Berwick Thought for the Week article: 'Something is stirring in the pews'

I read this first towards the end of last year. According to YouGov, the number of 18-to 24-year-olds who believe in God has tripled in just three years, rising from 16 per cent in August 2021 to 45 per cent in January 2025.

Similarly, amongst 25-49-year-olds the number has risen from 21 per cent to 33 per cent.

Another survey, by Tearfund, showed that 45 per cent of adults were intending to go to church at Christmas, with the number rising to 60 per cent amongst Gen Z.

As the journalist, Quentin Letts observed, young Britons are, “…crying out for cultural and moral confidence”, the reason being that “Britain doesn’t stand for anything anymore”. How interesting.

And then, more recently, there was an article in the Independent which examined the reasons why people, and Gen Z in particular, are turning to Christianity and indeed other forms of spirituality. The reasons cited pretty much mirrored those in earlier articles.

One really encouraging comment was that faith is no longer seen as a cause of embarrassment, indeed its has been normalised by celebrities such as Jelly Roll, Stormzy and Spanish megastar Rosalia and footballers such as Bukayo Saka.

Not everything was good news, however. It was interesting to note that the increase in church attendances was not uniform.

For example, the number of people attending Anglican churches has dropped from 41 per cent to 34 per cent since 2018, whilst the number of attendees at Roman Catholic churches has risen from 23 per cent to 31 per cent over the same period.

David Harper is a Berwick resident who runs his own planning, property and environmental consultancy. When he is not working or spending time with his wife Colette and their two boys and their families, he can be found restoring old cars and motorbikes.