Are we seeing another spiritual awakening?

I’ve been hearing this a lot. I think part of it is that for the last 4-12 years many have felt oppression regarding religious freedom and have been afraid to make public acclamations of faith. And since we are in a post-Christian society, many have not really heard of Jesus (except as an epithet), which makes for a large number of people, especially those who are high school and college age, who have never had the chance to hear and respond to the gospel.

We, here in my small western NY town, has a Praise In The Park that was very well attended (though nothing close to the Angels stadium turnout), that attracted all ages, and it was very heartwarming to see the number of younger people there, sitting right up front with their hands raised in praise!

I really hope the trend continues!

Michie said:

Here’s a secret: bald men always know when it’s raining first. No hair to shield us — we feel the first drops before anyone else.

And lately, I’ve been feeling those drops. Not on my head — in our nation.

A few weeks ago, 45,000 people packed Angel Stadium for our Harvest Crusade. So many came that the fire marshal locked the doors. One guy climbed a fence to get in. Why? Not for a concert. Not for a celebrity. For the Gospel. By the end of the night, 5,500 people had made professions of faith in person — and another 1,000 online.

Now, I’ve done these crusades for 35 years. But this year? This felt different.

Gen Z is not supposed to be doing this

The data told us Gen Z was walking away from Christianity. Instead, they’re walking toward it.

• Bible sales are up 22%. And it’s not grandma buying them — it’s Gen Z and young adults.
• Young men are converting to Christ at higher rates than young women — for the first time ever.
• And as Charlie Kirk says, “They don’t want fluff. They want the unfiltered Gospel of Christ crucified and the power of the resurrection.”

Continued below.

Are we seeing another spiritual awakening?

The data told us Gen Z was walking away from Christianity Instead, they re walking toward it

www.christianpost.com

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Christian Smith, a sociologist of religion, hasn't confirmed anything like this happening in the data. More Bible sales a a few anecdotes about young people in stadiums doesn't change long term trends.

My local congregationalist church has gotten two more regular attendees, both young people... but those don't counter the trend and hardly make up for losses. Many young people perceive institutional churches as places of politics and moral hypocrisy, not spiritual formation.

I don't doubt that the public mood about religion has shifted, but the shift is subtle, one from sheer skepticism to a more ironic tone that will engage with Christianity, but only at a safe distance, and often more as aesthetic than serious intellectual or spiritual engagement. The Bible as literature or psychological symbolism has become something of interest in certain parts of society through figures such as Jordan Peterson. And some young men have been returning to churches in slightly larger numbers than the past. But there's a difference between buying a Bible, and being committed to the Christian faith. Alot of those Bibles might end up on shelves eventually as curios, after all, and young people continued to have deep suspicion of religion.

The loss of interest by women in particular doesn't spell good things for Christianity in America. Through most of American history, womens involvement in religion has been a source of continued vitality, even during periods where it was waning (the saying "the hand that rocks the cradle" is pertinent here, since it's often mothers, not fathers, in the Anglo-American context that spend the most time actually forming children in faith). But young women have increasingly given up on the Christian faith. Those aren't signs of a healthy religious movement, they are a reckoning that needs to be accounted for.

Christians have been treated with disdain before, of course, and rejected. The difference was that Roman intellectuals and philosophers mostly operated from a place of ignorance, whereas modern cultural detractors of Christianity often have more knowledge of Christian doctrines or practices than many professing Christians.

FireDragon76 said:

Christian Smith, a sociologist of religion, hasn't confirmed anything like this happening in the data. More Bible sales a a few anecdotes about young people in stadiums doesn't change long term trends.

My local congregationalist church has gotten two more regular attendees, both young people... but those don't counter the trend and hardly make up for losses. Many young people perceive institutional churches as places of politics and moral hypocrisy, not spiritual formation.

Click to expand...

Many young people who are young in their faith may tend to be more what they call “spiritual” and think church is just religion, end up with no guidance in their spiritual lives and so fall away quickly. The problem with this scenario is that senior members of churches aren’t willing to welcome youth in to participate and bring their youthful energy and worship into church. I was a member of such a church and even when our youth became young adults wanting to serve, we were pushed away by the older generation and then they (the older ones) said nobody was willing to step up.

The youth needs the guidance of people more mature in their faith to help them grow, and the older ones need to learn how to let them be active participating member of the community.