factual post by @Larniavc prompted me to check the census figures for Scotland to see if they supported my anecdotal observations about Church of Scotland church sales. Unfortunately, the census in Scotland was deferred till 2022 because of Covid and though the provisional results were published last year the religious affiliation data will not come out till this spring. This wikipedia article presents a similar picture for decline of Christianity in Scotland. From 65.1% declaring themselves Christian in the 2001 census, this fell to 53.8% by 2011. It seems probable that this figure is now below 50%.

If the OPs view that a possible resurgence would be linked to the impact of Covid on attitudes then that's unlikely to show up in the 2022 census figures.