As we head toward the end of the year, what’s that in the air? It’s certainly not snow — global warming has seen to that. But something else is rising, something far less expected: optimism.
The Quiet Revival research reports a sharp rise in UK church attendance — especially among young people — and a renewed hunger for community and meaning. For those of us who’ve long prayed for a shift in how the Gospel lands, this is very good news.
However, it can sometimes be difficult when we see reports like this not to either get too excited (all our problems of solved!) or to compare it to our own experience and find it lacking (where are these people?).
When Elijah said to King Ahab (1 Kings 18:41-46), after three years of drought, that “I heard a mighty rainstorm coming,” there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Only after he had prayed six times with nothing seeming to happen did his servant come back after his seventh time of praying to say, “I saw a little cloud about the size of a man’s hand rising from the sea.” They very fact that something had happened was worth remarking on but it seemed very far away from “a mighty rainstorm.” But Elijah was confident enough that the weather was changing to say to the servant to hurry and tell the king because the rain that was coming going to bog down his chariots.
There are any number of lessons that we can learn from this, not least about the power of persistent prayer but in our day-to-day work with young people maybe two messages stand out: be encouraged and be expectant. Even if we’re not necessary seen some of the signs ourselves, the fact that the there is evidence of revival should encourage us to press into what we are doing new confidence. Leaning into where we are creating community and allowing young people to explore meaning. The rain may not have reach us yet but what does it look like for us to be expectant? Thinking about extra capacity in our youth work may seem bold but it may be something we want to think about. Seeing a cloud on the horizon rather than finding ourselves in middle of a downpour gives us some time to prepare.
If the cloud is already forming, then our task is simply to be ready, responsive, and willing to make space for what God might do next.