The Return of British Christianity

9 April 2025

By Dr Adi Schlebusch

A recent survey conducted by the Bible Society and YouGov in England and Wales published some fascinating findings yesterday. After decades of decline, church attendance is now on the rise in England and Wales, especially among young people. The previous survey, conducted in 2018, found that regular church attendance in England and Wales had dropped to 3.7 million people or just 8% of the total population. This figure has now risen to 5.8 million people, or 12% of the total population. According to the report, British Christianity "increasingly involves an active commitment rather than a passive cultural label."

What is particularly significant is the fact that among 18 to 24 year olds, church attendance quadrupled from 4% in 2018 to 16% today. 21% of men aged 18 to 24 now attend church regularly, compared to only 4% in 2018.

The most spectacular rise was among young white British men. Only 3% of 18 to 34-year old white British men attended church in 2018. Today that figure is 18%. Interestingly, while increases in church attendance among the non-white population are mostly represented in the Roman Catholic and Pentecostal churches, the increase in Anglican church attendance are almost exclusively white Brits. This shows that the British, especially young people, are finally starting to return to Anglicanism, their historic ethno-confessional identity. We can only pray that these young men increasingly turn away from the liberal Church of England towards more solid Anglican churches.

The current trend in British Christianity is particularly encouraging given that an integral part of building the New Christendom as a (macro-)civilization entails the proper cultivation of ethno-confessional (micro-)identities through intergenerational covenantal obedience. This is because in his wisdom God has created the family and by extension the tribe or the ethnos as the most natural physical bonds serving as the divinely-ordained instruments employed by the Holy Spirit in bringing the people of the world (as nations - Matthew 28:19) to Christ. After all, the roots need to be nurtured for the tree to flourish.